Resource distribution pattern: An approach to quantification

The Himalayan region in India contributes about 16.2% of the total geographical area of the country and inhabitated by above 3.96 crore people. Yet the area as a whole continues to remain backward in terms of economy and infrastructure development, and uneven distribution of natural resources. There are several techniques to measure the concentration of distribution and dispersal across any region. These quantitative techniques are data-driven and termed as Locational quotient, Index of dissimilarity, Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient, etc. The absolute figures of quantitative analyses derived from inferential statistics may not always convey meaningful information particularly in the case of decision-making process. Instead of absolute figure, decision makers/planners often require a judgment supported by some fact and this fact could be provided through a framework of qualitative measures of quantitative data for higher level of understanding. In this context, Gini-coefficient is an effective tool as a measure of inequality in the distribution pattern of various parameters in social sciences and economics, like studies of landholdings, economic activities, income, wealth, expenditure, etc.  In the present article an attempt has been made to map the distribution pattern of forest resources and net sown area of the Himalayan region, and the dependency on these resources to a great extent in the hill region.  The quantitative techniques have been applied to study the distribution of forest cover and net sown area among different geographical locations (districts) of the region based on the secondary dataset. The technique deals with the cumulative percentage distribution of the two attributes at different points/locations. The cumulative percentages of one variable up to certain points are plotted on a graph against the cumulative percentage of the other variable up to the same points. The different points thus obtained are joined by smooth curve.

Lorenz curve and equality line [Source: Pal, 1998]

The diagonal line indicates equality i.e. perfectly ideal distribution. The shaded area “B” by the Lorenz curve measures the equality. If the curve coincides with equality line, i.e. area bounded by equality life and Lorenz curve tends to zero, then the distribution is said to be perfectly equal. In that case the Gini-coefficient (G) will be minimum. Mathematically, the Coefficient has been derived by the following formula:

        _{i=n                 i=n}

G=  S x_i y_i+1   - Sx_i+1 y_i

             ^{i=0                                i=0}

or, G = [(x₀y₁-x₁y₀)+(x₁y₂-x₂y₁)+(x₂y₃-x₃y₂)+ ………….. +(x_n.1 –1.y_n)]

            ‘G’ ranges from 0 to 1 or 0 to 100% and indicates perfectly equal to absolutely unequal distribution, respectively. The forest cover and net sown area of individual states with respect to the total reporting area of the respective state has been taken for measuring the distribution pattern. The forest cover of the Himalayan states has shown more or less an equal distribution across the region than that of net sown area, which is not evenly distributed among states/regions. Similar type of regional disparities for the other land use parameters could also be derived to depict the uneven distribution of resources across the region. This type of analyses are more justified when there is scarcity of resources, as only about 11% of region’s total reporting area is net sown (Nandy et al., 2006) and growing population pressure, reducing per capita land holding, is in the region.

Though the present attempt is a conceptual one and concerned with theoretical structure, which might have some counterpart in the real world whereas an empirical model is pro real-world system either derived or based on the conceptual model. The present technique is an attempt to transit conceptual system to empirical counterpart and provide a sketch to map the distribution pattern of finite resources across the region. More relevant datasets of socio-economic parameters along with locational references could also be used to measure the distribution pattern for effective developmental planning for the sustainability of the region. Further, the information is always time variant (a dynamic model) and all natural resource applications are dynamic models, as most problems involve change over time. So, a long term time-series dataset of resource use pattern may be incorporated to get significant outcome in measuring the inequality in distribution pattern.

Selected readings:

Nandy, S.N., Dhyani, P.P. and Samal, P.K. 2006. Resource information database of the Indian Himalaya. ENVIS Monograph No.3, GBPIHED Publication, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora, Uttarakhand, pp. 96.

Pal, S.K.1998. Statistics for geoscientists: Techniques and application. Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi.

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                                 S.N. Nandy and P.P. Dhyani

Potential and prospects of horticultural crops in the Himachal Pradesh

     The State Himanchal Pradesh (30⁰ 22’40” to 33⁰ 12^’40” N Latitudes and 75⁰ 45’55” to 79⁰ 04’20” E Longitudes) covers 55673 km² area. It has large altitudinal range (200-7109 m amsl) and, therefore, known for the diverse climatic conditions, habitats and biodiversity. Winters (October to February) are very severe and heavy snowfall is recorded during the season. April to June is delightful and comfortable at the higher altitudes, though on the lower hills, this season can have more humidity than usual. July to September is the time for rainfall and the entire region becomes green and fresh with the streams swelling and springs replenishment. The summer temperature varies from the maximum of 38ºC to minimum of 22ºC and the winter temperature varies from maximum 15ºC to minimum 0ºC. The annual rainfall is 2909-3800 mm. The vegetation mainly comprises of tropical, sub-tropical, temperate, sub-alpine and alpine types. The tropical, sub-tropical, temperate and sub-alpine vegetation is mainly dominated by broad-leaved deciduous, broad-leaved evergreen, evergreen coniferous and miscellaneous forests.  The alpine vegetation is mainly comprises of herbaceous species. However, few scattered patches of scrubs, such as Rhododendron campanulatum, Rhododendron anthopogon, Juniperus indica, Rosa macrophylla, R. sericea, etc., are also found throughout the range.

         Horticulture is one of the prominent farming activities in the State due to diverse agro climatic conditions. A total of 38 horticultural species are known from different agro-climatic conditions of the State. The district-wise distribution of these species has been presented in Table 1.

         Table 1. District-wise distribution of major horticultural species in the Himachal Pradesh 

            Abbreviations used: 1=Bilaspur; 2=Chamba; 3=Hamirpur; 4=Kangra; 5=Kinnaur; 6=Kullu; 7=Lahau & Spiti; 8=Mandi;  

                                                   9=Shimla; 10=Sirmour; 11=Solan and 12=Una

            The district Kangra supports maximum number of species (34 spp.), followed by the districts, Bilaspur (31 spp.), Mandi and Solan (30 spp., each), Hamirpur, Sirmour and Una (29 spp., each), Shimla (27 spp.), Chamba (26 spp.) and Kullu (24 spp.). Least horticultural species were found in the district of  Lahaul & Spiti (7 spp.). In 2006-07, among the horticultural species, maximum area was covered by Apple (91,804 ha), followed by Mango (38,370 ha), Kagzi Lime (9,528 ha), Plum (8,396 ha), Orange (8,178 ha), Pear (7,662 ha), Almond (5,784 ha), Peach (5,134 ha), Walnut (4,832 ha), Litchi (3,759 ha), Grapes (133 ha), Banana (129 ha) and Kiwi (118 ha). Least area was covered by Ber (34 ha), followed by Strawberry (57 ha) and Loquate (70 ha). The production was highest for Apple (2, 68,402 MT), followed by Mango (40,159 MT), Pear (12,039 MT), Plum (10,546 MT), Peach (8,173 MT), Orange (4,650 MT), Kagzi Lime (2,977 MT), Galgal (2,862 MT), Litchi (2,851 MT) and Apricot (2,768 MT). Ber (19 MT) and Loquate (49 MT) showed poor production. The present study showed that the production of the species was dependent on the area covered by the species. For instance, Apple is the most prominent horticultural species in the State. It has wide distribution in the State. Apple constitutes about 46% of the total area under fruit crops and about 76% of the total fruit production. The area under Apple cultivation has increased from 3,025 hectares in 1960-61 to 86,202 hectares in 2004-05. The area covered and production of this species is high as compared to other species. Therefore, Apple is one of the major income-generating resources of the State. The year wise production of the Apple in the State has been presented in Figure 1.

      Figure 1. Apple area and production (in average) for the years 1965 to 2005 in the Himanchal Pradesh

                  In the present study, shift of horticultural species from lower elevations to higher elevations has been observed due to climate change. Therefore, planning for the promotion of horticultural crops has to be done according to the local climatic conditions prevailing in the State.

                                  Figure 2. Some important horticultural species of the Himanchal Pradesh

S.K. Sinha, P.P. Dhyani and S.S. Samant

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Galliformes of Himalayan biosphere reserves

The funding support for Lead-BR Centre, GBPIHED (F.No. 08/12/05-CS/BR dated 30.12. 2005) from the  Ministry of    Environment and Forests is greatfully acknowledged.

References:

Keane, A., Brooke, M.D. and McGowan, P.K.J. (2005). Correlates of extinction risk and hunting pressure in gamebirds (Galliformes). Biological Conservation 126(2): 216-233

Sathyakumar, S., Sivakumar, K. eds. (2007). Galliformes of India. Envis Bulletin: Wildlife and Protected Areas

             10(1) : 252.                                                                                                 

                                                                                                Manju Pandey and Kishor Kumar          

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Theses on Himalayan Ecology

Research work for following doctoral (Ph. D.) theses was completed between 2003 and 2008 at the GBPIHED, which was on various aspects of Himalayan Ecology.

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Annual events at GBPIHED

      International Biodiversity day-2008 was celebrated on May 22,

2008.

      World Environment day was celebrated on June 5, 2008.

      A training program on “Statistical techniques for design

       and research” was organized on  June 23-28, 2008.

      Annual day of the Institute (GBPIHED) was celebrated  on 19

      September 2008, which commemorated 121^st Birth Anniversary

      of Bharat Ratna Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant Ji.

      XIVth Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant Memorial Lecture entitled

      “Climate change, environment and  aviation” was

      delivered by Prof. Roddam Narasimha on the occasion of

      Institute’s Annual Day Celebration on 19 September 2008.

      U-Probe programme monitoring and advisory committee

       (UMAC) meeting was convened on September 14, 2008.

      Wildlife week was celebrated on October 3-4, 2008.

      Biodiversity conservation orientation/refresher

      course was organized at GIC, Kausani on November 4-11,

      2008.

      Biodiversity conservation workshop was organized at GIC,

       Kausani  on November 8-11, 2008.

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Forthcoming events in 2009

      An International Perspective on Environmental and Water Resources. 5-7, January 2009; Bangkok, Thailand. URL: http://content/asce.org/conferences/thailand09/index.html.

      International Conference on Water, Environment, Energy and Society. (WEES-2009); 12-16 January 2009; Contact: National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee-247667 (Uttarakhand), India.E-mail: wees09@yahoo.com; URL: www.nih.ernet.in.

      National Conference on Biofunctions, Biodiversity & Plant Resource Utilization. 30-31 January 2009; Gorakhpur, U.P., India. Contact: Dr. Malvika Srivastava, Dr. V.N. Pandey, Organizing Secretaries, BBPNRU

of Botany, DDU Gorkhpur University,  Gorakhpur-273009 (U.P.), India. E-mail: bbpnru2009@gmail.com;   bbpru2009@yahoo.co.in.

      International Conference on Implementing Environmental Water Allocations. 23-26 February 2009; Contact: The Secretariat (Cilla Taylor Conferences), PO Box 82, IRENE, 0062, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Phone: +27 (0)126673681; fax : +27(0)126673680; E-mail: confplan@iafrica.com; URL: http://wrc.org.za.

      Beyond Kyoto: Addressing the Challenges of Climate Change- Science Meets Industry, Policy and Public. 5-7 March 2009; Aarhus, Denmark; URL: http://klima.au.dk.

      Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges, and Decisions. 10-12 March 2009; Copenhagan, Denmark. Contact : Jane Sogard Hansen, University of Copenhagen, Climate Office, Noerregade 10, P.O. Box 21771017, Copenhegan, Denmark, Phone:- +4535324251; E-mail: jsha@adm.ku.dk; URL: http://climatecongress.ku.dk.

      International Conference on Water, Environment and Health Sciences: The Challenges of the Climate Change (ICWEHS). 13-17 April; Puebla Cholula, Puebla Mexico. Contact: ICWEHS Organizing Committee: Phone: +52(222)2292647 of 229 2031; E-mail: icwehs@hotmail.com; icwehs@yahoo.com.

      HydroEco’2009 Hydrology and Ecology: Ecosystems Interfacing with Groundwater and Surface Water. 20-23 April 2009; Vienna, Austria. Contact: Karel Kovar, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, The Netherlanads. Phone: +31 30 274 3360; E-mail: karek.kovar@mno.nl; URL: www.natur.cuni.cz/hydroeco2009.

      5^th World Environmental Education Congress. 10-14 May 2009; Congress Secretariat-JPdl 1555 Peel St. Suite 500 Montreal, Quebec, H3A3L8, CANADA. E-mail: 5weec@jpdl.com; URL: 5weec.uqam.ca.

      International Scientific Conference on the Global Energy and Water Cycle.  24-28 August 2009; Melbourne, Australia. E-mail: gewex@gewex.org; URL: http://www.gewex.org.

      2^nd International Conference on Biohydrology 2009: A Changing Climate for Biology and Soil Hydrology Interactions. 21-24 September 2009; Bratislava, Slovakia. Contact: L.Lichner, Institute of Hydrology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Racianska 75, 83102 Bratislave, Slovakia; E-mail: lichner@uh.savba.sk; URL: http://www.ih.savba.sk/biohydrology2009.

      First International Conference on Disaster Management and Human Health Risk: Reducing Risk, Improving Outcomes. 23-25 September 2009; New Forest, UK. Contact : Rachel Swinburn, Conference Manager, Environmental Health Risk 2009 Wessex Institute of Technology, Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst Southampton, SO407AA, U.K. E-mail: rswinburn@wessex.ac.uk.

      13^th World Forestry Congress. 18-25 Oct. 2009; Buenos Aires, Argentina. URL: http://www.wfc2009.org; Email: wfc-xiii@fao.org; info@wfc2009.org.

      9^th International Plant Molecular Biology Congress. 25-30 October 2009; St. Louis, MO-USA. Contact: IPMB 2009 MU Conference Office 348 Heames Center, Columbia, Missouri, USA. E-mail: ipmb2009@missouri.edu.

      9^th World Wilderness  Congress. 6-13 November 2009; Merida, Mexico. URL: http://www.wild9.org; E-Mail: info@wild9.org/emily@wild.org.

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A glimpse of Indian Himalayan states at ENVIS Website

        http://gbpihed.gov.in/envis/him_states.htm

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