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Towards sustainable forest management: an examination of environmental knowledge among forest dwellers in the Kashmir Himalayas

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Abstract

Environmental knowledge, attitude and sustainable behaviour of the people have become fundamental elements of sustainable forest management. Kashmir Himalayas is an ecologically fragile region, inhabited by various ethnic and tribal communities with low levels of education and heavy dependence on forest resource utilization. The lack of adequate environmental knowledge and appreciation of ecological values among the inhabitants has negatively affected the forest resources. The study aims to ascertain the levels of environmental knowledge and identify the factors that influence attitude and sustainable behaviour among forest dwellers. The study is based on primary data, with a sample size of 600 households, which was analyzed with the help of Weighted Average Index (WAI), and the Binary Logistic Regression Model (BLRM). The findings indicate that forest dwellers in the region exhibit low levels of environmental knowledge, along with a moderate attitude and moderate levels of sustainable behaviour. Environmental knowledge regarding emerging global environmental issues such as the role of forests in combating global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and ecological imbalance was found to be very low, primarily on account of low levels of education. In addition, the attitude towards wildlife conservation was non-congenial due to increasing man-animal conflicts in the region. The study reveals that education, age, and gender were key determinants influencing people’s environmental knowledge, attitude, and sustainable behaviour. This study validates that knowledge, sustainable behaviour, and attitude scales could be used as premier tools for monitoring sustainable forest management initiatives in similar environments across mountainous regions.

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Fig. 1

Source Survey of India toposheets, 1971

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Abbreviations

BLRM:

Binary Logistic Regression Model

C:

Celsius

CPR:

Common Property Resources

E:

East

ESD:

Education for Sustainable Development

FAO:

Food and Agriculture Organization

KM:

Kilometre

LPG:

Liquefied petroleum gas

N:

North

NGO:

Non-governmental organization

NTFPs:

Non-timber Forest Products

SC:

Scheduled Caste

SD:

Standard Deviation

ST:

Scheduled Tribe

UNEP:

United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCO:

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

WAI:

Weighted Average Index

₹:

(Symbol): Rupees

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  1. Department of Geography and Disaster Management, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India

    Irshad Ahmad Thoker, M. Shafi Bhat, Shamim Ahmad Shah, Fayaz Ahmad Lone, Sumira Mir, Hilal Ahmad Parrey & Mohmad Akbar

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Thoker, I.A., Bhat, M.S., Shah, S.A. et al. Towards sustainable forest management: an examination of environmental knowledge among forest dwellers in the Kashmir Himalayas. Environ Dev Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-04823-y

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