![\"Devi](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Devi_family_Sahariya_Betwa_river_Bundelkhand_India-1-1.jpg\")
<\/div>The Sahariya have traditionally depended on forests for their livelihoods. Three decades ago, researchers documented<\/a> Sahariya communities using 72 species of plants for medicinal purposes or as food. The bags of those crossing the river were filled with niyagar<\/em> leaves (Vitex negundo<\/em>), which is used to alleviate toothache and labour pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few kilometres downstream, Uttam Kumar and his family live in a cluster of traditional houses. \u201cWe were allotted government housing in the village, but we felt the village was too cramped. We adivasis [indigenous people] like our space and to be closer to nature,\u201d Kumar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But forests are hard to find \u2013 not just around his home but across Bundelkhand, an arid, hilly region straddling the border between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kumar said, \u201cThere used to be a lot of forests around us. Over the years, people from outside, with big machines and trucks, cut down the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kumar\u2019s family owns a small plot of farmland, and earns a living selling commonly-found plants. His father has a vast traditional knowledge of plants; he passed on some of this, such as how to treat minor illnesses and wounds, to his son. While hazar dana<\/em> (a medicinal herb) is no longer found by the banks of the Betwa, the invasive Lantana camara <\/em>\u2013 which is an indicator<\/a> of forest degradation and also catalyses the thinning of forests \u2013 is found everywhere. Indigenous people now use the leaves of Lantana camara <\/em>to treat acne and blisters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, tendu leaves, which are used to make beedies (thin cigarettes) and sustain the livelihoods of hundreds of women in the region, are declining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dusty, drought-prone Bundelkhand was once covered with dense jungle where leopards, tigers and antelopes roamed. Uttam Kumar and Devi\u2019s ancestors foraged and thrived in this landscape for thousands of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deforestation started under British rule in the 19th century, and has accelerated in the past few decades. A report<\/a> by government think-tank NITI Aayog and the United Nations Development Programme says, \u201cPost-independence, population growth and the Green Revolution [when modern farming methods were adopted in India] brought even larger tracts of land under the plough and further increased wood-based energy needs. These factors, combined with poor land management and government-approved commercial logging, drastically reduced forested area [in Bundelkhand].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between 2001 and 2019, forest cover in Bundelkhand districts along the Betwa decreased by over 290 square kilometres, according to the Forest Survey of India\u2019s annual State of Forest reports. This figure discounts Panna, where tree cover increased significantly due to the Panna Tiger Reserve. Scrubland increased by 11,890 sq km over this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2011 census (the latest available data) recorded the population of Scheduled Tribes across Bundelkhand as 796,160. While they comprise 4.3% of the region\u2019s population, they live concentrated in forested areas: indigenous people account for 8.3% of the population in the Madhya Pradesh side of Bundelkhand, and just 0.43% on the Uttar Pradesh side. The NITI Aayog-UNDP report attributes this to their migration from the heavily deforested Uttar Pradesh side towards Madhya Pradesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As forests disappear, access to protected areas tightens. Despite reported\u00a0industrial-scale removal<\/a>\u00a0of trees, it is indigenous people who are often blamed. Even government\u00a0documents<\/a>claim they cause the degradation of forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kuchdon is a Sahariya village close to the Mahaveer Swami Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh. While degradation is apparent, the forests are relatively lush compared with other districts along the Betwa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRange officers have put up barriers and harass us if they find us in the forests. But we know illegal logging continues here,\u201d said Kashiram, a resident of the village. The primary source of income for villagers is the sale of forest-grown mahua<\/em> \u2013 a tree used to treat ailments, produce oil and liquor \u2013 and bael<\/em> (wood apple). Kashiram said, \u201cOur ancestors have been living off the land for centuries. It is only in the last few decades when outsiders started to extract from forests that trouble started. Tree density has reduced and grasses have increased. Forest fires are more common now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n M.P. Singh is staff officer to the principal chief conservator of forests in the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department. He said, \u201cFrom our experience, tribal communities do not engage in illegal trade. They do go into forests and extract minor forest produce, but it is for personal consumption or for small-scale sale in local markets. What we have found is that major deforestation happens due to the involvement of forest officials and forest department personnel. Unfortunately, we have seen this continue despite warnings given to lower-level officials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added, \u201cWe have large tribal populations in the border with Madhya Pradesh, and as per law, they can claim forest land for homes under the Forest Rights Act (Enacted in 2006 to grant tribal groups land right tenure). There is an entire department looking after this and working with them to process their claims. They do have right to go into forests for their livelihood. Their harassment is unfortunate and not according to law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cattle were abandoned in degraded forests by the riverbanks en masse after 2014, when the authorities started enforcing the ban on cow slaughter<\/a> more strictly. Now, the stray animals accelerate<\/a> the degradation of forests through overgrazing, as well as raiding crops. At night, farmers patrol their fields, watching for cattle and nilgai (Asian antelope).<\/p>\n\n\n\n State laws in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh mean it is criminal to cull cattle. Nilgai are protected under the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rajaram Pehalwan, 65, is from the village of Karari in Uttar Pradesh. When he was a child, the thick forest was just a short walk away. \u201cWe would see deer and wild boars roaming around. Leopards were seen, and there were even moments of excitement in the village when news came that a tiger had been spotted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The forests gradually thinned 25 years ago as demand for wood for construction, furniture and firewood increased. The animals of Pehalwan\u2019s childhood have not been seen since, while nilgai numbers have jumped. With less food available from the fading forests, the antelope are drawn to the fields of wheat, chana (chickpea) and matar (green pea). \u201cThere could be more than 1,200 nilgais here [in the area around his village]. Animals that would eat them have gone, and locals cannot hunt them. There is nothing to stop the nilgais from breeding,\u201d Pehalwan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Madhya Pradesh, villagers say nilgais have been spilling over from Uttar Pradesh. Droughts aggravate the tensions, with growing calls to\u00a0cull<\/a>\u00a0nilgai across the region. \u201cPeople can lose up to 30% of their crop to nilgais and cattle. I have hired five people, paying them INR 6,000 [USD 81] each per month, to patrol my fields in the night,\u201d said Chali Raja Yadav, former sarpanch (head of the village council) at Khanjiya village in Madhya Pradesh. \u201cThis is not sustainable. Forest officials should allow a resumption in traditional hunting of these animals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The loss of forests along the Betwa has contributed to soil erosion and\u00a0weakened<\/a>\u00a0the riverbanks. There are multiple dams and embankments along the river, but where it is free from its confines, erosion is apparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rameshwar lives in Baswa village in Uttar Pradesh and owns two acres of land. A clump of jamun trees once separated the Betwa from his land, but has been cut down. Without the protective buffer of these trees, the banks are being eroded during the monsoons by the fast-flowing river. \u201cI\u2019ve lost around three feet of topsoil, while the river has eaten away some 6-8 feet of the bank\u2026 The trees would\u2019ve kept the banks intact. Now, the soil crumbles so easily,\u201d Rameshwar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year, a copious monsoon means the Betwa breached its banks and flooded farms and homes multiple times.\u00a0The Third Pole<\/a>\u00a0spoke with about 150 farmers within 1 km of the riverbank; nearly all had lost crops during the monsoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the years, multiple schemes have been proposed<\/a> and hundreds of crores<\/a> (millions of US dollars) have been spent on reversing the decline of forests. This year, there has been another massive afforestation drive<\/a>. But such initiatives in Uttar Pradesh have yielded little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Betwa](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Basin_Map_with_text-2.jpg\")
<\/div>Disappearing forest, disappearing livelihoods<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"forest](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Forest_loss_Map_1-1-2.jpg\")
<\/div>Harassment by forest guards<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Too many grazers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"cattle](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cattle_grazing_former_forest_Bundelkhand_india-1.jpg\")
<\/div>Cutting down trees leads to erosion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"erosion](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Erosion_Betwa_riverbanks_Bundelkhand_India-1-1.jpg\")
<\/div>Reforestation attempts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Degraded](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Degraded_forest_Mahaveer_Swami_Wildlife_Sanctuary_Uttar_Pradesh_India-1.jpg\")
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