Ringal (Arundinaria falcatta) or dwarf bamboo have been traditionally harvested from the oak forests on a subsistence basis. It is then fabricated by local craftsmen, into a number of useful household products including, mats (chettai), a variety of baskets for carrying biomass, storing household goods, apart from religious purposes. It is a male-dominated activity mainly undertaken by Doms, the schedule caste members of the community.

The ringals project was initiated by AT India in 2004, when the ringal craftsmen were organized under Ringal Bunkar Sangathans (ringal worker groups). Presently, there are 38 Ringal Bunkar Samithis in all, with a total of 358 members. The success of AT India’s ringal project can be gauged from the fact that in less than 2 years of its initiation (in 2004), commercialization of the activity was underway. However, given the organisation’s commitment to conservation, this activity has not been handed over to DNPCL for a full-scale commercialization.

Research studies conducted under the programme suggest that sustainable extraction of ringal on a large scale may not  be feasible. Therefore while AT India continues to believe that conversion of existing subsistence skills into a commercial economic activity is desirable, the pace of this conversion is being controlled. First it is necessary to develop captive bamboo plantations to sustain the activity. For this purpose AT India through its Ringal Bunkar Sangathans regularly undertakes plantation of tens of thousands of saplings of ringal (Arundenaria falcatta) and allied species on CPR forests and private lands (see more in the planations section). In addition, AT India is also in the process of studying natural regeneration possibilities for ringals.

 Programme Highlights

· AT India has been providing design and product development inputs and is in the process of making further innovations on other hand-crafted products that can be made with ringals (e.g. file covers using ringal and silk, blinds, etc). So far about 130 designs have been developed with the help of bamboo design experts from  the Bamboo and Fibre Development Board of Uttarakhand. A design and product development centre has also been established at a village, Tilwara.

· 738 trainings have been organized so far. Training of master trainers is done through specially hired bamboo design experts from North-east  India and Uttaranchal.

· The ringal enterprise organized by AT India has approximately 133 weavers working on a part time basis;

· Between (April – Sept 2007) the project worked with 52 ringal weavers and 6 collectors responsible for supporting production and connecting output to the market.

· The bulk of the material produced under this enterprise (approximately 2000 pcs. of finished products) is sold locally along the yatra (pilgrimage) routes, at state run handicraft shops and exhibitions. and has generated annual revenues of approximately Rs.70,032 for the producers and Rs.10,884 for the collectors. 

 Lichens

The Himalayan region harbours roughly 983 species of lichens (235 genera), which comprise nearly 50% of the species occurring in the Indian sub-continent. Oak forests are known for their rich lichen flora and this is one of the reasons for their exploitation. A recent study (2000) on lichens of Himalaya, reported that the Chopta-Tungnath hills of Ukhimath (AT India’s project area) alone have 92 species of lichens, which is still in pristine form. The presence of three major oaks and remains of trees of old-growth forest make these forests a particularly suitable habitat for epiphytic macro-lichens.

In 2006, AT India undertook a study to assess the status of lichens in the project area and the environmental and community prospects for commercial use of the resource. For this purpose it collected data on the availability of lichens in the project area and a market study to understand the movement, pricing and end use of lichens. Some of the findings from the study are mentioned below:

Contribution to overall biodiversity: Lichens are important to ecosystem functioning as food, shelter, and nesting material for a variety of birds, deer, goats, sheep, moles, mice, bats and flying squirrel. Invertebrates like bristletails, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, mites, spiders and slugs live on, mimic or eat lichens (Mc Cune and Geiser 1997)

Uses: Lichens are being harvested and collected from the Himalayan forests as they are used as spices, appetizers, aromatic and medicinal plants, and for the acids and dyes derived from them.

Lichen collection: The lichen collection is highly unscientific, irregular and uncontrolled. Generally, they get easily over-harvested. Resulting from the symbiosis of algae and fungi, lichens are stress-tolerant organisms, but they find it difficult to revive once unduly damaged. The poor villagers who collect lichens get only wages for their labour; most of profit goes to contractors, and traders.

Both ringal and lichens are common property resources that have gone relatively unnoticed by the forest department. This has lead to an over exploitation of lichens through unsustainable harvesting controlled by traders whose sole motivation is profit-making. AT India was planning to intervene in the lichen trade by putting it back in the control of the local villagers training them in value addition types of processing, identifying markets, and in sustainable harvesting methods.

At present, the economic activity based on lichen remains at the research level. The data compilation and documentation related to the use, extraction, policy and cultivation of lichen in Uttarakhand has been completed. The study has revealed that commercial use of lichens may not be prudent given that its current extraction levels in community forests is far from benign. Thus plans for initiating any lichens related livelihoods have been abandoned or put on hold for now.

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