The mountain communities are always dependent on the forests and its resources. However, as the global scenario has been changing extensively, the mountains are suffering harsh environmental degradation resulting in scarcity of resources of daily substances such as food, fuel, water and fodder, etc. Consequently this leads to out migration of rural mountain people, particularly males to the urban in search of employment, leaving behind women along with elders and children.
This peculiar scenario of out migration has resulted in lessening of skilled and valuable working hands and creates additional pressure on women's shoulders. The availability of livelihood resources at village level would be helpful to restrict migration rates as well as the induction of appropriate technologies which will improve the livelihood status of the rural community.
Sustainable Mountain Development was the topic of concern at the First United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, where sustainable rural development and biodiversity conservation were included in Agenda 21 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. In 2012, the world met once again in Rio de Janeiro to analyse the journey the 20 years since the last conference and to discuses the Green Economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication and institutional framework for sustainable development.
