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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | NGO helps adivasis with alternative plan for forest conservation by Dipannita Das

NGO helps adivasis with alternative plan for forest conservation by Dipannita Das

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published Published on Aug 10, 2011   modified Modified on Aug 10, 2011

City-based NGO Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group, in association with other forums and NGOs have helped the tribal populations in the Biligiri Rangaswamy temple sanctuary, also a tiger reserve, in Karnataka, to come up with an alternative community-based plan for conservation, livelihood and management of forest.

So far, out of around 62 settlements, 25 in this protected area have got the community forest rights. According to experts, similar processes should also be carried out for protected areas in Maharashtra.

Ashish Kothari, founder member, Kalpavriksh, said about 160 Soliga adivasis and a few conservation and social action groups prepared the framework of a community-based plan for conserving the area's forest and wildlife and securing forest-based livelihoods. As an alternative, it also includes how to collaborate and work with forest department and civil society groups. Now the plan, sent to the state government and ministry of environment and forests, awaits approval.

In Maharashtra, none of the areas have been recognised as community forest rights in protected areas. Thus, the Biligiri sanctuary sets an example for other areas too, he pointed out.

When the Forest Rights Act was promulgated, these groups - Kalpavriksh, ATREE and Vivekanandan Girijana Kalyan Kendra (VGKK), along with the Soliga Abivruddha Sangha, a forum of adivasis, organised workshops to help the adivasis in Biligiri sanctuary understand the FRA in 2007. In particular, it was noted that apart from securing their livelihoods (through rights to land and forest produce), the FRA could be a basis for moving towards a community-based model of conservation. The Soligas have claimed all these under the FRA.

"But the realisation for the groups to have alternative conservation plan became more urgent, with the state government notifying the area as a Tiger reserve in January 2011. A short note on this was sent by them to the ministry of environment and forests, and the Karnataka government, urging them to pursue a community-based approach rather than the conventional tiger reserve model," said Kothari.

C Madegowda, a Soliga and secretary of an organisation working for the adivasis here, said the community-based plan has identified the threats and thus highlighted conservation of forest area, livelihood of the locals and management of the area.

Also a senior research associate with ATREE, he said a decade of research by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) showed that the Soliga were not a threat to the area's biodiversity but their management techniques such as controlled burning of undergrowth, may have sustained forests until the take over of management by state forest administration, whose fire suppression led to massive increase in Lantana weed.

Framework of community-based plan:
 
* Ecological conservation, livelihood security and governance and management

* Highlights the rapid spread of weed 'Lantana camara' and their traditional management of using litter fire to keep the weed under control

* Focuses on poaching and threat by the tourists as they litter the place with plastic. And suggests for livelihood sustenance by growing organic coffee production, forestry work, better returns from non-timber, control of eco-tourism, among others

Forest Rights Act

* This Act recognises forest dwellers' rights and makes conservation more participatory and accountable. The law recognises land rights, rights to use or collect (minor forest produce, grazing grounds) and gives the community the right to protect and manage the forest

*Community Forest Rights includes sustainable use of forest produce, managing and protecting the forest and safeguarding cultural and knowledge links (rights related to customs)
 

The Times of India, 10 August, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/NGO-helps-adivasis-with-alternative-plan-for-forest-conservation/articleshow/9545398.cms


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