Vegetation Status in Degraded Forest, Community and Private Lands of Himachal Pradesh

Current vegetation status including the diversity, the biomass and carbon stocks of three land categories vi., degraded forestlands, degraded community lands and degraded private lands across three altitudinal zones of Himachal Pradesh is presented in this paper. Restoration of the degraded lands requires concentrated efforts to formulate management strategies that would help meet the fuelwood and fodder requirements of the communities residing close to these lands and at the time promote tree diversity. An assessment of the status of degraded land categories are needed to identify hot spots and problem areas and coupled with such assessments there is also a need for socio-economic studies that try to understand the linkages between communities residing close to these degraded lands, their dependence and needs. Capitalizing on natural recovery mechanisms is urgently needed to prevent further irreversible degradation and to retain the multiple values of productive land.