Study of Ecological and Soci0- economic and Livelihood STUDY OF ECOLOGICAL,SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND LIVELIHOOD DIMENSIONS OF GRAZING EXCLUSION IN PROTECTED FORESTS OF WEST SIKKIM In Collaboration with Department of Forest, Environment and Wildlife Management, Government of Sikkim June, 2012 Shweta Bhagwat Manasi Diwan Vivek Venkataramani Institute for Financial Management and Research – Centre for Development Finance (IFMR-CDF) ii | P a g e TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures .................................................................................................................................... vi List of tables ................................................................................................................................... viii Accronyms ........................................................................................................................................ ix Acknowledgment ............................................................................................................................... x Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................... 1Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.1. Background ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1. Grazing as an ecological issue .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1.2. Impact assessment of conservation Programs ................................................................................ 2 1.1.3. Current Scenario in india vis-à-vis sikkim ......................................................................................... 2 1.2. Rationale behind the study ............................................................................................................... 3 1.2.1. objectives ......................................................................................................................................... 4 1.3. Study Area ......................................................................................................................................... 4 1.3.1. Description ....................................................................................................................................... 4 1.3.2. Cultural Profile ................................................................................................................................. 6 1.3.3. Evolution of Pastoralism .................................................................................................................. 8 1.3.4. Livestock Population ........................................................................................................................ 8 CHAPTER 2 : APPROACH TO EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Evaluation in low data environments ............................................................................................. 12 2.2.1 Available impact assessment frameworks ..................................................................................... 12 2.2.2 Challenges of evaluation in low data settings ................................................................................ 13 2.3 Evaluation design components for effective assessment ............................................................... 15 2.3.1. Vegetative Component .................................................................................................................. 16 2.3.2. Physical component ....................................................................................................................... 17 2.3.3. Social Component .......................................................................................................................... 18 2.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 19 CHAPTER 3: ECOLOGICAL HEALTH AND DISTURBANCE 21 3.1 Background ..................................................................................................................................... 21 3.2 Materials and Methods ................................................................................................................... 22 3.2.1 Field survey .................................................................................................................................... 22 3.2.2 Vegetation analysis ........................................................................................................................ 24 3.3 VEGETATION - Results and discussion ............................................................................................ 25 3.3.1 Forest types .................................................................................................................................... 25 3.3.1.1 Wet Temperate Forests .................................................................................................................. 25 3.3.1.2 Moist Temperate Forests ................................................................................................................ 25 3.3.1.3 Sub Alpine forests ........................................................................................................................... 25 3.3.2 Vegetation structure and composition .......................................................................................... 26 3.3.2.1 Tree height ...................................................................................................................................... 26 3.3.2.2 Tree Girth ........................................................................................................................................ 27 3.3.2.3 Canopy cover .................................................................................................................................. 29 iii | P a g e 3.3.3 Species inventory, frequency and density ..................................................................................... 30 3.3.4 Species regeneration ...................................................................................................................... 32 3.3.5 Species diversity indices ................................................................................................................. 34 3.3.6 Forest Disturbances ....................................................................................................................... 35 3.3.6.1 Disturbance Type and key species .................................................................................................. 35 3.3.6.2 Disturbance incidences across sites ................................................................................................ 36 3.4. Soil Sampling ................................................................................................................................... 37 3.5. SOIL - RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ................................................................................................... 38 3.5.1. Soil general characteristics ............................................................................................................. 38 3.5.2. SOIL Chemical Properties ............................................................................................................... 39 3.6. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER 4: CHANGE DETECTION - A REMOTE SENSING APPROACH ................................................... 46 4.1 Background ..................................................................................................................................... 46 4.2 Approach ......................................................................................................................................... 47 4.3 Materials and Methods .................................................................................................................. 47 4.3.1 Image Pre-processing ..................................................................................................................... 48 4.3.2 Change Detection ........................................................................................................................... 49 4.3.2.1 IMAGE DIFFERENCING .................................................................................................................... 49 4.3.2.2 NDVI ................................................................................................................................................ 51 4.3.2.3 Post Classification Comparison ....................................................................................................... 51 4.4 Results .................................................................................................................................. 52 4.4.1 Image Differencing ......................................................................................................................... 52 4.4.2 NDVI ..............................................................................................................................................