Description:

This project, “Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Forest Resource Use by Rural Communities in India” aims to study the role of forest plantations as a safety net for rural households facing distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data was collected in 2021-22.

The data includes:

- Village information on demographics and resource governance
- Household information on demographics, livelihoods, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and forest use and management
- Information on forest plantations, including species and management

Data structure:

This dataset contains 720 households nested within 24 local governmental units (panchayats) in the Kangra District of India’s northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

This data builds a panel dataset with previously collected data in 2018, “Impacts of Afforestation on Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in India”, which is publicly available here: https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/220402 .

The data from 2018 included 2400 households nested within 60 panchayats (40 households per panchayat). The current dataset has selected 24 panchayats from the previous study, and randomly selected 30 households from the original sample in each panchayat to resurvey in 2021-22.

The panel dataset thus enables comparison of forest use patterns before the pandemic (2018) with forest use during/after pandemic disruptions (2021-22) for 720 households.

At present, we post the raw, unprocessed data. We have removed all person names to protect identity of surveyed households. The documentation files include full information about variables collected. Show less..

Data contains personal data

Yes

Sensitive personal data

Yes

Type of personal data

The data contains household level data related to demographics, livelihoods, impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and forest use. It can be connected to households through an ID number (all names and other identifying information is removed)

Code key exists

Yes

Language

English

Method and outcome

Unit of analysis

Household

Population

The population includes rural households in the northern Indian state Himachal Pradesh

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling procedure

Probability: Simple random

We selected 30 households randomly from the government records in each village.

Time period(s) investigated

2021 – 2022

Data format / data structure

Numeric

Text

Data collection

Mode of collection: Self-administered questionnaire: paper
Description of the mode of collection: Surveys were conducted by trained field staff. They visited households in their homes.
Time period(s) for data collection: 2021-10-01 – 2022-05-01
Instrument: Survey compilation (Structured questionnaire) - survey for village, household, and forest plantation
Sample size: 720
Number of responses: 720
Source of the data: Population group

Geographic coverage

Geographic spread

Geographic location: India

Geographic description: The data has been collected from the Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh, India

Administrative information

Responsible department/unit

Department of Rural and Urban Development

Funding

Funding agency: FORMAS
Funding agency's reference number: 2020-02781
Project name on the application: Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Forest Resource Use by Rural Communities in India

Ethics Review

Swedish Ethical Review Authority - Ref. 2021-01649

Swedish Ethical Review Authority

Topic and keywords

Research area

Energy and natural resources (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Environment and conservation (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Natural landscapes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Forest science (Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2011)

Human geography (Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2011)

Social sciences interdisciplinary (Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2011)

Keywords

Forest management, Rural development, Natural resources, Community-based resource management, Natural resource governance, Covid-19, Human well-being, Forest livelihoods, Forest restoration, Tree planting, Forests safety net

Publications