Community rights and livelihoods in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, India

This Talking Points document revisits the communities surrounding Nanda Devi, where the Chipko movement in which tree-hugging village women successfully prevented state-organised timber concessionaires from felling forest trees began in the 1970s. These communities where conservation activism traces its roots lost much of their access rights to their traditional commons a decade later in the name of conservation. The book documents in concrete terms some of the realities and impact of conservation on their lives and livelihoods. The picture presented echoes what is happening in many..