Environmental Educational Training With Rural Himalayan Women

                                     MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY 

It is important to recognize that the collaboration with mountain communities is essential for the effectiveness of any environmental mountain restoration program. It is only by involving and supporting them that an endeavour of this magnitude can be successfully achieved and prove to be long-term sustainable. It is also important to note that generally it has not been the grass-root mountain communities that have caused the majority of the environmental degradation that has taken place throughout mountain regions worldwide. It has always been in the interest of these communities to protect the natural resources, which supported their livelihoods.

Mountain communities are the natural stewards of the water sources and so many crucial ecological. Therefore they should be encouraged and supported for their services in regenerating and protecting the environment. Without the recognition of the vital part that they play in being the natural caretakers of the mountain forests, they will be forced by poverty to either degrade these resources even further or to migrate. However if these communities are supported, they can provide the very important service of regenerating, safeguarding and preserving the natural ecologies.

When searching through the traditional methods that the mountain communities have applied to preserve the environment, we came across the tradition of Sacred Groves. This method has been effective in the past and is still so in present times, in safeguarding environments. It is an ancient conservation method that many mountain communities are familiar with. Hence it could be very useful in helping to regenerate and preserve mountain forests.

However because so much of the natural mountain resources have been depleted, now also the daily necessities of the local rural communities threatens them and exacerbates the problem.  Therefore the methods that we are proposing have been created specifically to fit with the requirements and traditions of the different social groups throughout mountain regions worldwide.