Abstract

                               India is vulnerable to several environmental threats. An ever growing population is over straining the natural resources and put the natural environment under severe threat. Tribes are the first victims of environmental degradation and disproportionately affect their life because those issues pollute the most essential resources they depend on. Hence, the present study was taken up to document the soil related issues occurring due to the changes in the natural environment and to identify the probable causes of factors responsible for each issue. For this study, the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu was selected considering the highest proportion of the tribal population in the district. Ex-post facto research design was used. Totally five major issues have been documented viz., loss of soil fertility, loss of soil beneficial microbial activity, subsoil compactness, the incidence of frequent soil erosion, unsuitability of the soil to raise a profitable crop. For the aboveidentified soil related issues, responsible factors were also identified and ranked by employing Garrett ranking method.

Key words : Factors, Garret ranking, Soil Erosion, Soil Fertility, Subsoil Compactness, Tribes