Collective action to combat Land Degradation

-a case from Chitravas

Across India and also globally, tribals have always lived close to the nature. This not only reflects in their culture but also in the way they meet their requirements and carry out the livelihoods. Carrying out subsistence agriculture, they have over the years relied on the natural capacities of the earth to provide them with the good harvest. Understanding the nature as a whole, they have protected the forests and preserved the natural surrounding, treading a fine balance between use and conservation. However, with a set of mis-constructed policies and myths the relation of tribals with - nature has severely deteriorated. Apart from the socio-cultural obliteration, the principal burden has fallen on the forests which they have long conserved. No forests, not only mean a breakdown in their traditional system of living life, but also increased vulnerability and risks to other production systems, especially agriculture and animal husbandry. The health and status of soil, water and nutrients critically depends on the health of the natural surrounding. With decreasing forest cover there has been an exponential increase in soil loss, not only forcing communities to further increase the agricultural area, but also pushing a cycle of mistakes, each step leading to further mistakes. This article demonstrates the case of a tribal village which through collective action has restored their forests and combat land degradation successfully. Tracing the work done over 7 years the article depicts the relationship between healthy forests and sustained water availability, check in soil erosion, improved nutrient transfers, improved rural livelihoods and strong community action.

1. Introduction

The highest concentration of the floral and faunal diversity occurs in the forest areas, mostly inhabited by tribal communities. Living in social and geographic isolation and surviving on subsistence agriculture (both shifting and permanent) and a range of products gathered from forests with very little processing and manufacturing activities, these communities have coexisted with their natural surroundings. It is generally believed that the tribal people have lived in harmony with nature and customarily protect forests for their well being, and to a vast number of them, forests are their well loved home, their livelihood, their very existence (Dhebar Commission Report 1961, p.125). The symbiotic relationship between forest and tribal people is well known and reported. They regard various species of forest as their kith and kin (Totems).

However, historically Indian Tribal perspectives on forest and the government policies have followed different trajectories. State policies, driven by industrial demands, were in conflict with the customary use of forest by forest-dwelling tribal populations. Colonial state policies since 1878 and post independence forest policies characterised the tribal as indiscriminate users of forest and sought to protect the forest from the tribals.

Historically the forest policies have alienated the people from forests.  To give an example, a clause from Chapter III ’Of Village Forests’, Section, 2(,) of the Indian forest act of 1927 states that “the State Government may make rules for regulating the management of village forests, prescribing the conditions under which the community may be provided with timber or other forest produce or pasture, and the duties for the protection and improvement of such forest” (Government of India 1927). Thus, this Act facilitated the State’s grip over forests and consequently communities were deprived of many of their traditional rights over forests. That is, “people’s rights to use forests were extinguished and replaced by privileges” (Hobley +330). This Act further alienated village communities from their age-old symbiotic relationship with forests. In post independence period forest department continued with these mis-constructed policies and tightened control of forest lands through restricted access to forest and forest produce.

The failure to recognise community control of forest led to the collapse in institutional norms that was instrumental in protecting and managing forest resources for local use. A shift in property rights to the state undermined the rights of the tribal to use and extract forest resources and impoverished the tribal household, whose survival is inextricably linked to the availability and access to forest resources. This led to massive destruction of forests and thereby exposing the land to severe degradation. This is evident from the National Forest Vegetation map, prepared by the Forest Survey of India in 1987, where the forests are divided into three classes: dense forest, with crown density greater than 40%, covering 10.9% of the land; open forest, with crown density of 10-40%, covering 8.4% of the land; and non-forest areas, covering 77.8% of total area of the country. The soil losses from three classes of forest indicate that from the dense forest area, average annual soil loss ranged from 2 to 3 Mg/ha (0.9 to 1.3 tons/acre); hence, this area was delineated in the less-than-5 Mg/ha (2.2 tons/acre) soil loss category. For open forest, soil loss values varied widely, from 5 to 20 Mg/ha (2.2 to 8.9 tons/acre).

The National Forest Policy 1988 emphasised the role of people’s participation in the protection of forest. As a follow up of this the Joint forest management order and guidelines were issued reflecting the governments resolve to create massive peoples movement and encourage their participation in management of forests. The new approach to control, protect and manage forests has profound implications for forest dwelling tribals.

2. CHITRAVAS: Case study

Chitravas illustrates a case of commendable collective action for the coexistence of biodiversity conservation and local livelihood options. Chitravas is a tribal village inhabited by two clans of Bhil tribe. Located in the southern Aravali ranges the village name means ‘home of leopards’: chitra in local language refers to leopard and vas means home. Villagers remember a history of dense and rich forest with sparse cultivation in the valley portions in this landscape. However, the rich faunal and floral diversity of this ‘home of leopard’ has degraded over the years due to various biotic and abiotic factors. Land degradation, deforestation, drying up of streams, and changing land-use had quite adversely affected the local livelihoods. Moreover it had also impinged on the socio-institutional fabric of the communities.

Chitravas is a Panchayat village with 4 more habitations within it namely Sakria, Bhamrabara, Pipalsari, and Kundala. The village has an area of above 217 hectares of forestlands along the boundary of the Game sanctuary. The traditional usage patterns over these forest lands had evolved over long period of time depending on varying needs of the communities, proximity of resources and inter community negotiations for the rights to access. Nevertheless, degradation of these forest lands and their resources had also made such unavoidable use-patterns look flimsy and weakened its recognition. Collective actions to combat land degradation could not be initiated as the community lacked the feeling of ownership of the forests mainly due to excessive intervention of exploitative external forces and gradual alienation of the community rights over forest lands.

2.1 FES Intervention

FES¹  work with the Chitravas village was initiated in the year 2001. With the community members responding positively to protect their forest and common lands, the year 2002 marked the formal beginning of work of FES in the village. Initial interactions with the people of Chitravas revenue village and its habitation Sakria, resulted in the organization of a Village Forest Protection and Management Committee (VFPMC) which after necessary registration with the Forest Department initiated the work as per their approved micro-plan.  However, as we moved on towards developing a deeper understanding of the community, a gamut of issues surfaced. The principle of having “clearly defined user boundaries” seem to overlook issues of inter villages or inter habitations complexity of overlapping usage rights. People from the Kyara ka Khet habitation (a hamlet of the Rawach revenue village) and the Richwara revenue village (both of these habitations border the forest plot of Chitravas) began to protest for their rights. This opened up usage pattern with respect to the customary usage of resources as the basis to decide on the rights and stake over the resource. The FES team members and the communities from all the villages then came together to finalize a ‘Hakdari list'². This list helped in deciding the membership in case of the VFPMC. All the 325 families with 999 'hakdars' (all above 18 years of age) out of a total population of 1508, all of which belonging to Garasias and Gametis tribes, were included as part of the institution. Together they agreed to protect and manage 217 hectares of forestlands through the arrangement of Joint Forest Management. With the renewed understanding on the stakeholders (based on assertion and recognition of rights of all users) a number of meetings were organized to re-draft the eco-restoration and management plan for this plot which was approved by the Forest department.

2.2 Community participation and physical intervention

The communities had time and again made attempts to financially and physically contribute towards protecting the village natural base which, due to improper management and climatic factors could not sustain itself. This time, with proper recognition of all members who have stake on the forest patch, the community crafted context specific rules and regulations for execution of work and management of the forest plot. Recognizing multi-stakeholders spread across different habitations, the community member’s evolved systems of regular meetings, self monitoring and regular negotiation which were in contrast to previous systems which were individual oriented like the system of “mate”³ . Through these processes the communities have tried to address the issues of work efficiency, ownership over their own resources, and most importantly have been able to dilute the power centers.

After the approval of the plans by the forest department the first physical intervention was to rebuild the stone wall to protect the forest land. Planting of Jatropha curacus cuttings along the stone-wall was also done to provide an additional vegetative barrier. Series of Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) measures which included construction of loose boulder check dams, Gully plugs, Contour trenches and Gabions have been undertaken to ensure in-situ conservation of soil and moisture. Vegetative augmentation of the area was undertaken with the plantation of 50,000 saplings of various local species and sowing of grasses.

In addition to the activities to regenerate the common lands, women groups were organized to take up livelihood interventions of the farm lands. Various activities such as bunding of the farmland, providing critical support to enhance infrastructure for potable water and irrigation especially to the poor communities, energy conservation measures, kitchen garden, and pasture development were carried out. These had not only led to improving their livelihood base, but the greater impact was in improving women leadership in the area as well as creating spaces for women’s participation in the community decision-making processes. 

2.3 Problems

As the work progressed the village encountered many problems, but the most noticeable one was that of encroachment over the forestland. One villager named Lala Bhuji made an attempt to encroach a patch of around 3-4 bighas of land for agriculture. The villagers gave him time to harvest his crop on the assurance that after the harvest he would close the fence on his own. But Lala after the harvest, instead of vacating the plot, started preparing the field for another crop and refused to follow the village orders. This time there was mass protest and they have called for a number of 'Aam Sabhas'⁴  especially on this issue. Since Lala refused to come for these meetings, people have started holding meetings in front of his house. The matter was also taken up with the Panchayat. Finally the community pressure was so intense that Lala had to vacate the encroachment and started participating in the entire process.

2.4 Protection mechanism

After having tried out different protection mechanisms such as paid guards, assigning responsibility to few individuals, etc. and having repeatedly failed, the community devised its own system called "Lathi system"⁵ . If any animal is found inside the plot the matter is reported to the village committee who, after a meeting, imposes graduated sanctions as per the village norms. Since the people from the main village, due to physical distance from the plot, were not able to participate in its protection, it was decided that they would be paying more for the produce. What is quite interesting to notice here is that Chitravas, which was refusing the membership of others a year back, is today accepting such terms and conditions of the same people. This has allowed space for many other leaderships, which were otherwise dormant, to emerge in the institution. In fact, the current composition of the institution is such that the management committee members spread across habitations, and decision-making in the institution is also quite inclusive. These signify gradual growth of the institution.

2.5 Outcomes

The outcome of the work was manifold. The collective strengths of the community were also reflected in the governance over the natural resources and also in terms of the improvement in biomass, water and soil health.

a. Improved local governance: Through coming together to conserve their forests, pastures and water resources the community has been able to establish a true form of local self governance, not only limited to conservation agenda but, also spreading to other avenues of their socio-cultural-political-economic life. Managing the diverse interests within the community, they have been able to promote pro-poor practices and evolved norms which are specific to their local context.

b. Vegetative Improvement: The regeneration efforts have resulted in qualitative as well as quantitative increment in biomass. The analysis of the field data shows 100% increment in the biomass with 301.62 t/ha in the protected plots as against 140.43 t/ha in case of the unprotected plots. There is a marked growth in the biodiversity of the area with 11 tree, 29 shrub, and 24 grass species as against the 3 tree, 4 shrub, and 12 grass species in the unprotected plots.

c. Soil improvement: Increment in biomass has also impacted the soil health of the protected plots. The analysis of the soil indicates a positive trend in the status of Organic Carbon, Nitrogen and available Potash. The reducing trends in case of available phosphorus can be attributed to increase in organic matter (reports indicate organic matter and available phosphorus are inversely related). The data shows trends towards normal pH and EC, coupled with increment in nutritional status of the soil indicating an overall improvement in soil health of the area.

d. Improvement in Water regime: Organic matter plays an important part in the local, regional, and global water, or hydrologic cycle due to its role in promoting water infiltration into soils and storage within the soil. Soils having high organic matter content enhance the rapid infiltration of rainwater into the soil. This water may be available for plants to use or it may percolate deep into the subsoil and help to recharge the groundwater supply. Since groundwater is commonly used as a drinking water source for homes and for irrigation, recharging groundwater is important. When the soil's organic matter level is depleted, it is less able to accept water, and high levels of runoff and erosion result. This means less water for plants and decreased groundwater recharge. The same in the case with Chitravas, where the improvement in biomass, and thereby the organic matter, has improved the ground water recharge and ensured that the seasonal stream which originates from the forest lands and which used to remain dry during the major part of the year, prior to the community intervention,, now flows all along the village for a major part of the year. This has enhanced the supply of water from the open wells most of which in the pre-project situation were dry (40 out of the 50 wells, but with the improvement in soil moisture regime now only 10 are still dry).

3. Conclusion

A majority of India’s tribal communities inhabit the upland and forest dominated landscapes that form a horizontal stretch across the country from the southern parts of the Aravali hill range to Chotanagpur plateau. The loss of forests, which are mostly uplands, has led to widespread degradation of farms below. Central to the work of ecological restoration in these regions is the endeavour to understand local community institutions, revive collective actions and strengthen tenure arrangement over forests and other commons land in favour of communities who have been managing and using these for time-immemorial. Joint Forest management arrangements have provided a degree of tenurial security and incentive to local communities to participate in forest protection and restoration activities. We subscribe to the view that in many natural environments that are being modified by human activity there is scope for conservation and livelihoods to be linked and benefit from each other. An approach that seeks to restore the health of the ecosystems and the services they provide, combined with efforts to strengthen on and off farm incomes, we believe, safeguard forests as well as reduce poverty in several pockets of the country. 

References:

• Forest and poverty: a survey study-K.D. Singh
• Soil erosion rates in India Gurmel Singh, Ram Babu, Pratap Narain, L. S. Bhushan, and I. P. Abrol
• Participatory Forest Management in India - An Analysis of Policy Trends amid ‘Management Change’ - Kulbhushan BALOONI, LEAD India Associate
• Hobley, M. (+330). Participatory forestry - The process of change in India and Nepal. Rural Development Forestry Study Guide -. London: Overseas Development Institute.

End Notes:

1. FES: is an organization working for ecological restoration and conservation of land and water resources in the uplands and other eco-fragile, degraded and marginalized zones of the country and to set in place the processes of coordinated human efforts and governance to this end. FES is working with 1204 village institutions in 23 districts in seven states, in India and has been protecting 85800 ha of revenue wasteland, degraded forest and Panchayat grazing lands. (website: http://www.fes.org.in)

2. Hakdari: is the customary usage right of the community on a piece of land

3. Mate: is the work supervisor who happens to be a powerful person in village conditions.

4. Aam Sabha: is the general body meeting of the village.

5. Lathi system: Three persons (one from one household) each day walk around the plot with a stick (Lathi) in each one's hand . In the evening they hand over the Lathis to the next three houses, and that is how it keeps rotating from house to house, hamlets to hamlets.