Restoring forests for restoring community health

Indian summer is at its peak right now in Maharashtra and every-time I scramble around looking for a tree to duck under to escape the afternoon sun, my mind simulates the even worse scenario of a forest on fire and the intense heat it may be generating around it. What makes it worse is the thought of several tonnes of efficiently stored carbon being released into the atmosphere, thus worsening the very cause of this disaster - ‘climate change’. Further is the permanent loss of several shade-giving trees which would have been the refuge for countless birds, insects and even mammals. 

In our bid to bring private forests under conservation management and regenerating degraded forests through strategic plantation activities, there is always that dreaded word looming over our heads every summer - ‘forest fires’. The communities have also always been struggling with this issue and have had to face some very tragic incidents in the past where some people lost their lives trying to save their orchards from uncontrolled forest fires. Taking every possible care against this is a very critical step in ensuring that decades of work is not undone and there is a positive relationship between the communities and their forests! 

Our saplings in Mangavli have been growing up well and some have strengthened their roots enough to literally reach for the sky. Now it was our duty to help them get through the toughest part of the year. Geo-tagging them, drawing fire lines, boundary marking and keeping individual checks on them was just one part of the strategy, but we knew that we had to think big in order to  create an impact on landscape level. We realised that a ‘whole to part’ approach like ‘conservation agreements’ would give us more control over the situation and we would be able to ensure protection of not only the saplings but also the associated ecosystem around it. We held many meetings with the community where we explained the conservation agreement approach to them - of bringing an entire forest area under conservation management by formalising an agreement with the community. The agreement will entail immediate and sustainable monetary benefits through forest-based value chain development and certifications. We also explained how locking in the forests through this strategy will significantly minimise the anthropogenic factors behind forest fires. The local people were very open to the idea and agreed to bring 50 acres under conservation agreement with us - the first such instance in Mangavli village! This is undoubtedly the first step towards preserving these forests and this will become the canvas for building the Karanja value chain in this area.

Climate change is here and now. It is our responsibility to ensure that we plug the gaps wherever possible and slow the effects while simultaneously correcting the course. In case of forest fires, we have to constantly negotiate and manipulate the relationship between the elements of earth and fire to ensure the survival of these life-giving forests and to give the new climate warriors a winning chance at changing the situation of ‘climate-change’!

Wish us good luck, and see you all soon on the ‘monsoon’ side of things!