With the financial and mentoring support from WWF-India, the Gramya Sikshan Paryavaran Sanstha is engaged in community led conservation of Manpai Bugyal (alipine) located inside the Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttarakhand (India). Manpai Bugyal of the Wildlife Sanctuary, which is spread in about 200 hectare area between 3600 to 4000 meter elevations. 

The Manpai Bugyal has been traditionally recognized as holly land that has strong connection with local religious and cultural practices. However, the effectiveness of traditionally organized activities of dependent villagers related to culture, religion, sheep rearing and harvesting of herbs has deteriorated. Major reasons behind this deterioration of social safeguards include inability of traditional social system to recognize and respond new challenges of increasing anthropogenic pressure and rapid commercialization of herbs and other alpine resources.

The opportunity that we have in hand in order to conserve these Alpine rangelands is existence of locally formed people’s institution for religious and cultural interventions in the alpine and socially organized form of summer sheep rearing in the region. These two socially imbedded systems that interact with Bugyals (alpines) will be mobilized to educate and monitor sustainable harvesting of herbs for commercial uses.

Key Project Activities:

1.       Educate all stakeholders

2.       Community led assessment

3.       Documentation of traditional practices and beliefs

4.       Developing capacity of stakeholders