Abstract
Wasteland is defined in various ways by different agencies. However, in general it represents degraded, unused, and uncultivated lands. These lands have utilized in recent past to bridge the gap between demand and supply of food, fodder, timber, and also for resource conservation. Area under mines in the country is about 0.19 m ha and ravine lands 4 m ha. Though mining is important for industrial growth, it also has negative impact on the environment and renders the land unproductive. Rehabilitation of such degraded areas requires systematic and scientific approach which includes proper survey, choice of species, and techniques for establishment of plant species. Rehabilitation of ravine lands involves treatment of table and marginal lands contributing runoff to the gullies and proper gullies/ravines on watershed basis. It requires an integrated approach of using gullies according to land capability classes, soil, and water conservation measures and putting land under permanent vegetation cover involving, afforestation, agroforestry, horticulture, pasture, and energy plantations. Watershed development has become the major intervention for managing natural resources. Majority of the watersheds in the country are degraded and suffer from poor productivity, biotic pressure, acute fodder shortage, poor livestock productivity, poverty, water scarcity, and poor infrastructure. A multitier ridge to valley sequenced approach is required to treat the watersheds for enhancing productivity and resource conservation. This chapter deals with the aapproaches for development of mined, ravine, and degraded watersheds through bioengineering, afforestation, and agroforestry along with success stories.
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Acknowledgments
Authors like to acknowledge Director CSWCRTI for providing the necessary facilities and Dr J. C. Dagar, Assistant Director General (Agronomy/Agroforestry), NRM Division (ICAR) for critical suggestions. We are also grateful to all the Scientists of CSWCRTI for their kind help in compiling the information. Special thanks are due to Mr. Laxmi Kant Sharma for providing the photographs.
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Chaturvedi, O.P., Kaushal, R., Tomar, J.M.S., Prandiyal, A.K., Panwar, P. (2014). Agroforestry for Wasteland Rehabilitation: Mined, Ravine, and Degraded Watershed Areas. In: Dagar, J., Singh, A., Arunachalam, A. (eds) Agroforestry Systems in India: Livelihood Security & Ecosystem Services. Advances in Agroforestry, vol 10. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1662-9_8
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