Climate Action India Project #22862

My Jungle - Participatory Forest Conservation

by Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra

My Jungle - Participatory Forest Conservation

Project Report | Nov 9, 2017
Project Update - Sept and October 2017

By Raghunandan Velankar | Project Leader

Discussion on livelihoods strengthening 1

Sahyadri has conducted following activities during the reporting period. We are grateful to the donors and the GlobalGiving team for the support.

Strengthening local livelihoods: Meeting and discussion on the community livelihoods were conducted in four villages namely Nandivase, Owali, Manjutri and Tiware. General community members and village council (Gram Panchayat) members were consulted. Some livelihood areas that can be strengthened have been identified in these discussions. These areas have been an improvement in rice productivity, energy source other than fuelwood and nature tourism and homestay for tourists as income generation activities for the local community. The response of the community has been encouraging. In the due course, we will work to materialize the outcome of these discussions.

Use of camera traps to document the wildlife: Sahyadri has started documentation of wildlife through 6 trap cameras. The camera traps are set up in consultation with the community members having expertise and knowledge about wildlife. Compilation of the images from the trap cameras will be an important aid in awareness generation on the wildlife existing in the area.

Saguna Rice Technology: The demonstrations will give results by end of November 2017. We will share the results – yield and the impact in the community – in the next update. Regular visits are done by SNM.

Discussion with council members of vil.Owali

Setting up camera trap1

Camera trap installation

Permalink

Aug 11, 2017
My Jungle Update - June and July 2017

By Raghunandan Velankar | Project Leader

Demonstration of Saguna Rice Technology 1

My Jungle is not only an in situ conservation programme but also a programme in which local communities staying around biodiversity rich Western Ghats are encouraged and supported to contribute in the conservation by all possible means and ways. Our efforts in this context, during June and July 2017 are mentioned below.

Saguna Rice Technology (SRT) as an alternative to check Green House Gas (GHG) emission due to traditional paddy cultivation

Sahyadri is campaigning with the farmers practicing traditional paddy cultivation to adopt alternative paddy cultivation techniques with low GHG emission. SRT is one of such promising alternatives. Sahyadri had conducted intensive awareness generation on SRT in April, May and June 2017. As a follow up of these awareness generation programmes, Sahyadri has set up SRT demonstrations with help of 26 enterprising farmers. These pilot experiments are being systematically monitored. At the end of the cultivation season i.e. in November 2017, these demonstrations will shed light on the efficacy of the SRT over traditional paddy cultivation technique, in particular check on lopping of trees and burning of the dried lopped leafy matter contributing significantly in the emission of GHGs

Plantation of native trees

Sahyadri distributed 250 saplings on 4th July 2017 to the community members of Gudhe village. One sapling each was given to 250 families in the village. Two types of saplings were on offer - Jackfruit or Teak. These two are highly valued for their economic importance by the local community. One sapling -one family approach was specifically adopted after consultation with the community leaders. It would ensure maximum survival of the planted saplings and thus, success of the initiative. We are hopeful that majority of the community members will look after the saplings, save them from harm and let them grow into mature trees. Most of the saplings have been planted, either in the back or front yard of the house or on the field bunds.

Awareness generation on adoption of SRT as an efficient and nature friendly paddy cultivation technique

Sahyadri has been conducting field level awareness generation programmes on SRT. We have conducted these programmes under the guidance of Dr. Chandrashekhar Bhadsavale - the inventor of SRT. Local office of the State Agriculture Department has partnered with us in conducting these programmes.

Sahyadri will continue conducting plantation programmes and SRT awareness generation programmes. They are important for in situ conservation of local biodiversity - the focus of the My Jungle Project.

Demonstration of Saguna Rice Technology 2

Land preparation for SRT rice cultivation

Community discussion on plantation of native trees

Plantation of native trees

Community awareness generation meeting

Village level orientation on SRT

Permalink

May 12, 2017
My Jungle - Update Jan - May 2017

By Raghunandan Velankar | Project Leader

Setting up Trap Camera

We are thankful to our donors for promoting nature conservation work and spreading the word within their networks. GlobalGiving platform helps us to reach the donors and build a chain of nature conservators.

Purchase of nature

Sahyadri's team is committed to look for a suitable place for "My Jungle" project in Ratnagiri district. All proposals are being vetted by our legal and ecology experts. As always, Sahydri shall report any short listed / finalized proposals to the donors.

Awareness Drives

During this period, Sahyadri has used following avenues to reach private forest owners, trusts owning sacred groves and the respective village level committee members.

Under the guidance of Mr. Deshmukh, President ARTI, Pune and Krishi Bhushan Mr. Chandrashekhar Bhadsavale, Sahyadri conducted training for paddy field farmers in the village Dugawe, Tehsil Chiplun using "Saguna Rice Technique" (SRT) which helps to increase the produce by at least 75%. The villagers have agreed to use this technique during the coming season (May - Oct). During this session, information about Sterculia urens (aka Gum Karaya) for gum collection was also given to the private forest owners. Follow up meetings with the villagers have been planned through out the season.
Sahyadri engaged 20 schools in select villages having private forests or vicinity to Western Ghats in districts of Konkan, Thane and Palghar districts and placed trap cameras to get the status of mammals seen in the area. The action has generated immense interest among students and helps to bring them closer to the nature. Regular monitoring of these trap cameras is done by Sahyadri's team along with students - teachers and the land owners. This also helps land owners to understand other avenues such as jungle tours to earn additional income rather than harvesting.
Sahyadri has also conducted a joint meeting of private forest owners of 8 villages closer to Western Ghats to explore and share ideas about alternate income generation from their land.
Dr. Umesh Karambelkar, a practitioner from Satara has authored a Marathi book about Carl Linnaeus and has donated the first edition's income to My Jungle project. It's very heartening to see such support.

We request you to talk to your friends and family about your reason to donate towards My Jungle and help us strengthen the chain of nature conservators.

Book about Carl Lennaeus

Pangolin on Trap Camera

Permalink

‹ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.