An informed way of life
A Gujarat-based organisation is helping restore land and water resources in ecologically fragile regions across the country, says
Picture this. While planning the construction of a check dam under the NREGA scheme, members of a village panchayat pull out a tablet and map their location offline. An app on the tablet shows them the geological features of the land, clearly pointing out the optimum site for construction. “Our app, CLART (Composite Land Restoration and Assessment Tool) uses existing open-source geological data to take the guesswork out of site planning,” says Jagdeesh Rao, chief executive of Foundation for Ecological Security, or FES. “Once implemented, CLART is likely to save the government time, energy and money in its soil and water conservation activities.” However, the app does much more than simply improve the efficiency of government schemes — it democratises knowledge, making it easy for even semi-literate villagers to make better, more informed decisions that will impact the quality of their lives and livelihoods.
Operational since 2001, FES has, so far, worked in eight states and almost 9,000 districts to restore and conserve land and water resources in ecologically fragile and marginalised regions of India by channelising the collective efforts of local communities. To this end, village commons, described in land-use maps since the colonial days as “wastelands” are an area of prime focus for FES. “Contrary to their description, common spaces are not wastelands,” says Rao. “These productive common spaces are a source of fodder, fibre, biodiversity and medicinal plants and are crucial to the wellbeing of villagers.” Further, they form an important safety net for the landless. “Not only do the landless use them as grazing zones, commons also become important foraging zones specially in times of drought,” says Dinesh Reddy, senior manager at FES. In fact, a recent study by FES has found that in areas in Odisha that have suffered drought, 60 per cent of the population depends on forests and common land for foraging for food.
The modus operandi of FES is simple but effective: it signs MoUs with state governments (they have signed five so far with states such as Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan) to set up rural cooperatives. FES helps villagers secure community rights to publicly owned land and support regulations to manage it in a more sustainable and productive way. At a time when it is getting increasingly tougher to balance short-term economic and developmental gains with preserving the environment, FES often comes across plans to construct upon wastelands, or switch from local crops to resource-intensive cash crops. “In such cases, we try not to interfere in village decision-making,” says Rao. “Instead we aim to strengthen the local economy and empower local stakeholders with enough information so that they can make empowered decisions.”
Some of the obvious consequences of developing village commons — enhanced fertility, improved water tables, better biodiversity and increased fodder availability — encourage locals the importance of the spaces that have long been considered unproductive. In a village in south Andhra Pradesh for example, FES encouraged locals to conserve and sustainably manage a hill. Groundnut farms on the base of the hill soon began to report significantly improved crop yields as the water table improved and the lack of soil erosion improved the fertility of the soil. In the same village, a young girl who earlier spent the whole day taking the family’s two bullocks to graze was able to get the job done in two hours as the hill soon offered ample grazing opportunities. Interestingly, FES also helps villagers create rules for wildlife protection, sustainable grazing, collection of firewood and more.
The concept of empowering villagers to take charge of their own development is age-old, but sadly, not used often enough today. FES has not only made it work across the country, it has also channelised government schemes and funds for the purpose, ensuring that the taxpayer’s money is used more productively. It is no wonder, then, that the organisation has received several awards for its work — the latest one being the 2017 HCL grant for their innovative use of technology to transform the face of Indian villages. “Villagers have to be equal partners in the quest for sustainability,” says Rao, adding, “our experiences have shown us that a robust village democracy is the best development tool.”