Stop deforestation and restore community lands

Under the project ‘Stop deforestation and restore grazing lands’, a series of brain storming meetings were organised in the project villages, during November- December 2015. In the meetings, pastoralists listed important indigenous plants species that they want to restore/ cultivate in and around their grazing lands. They demanded that the following species deserve inclusion in the conservation list e.g. Jungle Bundi (Cordia Gharaf),  Kalakuda, Amaltas (Cassia fistula), Akol (Alangium salviifolium), Kateera / Karaya (Sterculia urens), Guggal (Commiphora wightii), Chhila (Butea monosperma), Kalam (Mitragyna parvifolia), Khejri / Sigrela (Prosopis cineraria), Kalihari / Ladokli (Gloriosa superb), Dansar (Rhus mysorensis) etc. Project team provided the scientific name of these tree species. Also, the villagers have planned to raise nursery of these speciesand take up tree plantations in the upcoming monsoon season.

Shriram Gujjar, a 75 years old pastoralist from Binak village shares a case study that his village is important for conservation of unique species, like Acol (Allangium salvifolium), Jamun (Syzygium cuminii), Kair (Capparis decidua), Dhok (Anogeissus pendula), Ber (Zizyphus mauritiana), Chapun (Grewia hirsutae Vahl), Chhila (Butea monosperma), Gular (Ficus glomerata), Papadi (Holoptelia integrifolia) among many others.

This project ‘Stop Deforestation and Restore Grazing Lands’ undertakes conservation measures include building rainwater harvesting structures, trees plantation, capacity building of indigenous pastoralists’ communities, and so on. On 3^rd November 2015, a group of 15 leaders (from Leaders Quest) representing different countries visited Bera, one of the project sites, to learn about the project. During the meeting with the group, the community leaders (like Bodan Gujjar, Sitaram Gujjar, Ramkaran Gujjar- just to name a few) shared their experiences about the project. The gist of their sharing is as follows;

• We have established Van Adhikar Samiti (Forest Rights Committee), an institution for claiming grazing rights and conservation;
• Reviving grazing lands ‘Orans/ Devbani’; through construction and repair of talabs, water harvesting structures; setting up and maintaining a buffalo bull and nurseries for tree plantation and grass broadcasting. And, taken up plantation of a wide variety of indigenous trees to cope with the expected reduction in annual rainfall associated with climate change in this region;
• Maintains habitats in forest and grazing areas for birds and wild animals through rituals like Cheetwal, Chugga dalan and other traditional systems;
• Adopting new low-cost technologies, including solar paneling, which reduce demand for fuel wood and thus helping in conservation and maintain vegetation cover.
• Thus the above conservation initiatives of KRAPAVIS’s project increase the adaptive capacity of our communities, in our village, to deal with climate change.

Links:

• New website