Main Article Content
Abstract
Sustainable rural development with natural forest resources contributes significantly to rural livelihoods. Issues relating to forest resources and rural livelihoods should not be ignored in policy decisions and other interventions. Therefore, different agencies should take steps to make efficient use of forest resources, which would be one effective way to improve the livelihoods of rural households. The result of the study also indicates that very little attention has been paid to the cultural, traditional and environmental value of forest resources in the Darjeeling hills. Even awareness programs on the use and conservation of forest resources by various governmental and non-governmental organizations are limited in the study area. Current forest management strategies suggest that forest resources are common resources, resulting in a lack of rural household active participation in forest conservation practices. It has been revealed that rural households use other sources of diversified livelihood strategies in addition to income from agriculture and forestry. Hence, to achieve sustainable development, it is necessary to involve certain core stakeholders namely ‘community and small-holder forestry’ into the forest resources management practices. It is important that active involvement of local community helps to achieve sustainable development goals.Unfortunately, consistently increasing number of population and anthropogenic pressure on forests, Poverty and illiteracy (lack of awareness) towards forest management and sustainable livelihood among large section of the local Darjeeling hilly inhabitants are major hurdles as observed during the course of study.