Dynamic Changes of the Farmers and Herdsmen’s Income Sources in the Tibet Autonomous Region

Based on the Tibet Autonomous Region's statistic yearbooks and the data fromthe two household surveys in 2002 and 2004, this paper has comprehensively analyzed the pattern ofchanges on the farmers and herdsmen's income sources in the Tibet Autonomous Region since 1990 withthe main findings as follows; (1) The change of income from the labor payment is the fastest; (2)There is no regular pattern of income variation for the household economic activities, the farmersand herdsmen's household incomegeneration projects are impacted by the elements like prices andreturns, and there is a lack of appropriate direction; (3) The income structure of labor paymentshows that the income from the farmers and herdsmen working outside grows fastest; (4) The incomefrom the farmers and herdsmen's labor payment correlate positively to their net income per capita;(5) From the perspective of the variation by region, labor payment income has changed fastest in thecounties of Rutok, Nyerong and Khangmar comparedthe data from the household survey in 2002 withthat of 2004.

Forest utilization patterns and socio-economic status of the Van Gujjar tribe in sub-Himalayan tracts of Uttarakhand,India

The present study was conducted on the Van Gujjar tribe inhabiting a sub-Himalayan tract in the North Western Himalayas of Uttarakhand State, India. The Van Gujjars have been practicing transmigration over hundreds of years. They migrate each year with their households and livestock between summer and winter pastures. A few years ago with the announcement of the establish- ment of the Rajaji National Park, the tribe has been forced out of the forest area and rehabilitated outside the park, which has affected their lifestyle. The newly established rehabilitation colony in the Gandikhata area of Haridwar District of Uttarakhand State was taken as a case study. The aims of the present study were to understand and evaluate the socio-economic status of the Van Gujjars in their newly established rehabilitation colony, the utilization pattern of forest resources by the tribe and their relative preference for selec- tive trees for various uses. A total of 176 households were interviewed （giving equal weight to all economic classes and family every size） by using pre-structured questionnaires. The education level was very low （12.9%） and the average income per household was recorded as Rs. 36000 （approximately $ 803） per year. The major source of income was dairy production （80.6%） followed by labor employment （13.9%）, NTFPs （4.2%） and agricultural production （1.4%）. More than 90% of fuel wood and fodder is extracted from the forest. The average fuel wood and fodder consumptions per household per day were recorded as 25.86 and 21.58 kg, respectively. A total of 35 species of cultivated plants and 89 species of wild plants were found to be utilized as food sources. Selectively 25 wild tree species are well known as being used by the Van Gujjars as fodder, fuel wood, agricultural implements, household articles, dye, medicine, fiber and other products. According to their utility value, the most preferred and useful tree species is Ougeinia oojeinensis, followed by Terminalia alata, Bombax ceiba, Shorea robusta and Dalbergia sissoo,