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We create monuments in parks, we build cairns in the forest, and we leave shrines on the
waterfront, as humanized imprints/ associations, on/ with nature. The need for humans to
connect to nature, as refuge from everyday life, is fulfilled by green space in all its varied site
types and forms, creating ample opportunities. The landscape which we experience
possesses a large diversity of components, as well as a whole plurality of views. The
geographic reality is nourished by its representation, images and meanings.
While India is often referred to as the land of spirituality, religion and nature worship; the
flora and fauna in both urban and rural areas seem to be on a constant decline. The notion
of craving for respite and opportunity for mindfulness increases as the cities grow and our
lives get busier. A nearby space as sacred and pristine as nature offers such breather and
charges us up for upcoming endeavors.
In a similar context, the Rani Reserve Forest, in the outskirts of Guwahati City, sharing a
boundary with the Garbhanga Forest of Meghalaya towards East, overlooking the wetland
Deepor Beel (a Ramsar Site) towards North and several rural settlements on the other
peripheries is undergoing constant pressure. The pressure is adding up due to the City’s
massive sprawl, the patterns of resource use along the fringe and in the core of the forest,
unmanaged visitation etc. leading to illegal encroachment, exploitation of natural resources,
human-animal conflicts, lack of social awareness, mismanagement by concerned
government agencies and several other threats. Moreover, increased religious tourism on
the Sacred Site of Dakini Hill has given rise to anthropomorphized landscapes that are
modified in a banal way, monotonous, and without feeling or reason, which undermines
aforesaid landscape‘s sacred meaning.
This landscape has been evolving, basically in an unplanned way, through a sequence of
implementation of individual activities, losing its character and health. It has also been
declared that this reserve forest is a disturbed secondary forest where the management
authorities have to deal more and more with rather than with primary forests, so that these
are effectively able to meet the multi-purpose needs of the communities.
As long as forest management organizations carry out activities that change vegetation, new
landscape patterns will be created. The loopholes in such management activities affect
resources (especially biological resources) or human interactions. There is also the
possibility that the developing landscape pattern jeopardizes faunal species dependent on
certain habitat characteristics.
Eco-Development of Rani Reserve Forest, Kamrup-East Forest Division, Assam 2
In a nutshell, the direct as well as indirect implications of human actions, the kinds and
intensities of disturbances, the senses of place created/ disrupted around geographical
scales and around cultural ideas either to ‗protect‘, ‗control‘ and ‗exploit‘ nature are to be
addressed sensitively.
Hence, this thesis tries to document and analyze the natural and human forces acting on the
forest, design interventions and manage the larger landscape in which human activities are
harmlessly integrated into nature to facilitate more visitation and appropriate resource use
with less ecosystem degradation. |
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