The present paper is an attempt to study the village-forest interface in the Similipal Biosphere Reserve. Many villages of Jashipur Block are located within Buffer Zone of Reserve. Study of the ecosystem linkage of Gudgudia village of this block indicates that the village have total area of about 1.6 Sq. km with majority of land coming under un-irrigated and culturable wastes categories. The village is dominated by Adivasi and SC and ST (73%) and Non Adivasi (27%) populations. Kharia and Kohl together constitute about 71.4% of houses and Mahakud, Teli, Mahali and Kamar etc. around 10%. Population of 180 cattle of the village are looked after by two Baramashias. The population depends on rain fed cultivation for livelihood as they grow only single crop per year. To improve the soil quality, some work to check soil erosion by making check dam and water harvesting structures has been done in the village. During Summer, villagers face problem of water shortage. Ground water level is around 300 feet. The people construct trenches to ward off the wild animals from the villages. Elephant herds usually enter in the village and destroy the paddy crop. The anthropogenic disturbances in wild habitats of core area force the wild animals to invade the human settlements. The Minor Forest Products (MFP) collection continues to be their main occupation as they collect wild vegetables, wild seeds, wild fruits, wild tubers and roots and wild flower in different months. The medicinal plants are also collected by the villagers as they consider the traditional medicines very effective over allopathic ones. It appears with this preliminary investigation that there is a close link between the inhabitants and the nature. Further study shall be of much help for revalidating the local knowledge for sustainable livelihood and for eco-sustainable management.
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