Stop deforestation and restore community lands

A group of community leaders from the project villages participated in the Sacred Grove Festival at IGRMS Bhopal, from 31st December 2013 to 1st January, 2014. Ritualistic activities and cultural performance were the main features of the two days programme. The festival highlighted the rich tradition of protecting and conserving Orans. The Festival provided a platform for the community managers of sacred groves and communities associated with natural resource management for a dialogue on alternative eco-conservation theories and practices. Aman Singh, the Project Leader addressed the gathering that the project has been protecting trees and sowing grass seeds in the Orans, as well as raising saplings in nurseries and then transplanting them into Orans. This contributes to saving endemic and endangered species of trees, thus bringing about greater livelihood security for the rural poor, who depend on such trees for livestock feed, traditional medicine, marketable commodities and, to a lesser extent, timber. KRAPAVIS project also takes into account the changing nature of pastoralism in these areas, and the recent shift towards preference of water buffalo and goats as livestock over cattle, working to ensure that the flora in the Orans is better able to meet the needs of the new livestock. Part of the work done by KRAPAVIS is focused on water conservation within the Orans. This is imperative due to the serious reliance of local people on the water sources found in Orans, both for their livestock and themselves. This maintenance is realized through the use of water harvesting structures and checks for soil erosion.

On 24 September, a group of 13 leaders from different countries visited the project village ‘Bera’ in order to learn from the community who lived in the sacred forest of Sariska, and who were struggling to maintain a traditional life increasingly encroached upon by modernisation. They set about restoring natural biodiversity and implementing resource management practices, blending old philosophies with current know-how to create a sustainable community. In the village they met project team, the village elders and farmers in Bera, which lies at the bottom of rolling hills where there no concrete structures, cars, telephone services or electricity. The ‘Leaders Quest’ group learnt about the project work to boost community empowerment, education and self-sufficiency. They spent time in communities’ homes and join them in their daily tasks, milking water buffalo, herding goats and making food, then visited village Oran site. They tried to understand the following themes:

 • What does it mean to live in harmony with nature?

• What has enabled KRAPAVIS project to show this kind of lifelong leadership, and to create diverse and sustainable eco- and social systems?

• Is it better for people to live in ignorance of the outside world, with no TV and no external influences? Or is this a western fantasy?

• What lessons can they learn from our day in Bera, and how will they affect our everyday lives?

• A_journey_to_the_Sacred_Forest_of_Sariska (PDF)