RECOMMENDATIONS

Forest resources in the Uttara Kannada district have undergone tremendous change and degradation because the value of it is being poorly understood and not considered in the policy making process. However, valuation of regulating services, cultural services and supporting services are more difficult to estimate and thus pose serious challenges to planners and practitioners. As a consequence the values of these services are often overlooked. Hence, valuation of these services in income accounting of a region/ nation is essential to make the plans and policies more sustainable.

Major threats are habitat fragmentation, negligence, conflict of interest and ineffective restoration/improvement strategies. Poor understanding of the complex ecological processes and proper estimation of the ecosystem benefits have often lead to the destruction of fragile ecosystems. To improve the scenario, thorough understandings of the complex ecosystem dynamics as well as its socio-religious association with community life both are important from conservation and management point of view.

Conservation activities are mostly implemented by Government agencies, NGOs and sometimes by communities. However community participation is often activated by extra mural support which has serious problem in long term sustainability due to financial limitation. The problem could be mitigated to some extent by awareness generation so to raise the interest among people to safeguard its future for their own benefit. The premium should be on conservation of the remaining fragile ecosystems, which are vital for the water security (perenniality of streams), food security (sustenance of biodiversity) and uplift the livelihoods of local population due to carbon credits.