This book is concerned with how the natural resources are managed and utilized by the people inhabiting in the villages adjacent to Tirumala foot hills (Seshachalam hills), a semi-arid forest region in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, India. The main thrust is laid on local traditions and indigenous knowledge practices which are developed by the people in course of time utilizing natural resources such as land, water and forest for their survival. Most of the studies on natural resources so far are not holistic in nature and, hence, there is a need for a more comprehensive and holistic understanding of the natural resources. The present book is an attempt in this regard. This book is aimed to understand the utilization, management and conservation of natural resources through indigenous knowledge systems of the local communities inhabiting in the study area as well as document the indigenous knowledge systems and practices related to Natural Resources such as land, water and forest which are utilized and conserved by the people inhabited in the villages adjacent to Tirumala foot hills in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, India.This book is divided into six chapters. The first chapter discusses about introduction of the subject and its review of literature, methodology, objectives and importance of the study. The second chapter discusses the salient features of Tirumala hills and its foothill villages like physical features, climate, flora and fauna, and broad characteristics of the Tirumala forest region. It also provides some sketches of its historical past. It is mainly intended to gain a background idea about the region before proceeding to the analysis of the studied villages. The third chapter is presented in two sections-The first section gives a brief description on indigenous knowledge systems regarding the land use and management and the second section of the third chapter discusses about the indigenous agricultural methods practiced by the people of Tirumala foothill villages. Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for the people living in the rural areas. For centuries, farmers have planned agricultural production and conserved natural resources with the instruments of indigenous knowledge. The traditional water harvesting systems and irrigation management have discussed in fourth chapter. The people of Tirumala foothill villages classified several types of traditional water storage structure, in which some structures were natural formations and some were man made. The people also named various types of naturally formed channels which carry water to various storage structures, found at several places in studied region. The fifth chapter discusses about local knowledge on the utilization of forest resources. The people in the study area classify the forest in terms of the type of resources available, water resources and type of terrain like valley, gorge, plateau, hillock or hill, mountain basin etc. The villagers depend heavily on the forest for meeting their day to day needs for firewood, honey collection, fodder for their cattle, getting raw material for making agricultural implements, for performing rituals concerning ancestral spiritual beliefs, medicinal plants, household furniture and also partly for earning their livelihoods through selling various NTFPs available in Tirumala forest. Conservation of sacred plant, sacred grove, sacred pools and falls is one of the significant traditional practice in the study area. The book concludes that the people of Tirumala foothill villages has close association with nature in kind of food production-wise, economic, cultural and religion-wise, irrigation-wise, occupation-wise in the utilization of natural resources. With the application of traditional knowledge and practices, they meet their basic needs successfully. The indigenous knowledge systems and institutions are playing central role in the preservation and conservation of natural resources.
