Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

The Contribution of Sense of Place to Shifting Cultivation Sustenance: Evidence from West Garo Hills, North East India


Affiliations
1 College of Horticulture and Forestry, Central Agricultural University (Manipur), Pasighat 791 102, India
2 Facult_e des Sciences de l’Homme et de l’Environnement, Universit_e de La R_eunion, Saint-Denis, France
3 Agricultural Extension Division, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi 110 012, India
 

Nowadays, sense of place is increasingly becoming prevalent in environmental research. It is an interesting concept to study both attachment and emotional relationships that individuals or groups hold for a specific place. In order to understand such bonds to forested landscape and shifting cultivation (SC) among tribal communities, we employed a four-dimensional place attachment model and empirically tested it using factor analysis. The results of this study revealed that besides socio-economic factors which affect the bonds to a place and the place-based practice, strong connections with the natural environment and lack of alternative occupations are significant factors which might explain tribal dependence to the land and SC. Indeed, sense of place would allow a better understanding of territorial issues and favour place management.

Keywords

Forested Landscape, Indigenous People, Sense of Place, Shifting Cultivation.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • AIPP and IWGIA, Who we are: indigenous peoples in Asia. Briefing Paper, Chiang Mai, AIPP Printing Press, 2010.

  • Fox, J., Castella, J. C. and Ziegler, A. D., Swidden, rubber and carbon: Can REDD+ work for people and the environment in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia? Global Environ. Change, 2014, 29, 318–326.

  • Cherrier, J., Maharjan, S. K. and Maharjan, K. L., Shifting cultivation: misconception of the Asian Governments. J. Int. Dev. Coop., 2018, 24(1), 71–82.

  • Comte, I., Davidson, R., Lucotte, M., de Carvalho, C. J. R., de Assis Oliveira, F., da Silva, B. P. and Rousseau, G. X., Physicochemical properties of soils in the Brazilian Amazon following fire-free land preparation and slash-and-burn practices. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ., 2012, 156, 108–115.

  • Erni, C., Shifting cultivation, livelihood and food security: New and old challenges for indigenous peoples in Asia. Food and Agriculture Organization, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, Bangkok, 2015.

  • Mertz, O. and Bruun, T.B., Shifting cultivation policies in Southeast Asia – does criminalizing traditional farming practices make them go away. In Shifting Cultivation Policy: Trying to Get it Right (ed. Cairns, M.), Earthscan Routledge Press, Oxon, 2016.

  • Kerkhoff, E. and Sharma, E., Debating shifting cultivation in the Eastern Himalayas: Farmers’ innovations as lessons for policy, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal, 2006.

  • Dressler, W. H. et al., The impact of swidden decline on livelihoods and ecosystem services in Southeast Asia: a review of the evidence from 1990 to 2015. Ambio, 2017, 46(3), 291–310.

  • Bhullar, L., The Indian Forest Rights Act 2006: a critical appraisal. Law Environ. Dev. J., 2008, 4, 20.

  • Rao, M. G., Mukherjee, C., Bhasin, A., Barua, A., Anand, M., Pandey, R. and Srinivasan, R., Vision document for the State of Meghalaya 2030. National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, Noida, 2011.

  • Menon, V., Kaul, R., Tiwari, S. K., Kyarong, S. and Dutta, R., Canopies and corridors–conserving the forest of Garo Hills with elephant and gibbon as flagships. Conservation Series, Wildlife Trust of India, Noida, 2010.

  • Jorgensen, B. S. and Stedman, R. C., Sense of place as an attitude: lakeshore owners attitudes toward their properties. J. Environ. Psychol., 2001, 21(3), 233–248.

  • Lin, C. C. and Lockwood, M., Assessing sense of place in natural settings: a mixed-method approach. J. Environ. Plann. Manage., 2014, 57(10), 1441–1464.

  • Alawadi, K., Place attachment as a motivation for community preservation: the demise of an old, bustling, Dubai community. Urban Stud., 2017, 54(13), 2973–2997.

  • Eisenhauer, B. W., Krannich, R. S. and Blahna, D. J., Attachments to special places on public lands: an analysis of activities, reason for attachments, and community connections. Soc. Nat. Resour., 2000, 13(5), 421–441.

  • Altman, I. and Low, S., Place Attachment, Plenum Press, New York, USA, 1992.

  • Backlund, E. A. and Williams, D. R., A quantitative synthesis of place attachment research: investigating past experience and place attachment. In (Murdy, J.), Proceedings of the 2003 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium; 2003 April 6-8; Bolton Landing, NY. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-317. Newtown Square, PA: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station, 2004, pp. 320–325.

  • Stokols, D. and Shumaker, S., People in place: a transactional view of settings. In Cognition, Social Behavior and the Environment (ed. Harvey, J.), Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillside, NJ, 1981.

  • Brown, G. and Raymond, C., The relationship between place attachment and landscape values: toward mapping place attachment. Appl. Geogr., 2007, 27(2), 89–111.

  • Junot, A., Paquet, Y. and Fenouillet, F., Place attachment influence on human well‐being and general pro‐environmental behaviors. J. Theor. Soc. Psychol., 2018, 2(2), 49–57.

  • Proshansky, H. M., The city and self-identity. Environ. Behav., 1978, 10(2), 147–169.

  • Masterson, V. A., Stedman, R. C., Enqvist, J., Tengö, M., Giusti, M., Wahl, D. and Svedin, U., The contribution of sense of place to social–ecological systems research: a review and research agenda. Ecol. Soc., 2017, 22(1), 49.

  • Chan, K. M. et al., Why protect nature? Rethinking values and the environment. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2016, 113(6), 1462– 1465.

  • Raymond, C. M. et al., Ecosystem services and beyond: Using multiple metaphors to understand human–environment relationships. BioScience, 2013, 63(7), 536–546.

  • von Heland, J. and Folke, C., A social contract with the ancestors – culture and ecosystem services in southern Madagascar. Global Environ. Change, 2014, 24, 251–264.

  • Tapsuwan, S., Leviston, Z. and Tucker, D., Community values and attitudes towards land use on the Gnangara Groundwater System: a sense of place study in Perth, Western Australia. Landsc. Urban Plann., 2011, 100(1–2), 24–34.

  • Cheng, A. S. and Mattor, K. M., Place-based planning as a platform for social learning: insights from a national forest landscape assessment process in Western Colorado. Soc. Nat. Resour., 2010, 23(5), 385–400.

  • Kruger, L. E., Understanding community-forest relations. US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, USA, 2003.

  • FSI, India State of Forest Report, 2017. Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, 2017.

  • Chandramouli, C. and General, R., Census of India. Rural–urban distribution of population, provisional population total. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, New Delhi, 2011.

  • Raymond, C. M., Brown, G. and Weber, D., The measurement of place attachment: personal, community, and environmental connections. J. Environ. Psychol., 2010, 30(4), 422–434.

  • Kals, E., Schumacher, D. and Montada, L., Emotional affinity toward nature as a motivational basis to protect nature. Environ. Behav., 1999, 31(2), 178–202.

  • Schultz, P. W., The structure of environmental concern: concern for self, other people, and the biosphere. J. Environ. Psychol., 2001, 21(4), 327–339.

  • Kyle, G., Graefe, A. and Manning, R., Testing the dimensionality of place attachment in recreational settings. Environ. Behav., 2005, 37(2), 153–177.

  • Hammitt, W. E., Backlund, E. A. and Bixler, R. D., Place bonding for recreation places: conceptual and empirical development. Leisure Stud., 2006, 25(1), 17–41.

  • Dey, P. and Chattopadhyay, S., Impact of socio-economic status on place and dwelling attachment. Int. J. Hous. Sci. Appl., 2017, 41(2), 89–100.

  • Ofoegbu, C., Chirwa, P. W., Francis, J. and Babalola, F. D., Socio-economic factors influencing household dependence on forests and its implication for forest-based climate change interventions. South. Forest., 2017, 79(2), 109–116.

  • Tynsong, H., Tiwari, B. K. and Dkhar, M., Contribution of NTFPs to cash income of the War Khasi community of southern Meghalaya, North-East India. For. Stud. China, 2012, 14(1), 47–54.

  • Padoch, C., Coffey, K., Mertz, O., Leisz, S. J., Fox, J. and Wadley, R. L., The demise of swidden in Southeast Asia? Local realities and regional ambiguities. Geogr. Tidsskr-Den., 2007, 107(1), 29–41.

  • Mishra, S., Mazumdar, S. and Suar, D., Place attachment and flood preparedness. J. Environ. Psychol., 2010, 30(2), 187–197.

  • Fernandes, W., Look (act) East policy: with or through the Northeast. In Mainstreaming the Northeast in India’s Look and Act East Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore, 2018, pp. 233–251.

  • Aayog NITI, Shifting Cultivation: Towards a Transformational Approach, 2018; https://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/document_publication/doc3.pdf

  • Tripathi, P., Tribes and forest: a critical appraisal of the tribal forest right in India. Res. J. Soc. Sci. Manage., 2016, 6(06), 1–8.

  • Singh, B. P., Biodiversity, tribal knowledge and life in India. Environ. Soc. Psychol., 2017, 2(1), 1–10.

  • Chaudhry, P., Dollo, M., Bagra, K. and Yakang, B., Traditional biodiversity conservation and natural resource management system of some tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, India. Interdisc. Environ. Rev., 2011, 12(4), 338–348.

  • Sangma, R. C., Festivals and ceremonies of Garo. Garo J., 2018; https://garojournal.com/festivals-ceremonies-garos/

  • Chapin III, F. S., Mark, A. F., Mitchell, R. A. and Dickinson, K. J., Design principles for social–ecological transformation toward sustainability: lessons from New Zealand sense of place. Ecosphere, 2012, 3(5), 1–22.

  • Potschin, M. and Haines-Young, R., Landscapes, sustainability and the place-based analysis of ecosystem services. Landsc. Ecol., 2013, 28(6), 1053–1065.


Abstract Views: 182

PDF Views: 101




  • The Contribution of Sense of Place to Shifting Cultivation Sustenance: Evidence from West Garo Hills, North East India

Abstract Views: 182  |  PDF Views: 101

Authors

D. K. Pandey
College of Horticulture and Forestry, Central Agricultural University (Manipur), Pasighat 791 102, India
Amandine Junot
Facult_e des Sciences de l’Homme et de l’Environnement, Universit_e de La R_eunion, Saint-Denis, France
P. Adhiguru
Agricultural Extension Division, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi 110 012, India

Abstract


Nowadays, sense of place is increasingly becoming prevalent in environmental research. It is an interesting concept to study both attachment and emotional relationships that individuals or groups hold for a specific place. In order to understand such bonds to forested landscape and shifting cultivation (SC) among tribal communities, we employed a four-dimensional place attachment model and empirically tested it using factor analysis. The results of this study revealed that besides socio-economic factors which affect the bonds to a place and the place-based practice, strong connections with the natural environment and lack of alternative occupations are significant factors which might explain tribal dependence to the land and SC. Indeed, sense of place would allow a better understanding of territorial issues and favour place management.

Keywords


Forested Landscape, Indigenous People, Sense of Place, Shifting Cultivation.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv120%2Fi1%2F215-220