Community-based conservation and Globalizing India. The Future of Conservation

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Community-based conservation and Globalizing India. The Future of Conservation"

Olivia Williams
6 years ago
Views:

1 Community-based conservation and Globalizing India The Future of Conservation

2 The context One of 17 megadiverse countries >1500 tigers 60,000 elephants 4 biodiversity hotspots 20% under forest cover depends on how one defines a forest! >1.21 billion people 4.9% under protected areas million people living in and around forests With only 2.4% of the world s land area, 16.7% of the world s human population and 18% livestock, it contributes about 8% of the known global biodiversity,

3 Protected areas A network of 668 Protected Areas (PAs) has been established, extending over 1,61, sq. kms. (4.90% of total geographic area), comprising 102 National Parks, 515 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 47 Conservation Reserves and 4 Community Reserves. The 39 Tiger Reserves and 28 Elephant Reserves

4 Clearly, the present model of wildlife tourism is unsustainable in a country with over a billion people with an annual economic growth rate of 6-8 per cent. Drastic regulation is urgently needed and more sustainable tourism models must be built. Ullas Karanth, Wildlife biologist, WCS

5 Rising Human-Wildlife conflict Nov 13, 2012 The elephant is said to have come from the Bandipur forest. Forest officials said a case had been registered against the owner of the farm, who is absconding. Crops destroyed Crops worth lakhs (Rs100k=$2.0k) of rupees were destroyed when elephants went berserk in agriculture lands at Hosapura in the taluk Monday night.

6 Policies Wildlife protection Act 1972, ammended 2002 Forest Recognition of Rights Act 2006 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme

7 Balancing wildlife people MOEF The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 provides for the conservation and management of National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. The FRA, 2006 applies to National Parks and Sanctuaries, where forest rights are being recognized and vested in Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers in such areas. These rights can only be modified within or resettled outside of the CWH as per the provisions of the FRA, 2006.

Livelihood and conservation landscapes Rights `Secured under the Forest Recognition of Rights Act 2006 1.

8 Livelihood and conservation landscapes Rights `Secured under the Forest Recognition of Rights Act Land rights to assure basic food and nutritional security 2. Conditional usufruct rights to harvest, collect, sell and manage MFP, fuelwood and fodder

Dependence on forests for NTFPS (fruits, fuel-wood and fodder) Changing land-use Erosion of

9 Livelihood and conservation landscapes >50 million people Small land holdings 1-10 acres Human-animal conflicts Sloping marginal land Soil and water loss Decreasing diversity Dependence on forests for NTFPS (fruits, fuel-wood and fodder) Changing land-use Erosion of Traditional Knowledge Lack of services Lack of access to Markets Rich in traditional agribiodiversity

10 Forested islands within agricultural matrix Forested area with settlements within a larger agricultural matrix Edges Fringes Ecotones Agriculture Forests

11 Dispersers INTERACTIVE EDGE FOREST- AGRICULTURE ECOTONE FOREST CORE FOREST BUFFER Pollinators FOREST-FRINGE AGRICULTURE MAINSTREAM AGRICULTURE River systems

Palaquium ellipticum 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 J M S J M S J M S J

12 # seedlings/m2 % trees fruiting Long-term monitoring: Phenology, dispersal and regeneration Cynopterus sphnix Palaquium ellipticum J M S J M S J M S J M S J M S J M S year Dispersed fruits

13 No of bee colonies Honey harvest data from 1996 to DDF Evergreen Cliffs Total Year

ATREE mapped sacred natural sites in BRT wildlife sanctuary to understand the historical and cultural ecologies of the Soligas who have inhabited the landscape for centuries.

15 ATREE mapped sacred natural sites in BRT wildlife sanctuary to understand the historical and cultural ecologies of the Soligas who have inhabited the landscape for centuries. The process, while documenting and archiving a vast resource of places and stories, also provided a critical understanding of the ways Soligas interacted with the landscape.

16 Socioeconomic profile Soligas 2000 Lingayath 2000 Soligas 2005 Lingayath 2005 Income (per capita) Mean ±S.D Mean ±S.D Mean ±S.D Mean ±S.D Agriculture Forest Resource Migration and other income Kannan and Rai 2011 (manuscript is in preparation)

owl-perches in the fields is an age old practice and can be

17 Objectives: rejuvenating traditional farming practices in rodent Control and enriching the local agro-diversity Erecting such owl-perches in the fields is an age old practice and can be revived, to help the farmers in vermin control Indian Eagle-Owl (Bubo bubo)

18 Indigenous practices OWL perches Only 13 % of farmers use Owl perches in Rice fields

19 Owls are important at the harvest stage Each female rat caught early in the cropping cycle is equivalent to catching rats around harvest time.

20 Forest invaded by Lantana camara

21 Local-level long-term study of change in lantana distribution: Low High Dramatic spread in Lantana in 10 years implications for biodiversity and forest regeneration in BiligiriRangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary

22 Lantana & Livelihoods: Putting invasives to work in order to enhance local livelihoods jkjkj 350 people trained 80% are women 7 partner organizations HESCO Currently >100 families are dependent on Lantana seasonally (INR per month) Chittoor World bank Development Market place Award 2003 Asia Pacific Forum Environment and Development Golden Award 2009

23 Utility products from Lantana

25 Mean number of man-days Proof of Principle Over 400 artisans trained Person-days employment increased from 40 to 77 per cent 80% are women artisans Average monthly income has increased by 100 percent year Increase in person-days employment and doubling of cash income

26 Forest invaded by Lantana camara

A Changing, Landscape Forests, Industry & UNFF

A Changing, Landscape Forests, Industry & UNFF Timber Invest Europe 8 October, 2013 The UNFF context UN Forum on Forests an intergovernmental forum deliberating on a full range of SFM issues from economic