Evaluation of Community Livelihood and Natural Resource Management - A Case in Largest Riverine Island of the World (Majuli), Assam-India

Abstract

Community-based initiatives as a potential win-win solution for improving conservation and livelihood outcomes of the riverine community. Land, forests, water bodies, orchards around homestead of families form some of the basic resources at the household level through which a family can sustain their livelihood. However, close access to the river, may provide opportunity for fishing activities and allied activities. The affinity of the community to the river and water, especially suited them with a variety of opportunistic occupations based on rather complex ecology that the Island provided, but also required the community to develop special skills and strategies to deal with a vigorous and unpredictable river and the fragile ecosystem built in the Island. Floods and erosions were not new, but are to be dealt with year after year. In the present paper an attempt has been made to access the nature and extent of depleting natural resources on Majuli Island due to flood and erosion by the River Brahmaputra and how the operational adaptive and coping livelihood strategies of the tribal communities are effective in dealing with the changing resource complexes and ensuring both the inter and intra generational sustainability.