“We have been part of these forests for centuries,” said 26-year-old Meer Hamja, a member of the Van Gujjar community in Uttarakhand, India. “We coexist with the forest and in a way are part of the biodiversity here.” Deep in the forests of the northern Himalayan state, the Van Gujjars are enduring a struggle that underlines a broader conflict in forest conservation, where traditional forest-dwelling communities face eviction despite centuries of sustainable coexistence with nature. With the loss of biodiversity and rising impact of climate change in recent decades, forest fires have increased in the hills of Uttarakhand. According to Hamja, the displacement of Van Gujjars from the forests and the disruption in their migration routes have added further fuel to the fire. The Van Gujjars are a Muslim, semi-nomadic, pastoralist community of Gujjars (also spelled Gurjars) spread across the forests of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu and…

---