Community forests in rural Rajasthan

Rural transport

Arguably the best part of any conference the study visits promised a fascinating insight into the life of rural India. I’m involved with my local community woodland in rural Inverness-shire and so was quick to sign up to the field trip to see the work of the Foundation for Ecological Security. They have been working since 1999 with the tribal communities inhabiting the foothills and valleys of the Aravalli hill ranges to promote the conservation and sustainable management of natural resources, forests and water through local self governance institutions.

We travelled out from the city in two cars and were quickly onto small roads with small scale agriculture in the fields all around. But then we joined the new East-West Corridor. This new four lane road has only be recently completed but like any road in India it is shared by cows, donkeys and dogs. Lane discipline is optional and it wasn’t unusual to see a lorry coming towards us going the wrong way down the dual carriage way.

Off the main road we got into the tribal hill land proper. Now we met jeeps carrying up to 30 people on the bonnet, roof and anywhere else they could hold on to. The nine of us squeezed into a 7 seater seemed quite luxurious by comparison. The landscape changed from one dominated by small fields of maize, vegetables and sugar cane to one of grazed hillsides with scattered trees.

This once forested area had been cut down to supply firewood and overgrazing by domestic livestock has prevented regeneration. The knock on effects were soil erosion and depletion of the natural resource that the communities had previously relied on.

Rio with school kids

We stopped by a small rural school where the 15 or so pupils cautiously came out to take a look at us. It was a perfect photo opportunity but it was only when Rio from Norway showed them photos of themselves on his digital camera that they became really animated. It was sobering to think that just a couple of hours drive from a city these children lived without electricity and may never have seen a digital picture of themselves.

On foot now we walked down through the brush to see a dam that FES had built with the community to provide water for irrigation. However, silting up of the dam is a big problem and illustrated the problem of soil erosion from overgrazing and deforestation. However, FES is not a build and walk away organisation and their key strength is working with communities to build mechanisms for self management. The community had come up with solutions to manage the silt load. Just down from the dam buffalo cooled themselves in the muddy water giving yet more photo opportunities, as if they were needed.

Buffalo wallowing

In the tribal areas of rural India villagers own small bits of land which they live on and subsistence farm. Surrounding them are areas of common land that can be used by all. The system reminded me very much of crofting in Scotland. The once abundant forests that supported a wide range of plants, birds and animals have been degraded due to population growth and pressure from grazing domestic animals and fire wood collection. This has reduced the resource available to the communities that once used the forests for hunting, building materials, non-timber forest products and firewood. We heard how FES works with these communities to help them understand the value of forest restoration as a key to their survival and find ways to manage it for themselves.

It was a privilege for us to meet the members of the community under the shade of a tree. Both women and men had turned out and, although sitting apart, this apparently is something that wouldn’t have happened 10 years ago. Obviously bemused by our strange group they soon warmed up when asked about their achievements. Now walls exclude domestic stock from 200Ha of common land, natural regeneration is occurring enhanced by native planting. Silt traps have been built to arrest soil erosion and volunteer watchmen from each village patrol the protected area to chase out cattle or stop firewood collection. Non-timber forest products like grass fodder can be collected on a strictly managed basis with the small sums paid going back to manage the forest.

The study trip hears about a FES project

They were proud and, dare I say “empowered”, by their ability to manage the forest and were beginning to see the results of their efforts. Perhaps most interesting was the village books that the community kept. They had one to record finances, one to note the technical interventions that they had carried out and one on social observations – who had cut grass or bamboo, reports from the watchmen etc. Although the FES had encouraged and led the project it was obvious that community had truly taken ownership of it and would be able to sustain it into the future.

Their curiosity soon led them to question us too and we shared our customs on marriage and child rearing. As we left to walk back through the protected area they began their committee meeting. Seeing their animation left the impression that the FES intervention had succeeded.