Uttarakhand - Department of Land Resources

The fact is that the fodder crisis is part of the larger land and water crisis of rural
India. Better agricultural productivity on private lands is a sure-shot source of
additional fodder. But this productivity is limited by the non-availability of water to
irrigate crops. That is why the villagers need to take their animals to graze in
forestlands. Part of the problem is there is no water to grow crops, and so, no
agricultural residues for animals to eat. Water then becomes the first enabling tool. It
is, therefore, imperative that we link fodder security to water security - building water
recharge structures for irrigation.
The third concern relates to the largest grazing lands-the common lands-degraded
through sheer pressure. It is understood these lands ought to be regenerated. But
what needs to be further understood is that such regeneration is not possible without
factoring in the animal economy. Building boundary walls to keep grazing animals
out will not succeed; the pressure is too great. Planting of fodder yielding species is
required in the common lands to meet the fodder demand. Thus, here the fodder
security for livestock is linked with forest security - replanting and regenerating our
vast common lands.
CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY
„Climate change refers to a statistically significant variation in either the mean state
of the climate or in its variability, persisting for an extended period of decades or
longer (IPCC, 2001). The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), in its Article 1, defines climate change as “a change of climate which is
attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the
global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed
over comparable time periods”.
As per Chapter 13 Mountains: Fragile Ecosystems in Peril of Agenda 21 highlights,
“mountains are important sources of water, energy, minerals, forest and agricultural
products and areas of recreation. They are storehouses of biological diversity, home
to endangered species and an essential part of the ecosystem”. Mountain
ecosystems having unique climatic and biophysical conditions house rare species of
flora and fauna as compared to those habiting lowland areas with widespread
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