"Endangered landscapes, unperturbed response: Socio-ecological concerns in the western Himalayas" Public Lecture by Dr. Rinki Sarkar at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 28th November 2013
Time : 3:00 pm
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Place : Seminar Room, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110011
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'
Event Description : ‘Endangered landscapes, unperturbed response: Socio-ecological concerns in the western Himalayas’ Public Lecture (Science, Society and Nature Series) by Dr. Rinki Sarkar, Independent Researcher and Economist, New Delhi.
Abstract : The Himalayas are believed to be one of the youngest mountains of the world. Geological insights indicate that the crustal movement of the Indian sub-continent against Central Asia formed these colossal mountain ranges. Some geologists feel that the Himalayas are still growing, giving the severe earthquakes, which occasionally occur in and around the north of India, as evidence of their belief. As regards human habitations, the Himalayas have hosted a variety of populations of diverse origin. Hindu epic references and ancient monastic records provide preliminary evidence of such settlements. Better accounts of living conditions emerged, much later, with the advent of the British through their immaculately documented gazetteers and other official records. In general, their writing invariably portrayed the existence of small isolated mountain polities pursuing agro-pastoral lifestyles under the powerful influence of a local deity. Just as the tectonic movements of the Himalayan crust has not ceased, in the more contemporary context, these once isolated and static rural communities appear to be witnessing an era of transformation and change. At the village level, transition may be attributable to a host of specific circumstances that varies across the wide expanse of the Himalayas. Accidental events and historical antecedents, the role of a local visionary, nature of political affiliations, targeted state policy of one kind or another, demonstration effect or urban exposure, meteorological shifts and consequent weather exigencies or simply latent desires and aspirations of the local village communities, may have ushered in change. More specifically, since the last four decades, this region has witnessed sustained improvements in road accessibility through government programs initiated for ensuring national security or simply for hastening the pace of rural development. The opening up of an inhospitable environment has progressively transformed the region’s subsistence based economy to a market-oriented one with dire consequences for the surrounding ecosystem as livelihood linked activities continue to rely intensively on the natural resource base of the region. The effect of change on sustainability of the overall environment therefore, needs to be evaluated. Managing natural resources that are both economically and ecologically important is the greatest challenge for conservationists amidst this scenario of transition and change. The lecture provides a brief overview of the Himalayan region terminating into the trajectory of field-oriented research studies pursued by the speaker for unearthing and highlighting these concerns in an ecologically fragile mid-elevation belt of the Western Himalayas.
Speaker : Dr. Rinki Sarkar is an independent researcher based in Delhi. Over the last decade, she has been essentially engaged in conducting field oriented research studies on the impact of development and change, conservation issues and the role of institutional governance in ecologically fragile mid-elevation belts of the Western Himalayas, in India. Though she is trained as an economist, her research studies have evolved to assume an interdisciplinary focus in response to the needs of an interconnected ecosystem that coexists in close proximity to expanding human habitations. She believes in spending a good amount of time in the field. 'Ground truthing' exercises through qualitative and quantitative techniques and long term monitoring through field visits and re-visits are an integral part of her research methodology whereby she treks into the landscape unearthing various dimensions of a threatened environment and lives with the local community for authenticating the past, the present and their perceptions of the future. These she believes are an important pre-requisite for designing and testing context-specific policy and development alternatives. She has done intensive field studies for mapping and understanding socio-ecological trends in nearly 200 villages and forests in the vicinity of these habitations. Her field research endeavour spans a wide geographical expanse of this belt encompassing nearly 1000 kilometres across the districts of Chamba, Kullu and Kinnaur in the State of Himachal Pradesh and the districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital and Pithoragarh in the State of Uttarakhand. More recently, she has started taking keen interest in documenting the floral, fungal and insect life diversity of the region as indicators of ecological sustainability. Due to her intensive involvement in this region, she had developed deep-rooted social contacts based on a relationship of trust. These social networks enable her to tap valuable and authentic local perceptions and indigenous knowledge that is often the only source of information in a region where there are few agencies monitoring grass-root level dynamics focussing rather on regional aggregates as far as data base is concerned. She has co-authored as well as independently written papers in renowned international as well national journals. She is amongst the first to conduct a comprehensive interdisciplinary study on the socio-ecological trajectory of Chilgoza-pine (Pinus gerardiana) forests through field-work amidst xeric and steep landscape the species inhabits. Her research findings have been accepted as inputs, by the State Forest Department of Himachal Pradesh, for formulating a conservation programme in order to sustain this threatened endemic species. Her recent research endeavour pertains to a longitudinal study designed to unearth the nature and pace of rural development and its impact on the surrounding forest ecosystem. In this connection, she conducted a detailed decadal re-study of eleven villages and forests in the vicinity for a deep insight on transformation and change. She also conducts teaching workshops for post-graduate students working on various dimensions of rural development in order to expose them to the critical issues plaguing these mountain regions through results emanating from her field oriented research work. Highlighting the efficacy of ground-truthing exercises as well as intensive field studies is an important dimension of these workshop proceedings
Related Events : Talks | Environment
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Place : Seminar Room, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110011
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'
Event Description : ‘Endangered landscapes, unperturbed response: Socio-ecological concerns in the western Himalayas’ Public Lecture (Science, Society and Nature Series) by Dr. Rinki Sarkar, Independent Researcher and Economist, New Delhi.
Abstract : The Himalayas are believed to be one of the youngest mountains of the world. Geological insights indicate that the crustal movement of the Indian sub-continent against Central Asia formed these colossal mountain ranges. Some geologists feel that the Himalayas are still growing, giving the severe earthquakes, which occasionally occur in and around the north of India, as evidence of their belief. As regards human habitations, the Himalayas have hosted a variety of populations of diverse origin. Hindu epic references and ancient monastic records provide preliminary evidence of such settlements. Better accounts of living conditions emerged, much later, with the advent of the British through their immaculately documented gazetteers and other official records. In general, their writing invariably portrayed the existence of small isolated mountain polities pursuing agro-pastoral lifestyles under the powerful influence of a local deity. Just as the tectonic movements of the Himalayan crust has not ceased, in the more contemporary context, these once isolated and static rural communities appear to be witnessing an era of transformation and change. At the village level, transition may be attributable to a host of specific circumstances that varies across the wide expanse of the Himalayas. Accidental events and historical antecedents, the role of a local visionary, nature of political affiliations, targeted state policy of one kind or another, demonstration effect or urban exposure, meteorological shifts and consequent weather exigencies or simply latent desires and aspirations of the local village communities, may have ushered in change. More specifically, since the last four decades, this region has witnessed sustained improvements in road accessibility through government programs initiated for ensuring national security or simply for hastening the pace of rural development. The opening up of an inhospitable environment has progressively transformed the region’s subsistence based economy to a market-oriented one with dire consequences for the surrounding ecosystem as livelihood linked activities continue to rely intensively on the natural resource base of the region. The effect of change on sustainability of the overall environment therefore, needs to be evaluated. Managing natural resources that are both economically and ecologically important is the greatest challenge for conservationists amidst this scenario of transition and change. The lecture provides a brief overview of the Himalayan region terminating into the trajectory of field-oriented research studies pursued by the speaker for unearthing and highlighting these concerns in an ecologically fragile mid-elevation belt of the Western Himalayas.
Speaker : Dr. Rinki Sarkar is an independent researcher based in Delhi. Over the last decade, she has been essentially engaged in conducting field oriented research studies on the impact of development and change, conservation issues and the role of institutional governance in ecologically fragile mid-elevation belts of the Western Himalayas, in India. Though she is trained as an economist, her research studies have evolved to assume an interdisciplinary focus in response to the needs of an interconnected ecosystem that coexists in close proximity to expanding human habitations. She believes in spending a good amount of time in the field. 'Ground truthing' exercises through qualitative and quantitative techniques and long term monitoring through field visits and re-visits are an integral part of her research methodology whereby she treks into the landscape unearthing various dimensions of a threatened environment and lives with the local community for authenticating the past, the present and their perceptions of the future. These she believes are an important pre-requisite for designing and testing context-specific policy and development alternatives. She has done intensive field studies for mapping and understanding socio-ecological trends in nearly 200 villages and forests in the vicinity of these habitations. Her field research endeavour spans a wide geographical expanse of this belt encompassing nearly 1000 kilometres across the districts of Chamba, Kullu and Kinnaur in the State of Himachal Pradesh and the districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital and Pithoragarh in the State of Uttarakhand. More recently, she has started taking keen interest in documenting the floral, fungal and insect life diversity of the region as indicators of ecological sustainability. Due to her intensive involvement in this region, she had developed deep-rooted social contacts based on a relationship of trust. These social networks enable her to tap valuable and authentic local perceptions and indigenous knowledge that is often the only source of information in a region where there are few agencies monitoring grass-root level dynamics focussing rather on regional aggregates as far as data base is concerned. She has co-authored as well as independently written papers in renowned international as well national journals. She is amongst the first to conduct a comprehensive interdisciplinary study on the socio-ecological trajectory of Chilgoza-pine (Pinus gerardiana) forests through field-work amidst xeric and steep landscape the species inhabits. Her research findings have been accepted as inputs, by the State Forest Department of Himachal Pradesh, for formulating a conservation programme in order to sustain this threatened endemic species. Her recent research endeavour pertains to a longitudinal study designed to unearth the nature and pace of rural development and its impact on the surrounding forest ecosystem. In this connection, she conducted a detailed decadal re-study of eleven villages and forests in the vicinity for a deep insight on transformation and change. She also conducts teaching workshops for post-graduate students working on various dimensions of rural development in order to expose them to the critical issues plaguing these mountain regions through results emanating from her field oriented research work. Highlighting the efficacy of ground-truthing exercises as well as intensive field studies is an important dimension of these workshop proceedings
Related Events : Talks | Environment
"Endangered landscapes, unperturbed response: Socio-ecological concerns in the western Himalayas" Public Lecture by Dr. Rinki Sarkar at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 28th November 2013
!["Endangered landscapes, unperturbed response: Socio-ecological concerns in the western Himalayas" Public Lecture by Dr. Rinki Sarkar at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 28th November 2013]()
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Thursday, November 28, 2013
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