RURAL FUTURES: FORESTS AND PEOPLE
India, since Independence, has had considerable success in large mammal conservation projects. Project Tiger, one of the flagship government-led conservation programmes, was launched in the year 1973. Since then, the government’s approach to conservation has been one of ‘protectionism’, which came at the expense of forest communities, who were precluded from consideration in the scheme of things. Additionally, while there are more than 770 national parks and sanctuaries in the country today, including 50 tiger reserves, this accounts for only 5% of India’s estimated 33% forest cover, leaving most endemic plant and animal species to share their habitats with farming and forest-fringe communities. In the light of this, there is an urgent need to reconfigure conservation strategies which focus on working with local communities rather than their exclusion.
Project Tiger is one of the flagship government-led conservation programmes in India
The session titled ‘Rural Futures: Forests and People. Community Forests or Protected Forests?’ at the Eastern Himalayan Naturenomics™ Forum, 2017, chaired by Anish Andheria, of Wildlife Conservation Trust, addressed pertinent issues and challenges emerging out of these new approaches and strategies in the conservation practices.
The first presentation on the panel spoke of soft mitigation of human elephant conflict that was being carried out in the Karbi Anglong foothills. Through their campaign ‘Lights for Life, Food to Live’, Nature and Wildlife Association, France, has distributed torches to villagers, which they can use when they go out at nights to chase away elephants from their paddy fields in Assam. They have also supported them with techniques to effectively keep elephants out of their fields during harvest time.
‘Lights for Life, Food to Live’ — soft mitigation programme of human elephant conflict
This was followed by a presentation on the changes in forest conditions and its implications for the wellbeing of forest fringe communities in Darjeeling. Annesha Chowdhury, of ATREE, stated that over 275,000 people in India depend on forests for their subsistence. However, forest protection programmes had severed the access of communities to forest goods and services by restricting their rights to the forests, an increase in human wildlife conflict due to blanket protection of gregarious species such as wild boars, and the eviction of traditional forests dwellers. Additionally, change in structure and composition of forests has further complicated the problem due to altered flow of ecosystem services. Eastern Himalayan people have been reliant on forests for their existence but assessment of such dependence has remained inadequate. As more areas came to be notified, communities were evicted on the basis of encroachment. Finally, in 2006, the India Forest Act was passed to protect the rights of forest communities but has been badly implemented.
The case of Darjeeling was unique as it has been politically disturbed over the last several years. During such times of difficulties, people depended on their forests to an even greater extent. In recent years, however, fuel wood access for fringe communities living around the Sanghalila National Park and Sanchel had devolved. High calorific oak trees within the protected areas were made inaccessible while the village communities are relocated to areas with young oak trees that were not effective as fuel wood. While Sanchel communities, given their increased connectivity with urban centres, have been able to shift fuel consumption to LPG, the Sanghalila communities have been unable to do so because of their geographical isolation. To live a life of dignity requires basic life and health, control over ones material and political environment and uncompromised ecological setting. Although wellbeing is multifaceted, her study proved that those factors depended on the geography, market connectivity and larger historical, socio-political and ecological contexts of communities.
Farmers in South East & South West districts of Sikkim depend on forest resources for their sustenence
The next presentation was based on a study conducted in the south east and south west districts of Sikkim. Urbashi Pradhan, of ATREE, found that farmers in these areas could relate more to the direct services that they got from nature such as fuel wood, edible plants, timber, and such like but could not link the importance of forest covers with the indirect services that they provided such as pollination. With almost 67% of the landscape in Sikkim still depending on agriculture for their livelihood, farmers were advised to shift to large scale Mandarin Orange cultivation once cardamom cultivation had failed. This decision was based on biophysical requirements of the plant, such as elevation (altitude) or temperature rather than the pollinator requirement for it. Research concluded that mandarin orange flower produced 5 times more crop if they were cross pollinated. Local farmers believed there had been a decline of pollinators in the landscape due to excessive use of pesticide in the past and also because food plants of the pollinators had decreased in the landscape. However, government data showed an increase in forest cover in the state, giving rise to contradictory claims. The study found that over the last 25 years there had been a decrease in old growth forest, which included native plants, despite an increase in forest cover. There was also an increase in secondary forests, which were dominated by pioneering species, thereby proving to be poor sources of pollen and nectar. It was clear from this case that all forests were not the same.
The discussion then moved to Meghalaya’s Garo Hills, where unlike the mainland, lands and forests belonged to different communities, with the government controlling only about 6% of the area. Almost 85% of the state is forest cover although there has been considerable degradation. R N Sangma, Chief Forest Officer of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, mentioned in his presentation that at the time of planning reforestation of jhum fallows, the villagers themselves took on a lead role to identify the species which originally grew in the areas. They were the ones who collected these species, grew them in their nurseries and transplanted them back in the forest. For him, the most significant learning has been to realise that securing of forests with boundary walls, fences, and other structures that kept people out was meaningless. Rather, securing the lives of people around the forests produce much better results!
Securing the lives of people around the forests produce better conservation results
In continuation, one of the panelists, Dr Uma Shankar, of NEHU, claimed that plants were the most under-studied and abused species. According to him, it was not always that by declaring an area as protected that one was able to protect plant species. The quality of forests, which were classified as forest 30 years ago and still remains under that classification, is no longer the same and has undergone substantial degradation. Citing the example of Meghalaya, he spoke of the sacred groves, a protected community forest found in the Khasi Hills. But while the Mawphlang Forest is one of the best conserved community forest, preserved in its pristine form, access to its resources is strictly forbidden. However, he strongly believes that there has to be a way to talk of livelihoods as well as preserving the forest in its pristine form. Herein lay the crux of the debate on this panel and also its greatest challenge.
Dr Koyu Furosawa, of Kokugakuin University, Japan, saw the solution in agroforestry. It was critical to recognise the sustainable knowledge that existed among the local communities. Socio-cultural aspects are as important as the ecological, in order to achieve conservation goals. His colleague, Dr Koji Suga, further added that in most East Asian countries, religious temples and shrines were usually surrounded by sacred forests. Locals were dissuaded from cutting down trees and destroying the forest in the fear of displeasing the gods. He urged conservationists to not write-off such superstitious beliefs as irrelevant to conservation but perceive it as community knowledge which serves ecological purposes.
In Japan, socio-cultural aspects are as important as the ecological, in order to achieve conservation goals
The question raised by the Chair about how we imagine this new ecological practice, where the long-term payoff was going to be weighed against immediate economic profit from unsustainable practices, was tackled by Rachna Yadav. From an ecological economics perspective, she reiterated that there was immense pressure on the land with growing populations but communities were well aware of the free ecosystem services they received from the forests. They were equally concerned about the degradation of forest cover and its implication for their everyday lives. However, the unavailability of alternatives was also a reality that they were living with. Often, they were themselves able to articulate these problems to her, during her interactions with community members. From her experience, Yadav felt that the building of trust among hostile populations, who perceive ecologists and conservationists as yet another threat to their existence, will be pivotal for this new form of ecological economics.
The discussion concluded with Ranjit Barthakur, Founding Trustee of Balipara Foundation, stating that there was an urgent need to change the paradigm and terminology of the existing approach to conservation. Transforming how we speak and think about ‘development’ can help reframe and contextualize our concerns better. For instance, it might be worthwhile to move away from the idea of an ‘industrial corridor’ towards a more holistic notion of ‘investment corridors’, where industrial and ecological needs of the region could be met in a balanced way. In the Northeast, there is a critical need for industrial development which would entail employment and income generation for the region while at the same time, the ecological diversity and richness also needed protection and preservation. It was imperative to ensure that ecological, economic and social investment is understood and embraced by all communities. At the end of the deliberations, it became evident that the only way forward was to look upon both industry and environment as complementing each other, in the same way as communities and ecology had to be reimagined together, for sustainable conservation practices.
Moving away from ‘industrial corridors’ towards a more holistic notion of ‘investment corridors’ may yield better conservation success
Sinjini Mukherjee is an independent researcher and writer. She is a keen observer of the human condition and feels passionately about politics and philosophy. She is also a fierce lover of animals and the ocean.
The Eastern Himalayan Naturenomics™ Forum has been a platform to foster a dialogue on Rural Futures through the concept of Naturenomics™ and multi-disciplinary collaboration and innovation. The “Rural Futures Framework” catalyzes conservation efforts through designing holistic models for human centric, community based conservation to create social-environmental and economic interdependence.
