Restoring forests for restoring community health

Dear supporter,

It feels great to be giving you updates straight from the field itself! 

After so many months of being away from the forests, our wanderings (and systematic feedback from our community resource persons, of course!) brought us to the 'Vaibhavwadi' block of Sindhudurg district, and we made ourselves comfortable in the village 'Mangavali' in the north-western part of the block. Adorned with many sacred groves in various stages of degradation, the forests around the village were quite evidently in need of conservation intervention. 

We immediately went about planning the course of action and as a first step, our GIS team put the forests of the Vaibhavwadi block on the map. They also carried out an analysis of forest cover change for the entire block over the period of seven years (2013-2020) using high resolution satellite imageries of respective years. The results showed the sheer vulnerability of the forests to degradation. A whopping 25% of dense forests had been lost in the past 7 years! Also, there is a massive 35% increase in scrub land - resulting in increased incidences of forest fires. Local communities who are replacing native forests for cashew plantations have paid the price by losing life or losing entire cashew orchards to the wildfires in the recent years...

Although our findings have been alarming, it has also at the same time paved way for immediate strategic action. We are in the process of drafting the conservation plan most suited to the challenges of the site and look forward to putting it in action in the coming months. 

Will definitely keep you posted!

Once again, thank you for your continued support to our campaign. Stay safe!