LAND-USE AND THE BIOPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OF KINNAUR DISTRICT, HIMACHAL-PRADESH, INDIA

The extensive alpine pastures of Kinnaur in the Indian Himalaya are an invaluable resource, with fertile soils that provide high-quality pasturage above treeline. However, today these pastures are being degraded by excessive livestock pressure and lack of good management. This is weakening animal husbandry programs and upsetting the normal hydrological functioning of the upland river catchments. The forested area in the Kinnaur District is small and only half is under well-protected forest. Within the forests infiltration and water retention rates are high and help to effect regular sediment-free water yields to the rivers, but there is growing pressure from the local people who claim that they need a large proportion of the annual yield of the forest. The cultivable waste lands that cover a large area should be used for social forestry to augment the vegetation cover and reduce the pressure on the present forest land. The cultivated area is very limited and produces low yields of less remunerative crops. The agricultural land in the forest and alpine belts on steep slopes is being severely eroded and may become completely unstable.