Small Steps Towards a Greener Future

Sharmila Deo and Poornima Phadke, Kalpavriksh

Our hearts soared when a little schoolboy ran towards us with a metallic green wood-borer in his hands and displayed it proudly, taking immense care not to injure or let it fall when other boys crowded around it.

They were quick to point out its antennae and checked whether it indeed had two pairs of wings and three pairs of legs!

This was soon after we had seen a film on insects screened in their classroom.

During discussions about various insects, some children had sheepishly admitted that they did enjoy tying strings to dragonflies and whirring them around. In fact, the dragonfly was known to them as the “Helicopter!” After learning a little more about insects, the children promised to forgo the ‘Helicopter game’ totally, as it eventually harms the insect, very often, fatally.

Though such immediate attitudinal changes are extremely rare, we like to think that this reaction was a result of a session on Insects, as part of the environment education programme that we have now been conducting for over three years in the Bhimashankar area in western Maharashtra.

Sustained intervention was needed

The idea took seed when Dr Parihar, the then Chief Conservator of Forests, expressed a need for sustained intervention in the Bhimashankar sanctuary area. He shared various issues linked to the sanctuary which included conservation, livelihoods, and education. Among the local communities, it was observed that the children are most affected and influenced by the rapid social, economic, and cultural changes the area is undergoing. The current education system has not been able to address the complex situation the children are in, that of living in forest areas, but faced with new aspirations. There is a disconnect between the local contexts and school curricula.

A holistic approach which looked at bridging this gap, along with village empowerment through awareness and capacity building resulted in two programmes, an Environment Education programme and a Conservation and Livelioods programme.

The approach and content of the environment education programme was discussed within Kalpavriksh members and since Kalpavriksh has developed and conducted locale specific environment education programmes (for Lakshadweep, BRT Hills, Karnataka and Ladakh) there was a lot of learning and experience to draw upon.

We started with an assessment of whether school principals of those areas really felt there was a need for an environment education programme. After having a discussion with them at the Tribal Department during their monthly meet where they filled up a questionnaire, there was a unanimous agreement that the children should be exposed to it.

An advisory team was formed within Kalpavriksh and we requested Poornima Phadke to join the programme. Poornima has been conducting many environmental sessions with children of Pune. 

Municipal schools for over 12 years. Her teaching experience and a good hold over the local language proved useful for the programme. Permissions were sought from the Tribal department for starting the programme in the schools, and Concern India Foundation and Ruffords Small Grants supported it financially. The programme began in 2008 with the students of Grades 7 and 8 in the schools for tribal children in Tokawade and Terungun villages.

Approach 

A series of thematic workshops were planned, with a focus on awareness of the biodiversity present around their school premises, and within the sanctuary.

We started with topics most relevant to their daily lives – forests around their villages, the fauna and flora present there, rivers, streams, slowly moving onto other ecosystems which are different from theirs, and how everything together makes up the environment.

We avoided the use of technical terms as far as possible, but tried to bring in the concepts through simple examples. For example, the concept of ‘sustainability’ was explained by discussions on honey extraction and how better practices of harvesting could ensure that there is least harm being caused to the bees, as compared to the practice of causing a fire at the bottom of the hives. Similar interactions were held over topics of water, fuel wood, medicinal plants extraction, etc. Other than the activities and posters that we had produced, we also showed films, slideshows, did art and craft sessions, outdoor games etc.

It took us a while to break the ice, as we realized that these children had little exposure to outsiders. There was a lot of hesitation to talk or respond as they had mainly interacted with their teachers and co-students on a daily basis, and their communities when they went home during vacations. 

With time and experience we realized that not only were we ‘new’ people, but also spoke their language (Marathi) differently from theirs. The dialect, the vocabulary, was something that they were not used to. 

However, after a few sessions, we began to comprehend each other and the enthusiasm in the children began to show. 

Plant activity

These are pictures of various species of plants – trees, shrubs, herbs, creepers found in and around the sanctuary. Most cards have photos of the entire plant, and close-ups of leaves and fruits/fl owers. Some are commonly found, whereas some are rare. Some are used for their medicinal properties, other for fodder, and building. Some are ecologically important for insects, birds, etc.

Information of each plant is printed behind the card.

The children are divided into small groups and each group is shown a card. They have to try and identify the plant without turning it around. They also share any information they might know about it.

This activity can be done with individuals too.

The objective is to familiarize children with the flora in and around their forests and villages.

Development of Teaching Material

Materials such as posters, cards, activity sheets, etc. were developed to aid various topics.

Although it is an excellent idea that the children and educators both use their innovative skills and develop material from whatever scarce resources might be available, it cannot take away from the fact that unlike in urban setups, these children really have extremely poor resources, and very little exposure outside of their areas.

The excitement and motivation that is created amongst the children whilst handling visually and content-wise interesting material makes it worth it.

Local involvement

A conscious decision taken for this programme from its inception was to train local youth to conduct the programme with the children. This was to ensure continuity of the programme after our intervention would cease. This was a part of our exit strategy for the programme. The educators get an honorarium for handling the workshops, thus adding to their livelihoods.

Separate trainings and field trips are conducted to strengthen their knowledge base. A big challenge that we face is to find and retain local educators for the programme. The ones that we inducted either had different capacities and were not enthused by the role, or had to move out eventually for further education or more lucrative job opportunities. At the time of writing this piece there are 2 persons, Chandrakant Langhiand Subhash Dolas, who have worked on the programme for over a year, and committed to at least another year.

Workshops

Each workshop generally lasts for 2-3 hours, and is conducted by the local educators with support from KV members. It is a mix of activities based on some selected topic. For example, when we were discussing Birds, we did a slideshows on birds found in the area, followed by an outdoor trip conducted by an expert from Pune. The children were fascinated when he did his birdcalls, and a couple of times heard the Iora call back!

There was a quiz later on what they had seen and most of them drew the birds they had come across. They solved a crossword and played a card game called “Find my Mate”. Every workshop is eagerly looked forward to by the children as it is also a change from the monotony of classroom lectures.

When children visit homes during their vacations, they are encouraged to have dialogues with their community members on various aspects of biodiversity – be it the use and availability of medicinal plants, or local breeds of cattle, changes in cultivation patterns or any other topic which gives an idea into the pattern of an earlier lifestyle, and facilitates exchange between the traditional knowledge within the community, and the current situations on ground.

Local Action

One of the biggest environmental issues in Bhimashankar is of the indiscriminate use and disposal of plastic in the sanctuary. Since one of the 12 prominent ‘jyotirlingas’ of India is located here, around the time of ‘Mahashivratri’ there is an influx of pilgrims. Later, a huge amount of waste remains behind in the area.

It was around the time of the festival, that the children from Terungun and Tokawade Ashram schools wrote a letter to the District Collector and other officials requesting them to implement the plastic ban within the sanctuary. They made paper bags and sent them along with the letters as a symbolic gesture for adopting alternatives. There was no response to their letter, nor was any action taken at the temple site.

After a few days, the Tokawade children wrote a follow-up letter to the same officials, and demanded a response this time. The timing of the letter coincided with the ‘Shravan’month, when again pilgrims arrive in huge numbers. The children said in their letter that they would organise a ‘morcha’ if there is no response from officials.

The Chief Conservator of Forests, MK Rao, acknowledged receiving both the letters, and has responded to them. In a meeting with Mr. Rao, he mentioned that he has already started discussions with various stakeholders in Bhimashankar like the Temple Trust, community members, shop owners etc to put a garbage disposal system in place. It was encouraging to know that the children’s consistent follow-up has resulted in some action starting off, however long the result may take.

Future

The programme has now been extended to 2 other schools, one primary (Yelavli village), and the other secondary (Bhorgiri village).

We have started working on a simple handbook in Marathi which talks of the biodiversity and its conservation focusing on the Sahyadris, to be used by teachers, educators, and interested students.

The handbook is aimed to be used as a tool to conduct more such programmes in other schools through liaison with the Education / Tribal department, and other NGOs or institutes working with children.

For more information contact:

Kalpavriksh, Apt 5, Shree Dutta Krupa,

Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004

Ph: 020 25654239

E-mail: kalpavriksh@vsnl.net

Herbal Gardens in Schools of Andhra Pradesh

Srinivas Gorantla and Vanitha Kommu, CEE Andhra Pradesh

Suryamashi a std 8th student from B.V & B.N school, Jandrapet, Praksham prepared an ointment from the Kasinda plant that he grew in his school herbal garden. He and D.Chiranjeevi, B.Vinay, N.Umamaheswari, G.Maheshwari, B.Latha, P.Madhu, A.Chinni, G.Sujatha of 6th standard maintain a register of herbs in school.

Students of Gangavarm School have got in touch with a local Ayurvedic medical stores to supply them with plant products for the preparation of medicines.

Mr.Mallaiah, Mr.Dastagiri and Mr.John, the village elders of Inkollu, Prakasam districts regularly interact with school students on the maintenance of the herbal garden.

These are some of the ongoing efforts under the herbal garden project running successfully in 101 schools of Andhra Pradesh. The programme started in 2008 with an objective to sensitise school students on the importance of medicinal plants in daily life and to involve local communities in developing herbal gardens. Centre for Environment Education (CEE) with support from National
Medicinal Plants Board and AP Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Board (AMAPB) is running the programme in all 23 districts of the state. The project operates with CEE’s existing set up of EESAP clusters, i.e., school and NGO linkages. The schools were selected on the basis of:
• Willingness of schools to develop a herbal garden
• Presence of the compound wall and water facility throughout the year
• Availability of about 1000 sq. of land in the school for developing herbal gardens and owned by the school.

An NGO was involved in each district to provide assistance for developing the herbal gardens and facilitate the project.

The process
Orientation workshop to NGOs
CEE began the programme with a two-day orientation workshop for NGO representatives to the concept of herbal garden project and its management. It also focussed on the content of the teachers’ manual developed specifically for the project. Participants were provided with seeds
of ten plant species five each from CEE and the forest department. This team was now ready to orient school teachers further on the implementation of the project.

Teacher training programme
The representatives from 12 NGOs after going back to their respective regions organised a training programme for the selected teachers of their cluster. The teachers were introduced to the project, implementation process and explained about the expected outcomes. During the
programme, the participants were provided with a set of teachers manual and 10 different herbal plants (saplings / seeds).

As part of the training programme, participatory garden planning exercises were performed in school with the involvement of the community. The planning exercise dealt with the entire range of activities like initiation to the maintenance and management. The garden development was initiated on the same day of the training with the participation of the community, teachers and the
students.

Once the NGO and teachers training was completed, the NGO representative from each district, the school teachers and students along with the community members got involved in clearing and preparing the land for cultivation.

Preparations for gardens and taking care of saplings
A single stretch of land was preferred for the gardens. In some places schools also managed with small patches based on availability of land. Also it was ensured in the beginning that the land used for the garden was not a play ground and was not planned for any other use like sanitation or construction.

In some areas the community helped by lending their tractors and bullock carts for land preparation while in other areas the students were allowed to use the public tank for watering the plants. The partner NGOs collaborated with the forest dept nursery to procure saplings for the gardens. The partners also encouraged organic farming by providing the vermi compost to all the project schools.

Nursery beds were prepared and fencing was done with naturally available material like thorny bushes, dry sticks etc. Seeds were sown in these beds. The beds were prepared keeping in mind both annual / biannual herbal plants like Tulasi, Senna, Nelavemu and Ashwagandha. Special care
was required for plants like tulsi, whose seeds were sown not more than 2 inches deep and approximately after 45 days of sowing the seeds, saplings were transplanted.

Care was taken to transplant Usiri, Neredu, Velaga and Vepa saplings at a distance of 4 mts and at a depth of 2 ½ - 3 ft. Suckers like Aloe vera were transplanted at a distance of 45-90 cms. Big trees were planted at a distance of 4 meters with small herbs in between.

Garden management
One teacher from each school was appointed as in-charge for the development of herbal garden. The head master / principal acted as the chairperson. The in-charge teacher, head master and the students formed a committee to manage the gardens. The teacher, a few students and other members of the committee looked after aspects like fencing, protection from pests, insects and animals, irrigation, harvesting, storage and using the yield. In some schools, each student was given responsibility of one plant.

Monitoring visits to schools
Monitoring visits to each school were undertaken by CEE to provide any required inputs to the teachers and students in developing and maintaining the gardens. Teachers and students got an opportunity to share their technical and financial problems during these visits.

Teacher’s manual on developing Herbal gardens

In order to familiarise the teachers with the setting up of and nurturing the herbal plants, a guidebook was developed by CEE. The teachers’ manual comprised of the information on commonly available medicinal plants like Tulasi, Senna, Nelavemu, Ashwagandha, Neem etc., along with technical details such as the distance to be maintained while transplanting / sowing, irrigation methods, pest protection, harvesting and usage of the plants as medicines. The manual was developed to help:
• Teachers and students to study and acquire basic knowledge of medicinal plants available locally.
• Learn to understand and protect plants in their original habitat without being exploited.
• Help students recognise at least 10 species of herbal plants, their useful parts and use.

Once the gardens were established, students nurtured and cared for the plants. Information boards were prepared by students giving details on the plant name, parts used and its medicinal use. They learnt about plant cycles, their fruiting and flowering seasons, medicinal parts being used, their use etc. Students got an opportunity to learn and understand about local medicinal plants from the
teachers, elders, NGO representatives and their friends. To share these year-long learnings with the wider community herbal garden event was organised at the year end.

The event was an opportunity to display products/plants and disseminate the knowledge and skills gained by the students to others. There was a sharing of experiences and knowledge where the suggestions and opinions of the visitors were taken into consideration for the betterment of the gardens and proper usage of herbal plants.

The medicinal plants were planted in free spaces available on the school campus.

Looking at the success of the herbal gardens, the AP Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Board approached CEE to focus on Amla plantation in these schools and spread awareness on medicinal values and benefits of the plant. Each school has been given about 50 saplings to grow on their campus. The plantation activity is currently underway at the schools.

Appropriate distance was maintained between two saplings depending on the plant type in order to help it grow

For more information contact:
Centre for Environment Education
Andhra Pradesh State Office
6-3-348/2, I Floor, Dwarakapuri colony,
Panjagutta, Hyderabad – 500 482
Phone: (040) 23352596 Fax: (040) 23352586
E-mail: ceeandhrapradesh@ceeindia.org

Community Driven Biodiversity Conservation in Dudhwa National Park

Neeraj Pal, CEE North

Spread over 616 sq Km, with a core area of 490 sq Km, the Dudhwa National Park (DNP) forms a unique ecosystem in the Himalayan foothills of the Terai Arc Landscape. Known for its tall Sal trees, swamps and grasslands, DNP is home to swamp deer, Hog deer (Axis porcimus), Spotted deer (Axis axis), Barking deer (Muntiacus muntjac) and Sambar (Cervus unicolor) found together only in Dudhwa and no where else in India. Dudhwa is also home of two critically endangered species Hispid hare and Bengal florican. The great Indian one horned Rhinoceros was successfully reintroduced in this area in 1984.

The area is also inhabited by the Tharu tribal community, traditionally dependent on forest resources for their livelihoods. Till 1976 they lived in thirty seven forests villages, two of which were in the core area and the remaining in the buffer area. Today Surma village with ninety nine families still lies in the core area, while all the others lie in the buffer zone of the park.

The agricultural fields of the villagers adjoin the buffer area of the park. When there is a shortage of fodder inside the protected area, especially in monsoon and winter season, wild herbivores migrate to the cultivated fields and cause heavy crop damage. Occasionally, carnivores follow the herbivores igniting further man and animal conflict. The Forest Department has installed electric fences on the forest boundary adjoining the cropping fields with the support of NEDA (Non Conventional Energy Development Agency). The Forest Department also compensates the community for crop raiding or cattle lifting.

CEE with funding from Keidernan Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF) stepped in 2005 with a project Community Driven Natural Resource Management for Biodiversity Conservation in Dudhwa National Park. The project aimed to develop capabilities for sustainable livelihoods amongst the village community that would in turn ensure conservation of biodiversity in the region.

Understanding Issues and Participatory Action Planning
The first phase of the implementation started with collection of detailed information of the park, the status of the natural resource base, conservation issues and threats, initiatives being implemented by the Forest Department, etc. Awareness and discussion workshops were organized at department and community level to build initial rapport and understanding about Natural Resource Management, its related practices and the role of the communities in it. The exercise helped prepare a community based plan and agenda for action. In order to initiate a dialogue with students, a Dudhwa Utsav (festival) was organised during Wildlife Week.

A cluster of four villages closer to the protected area were selected where mobilization of the local community has been carried out. Village biodiversity conservation committees were set up to facilitate active participation of the communities. The ultimate goal of the biodiversity committee formation was to institutionalize the collaboration between the forest department and local communities.

A baseline survey was done to assess the extent of dependency of people on forests. It also helped in a needs assessment of the villagers living close to the national park. Based on the baseline data analysis and need assessment a framework for action component for further work was drawn up.

Conservation with Participation
In year 2007, the second phase of the project was initiated with the objective of conserving the biodiversity of Dudhwa by managing the natural resources through communities’ participation and networking with key institutions.

Community level activities included improvement of community’s livelihood skills through capacity building, training and providing alternatives for fuel wood and market facilities for the tribal handicraft. The main emphasis was on to reduce the pressure from the PA. Meetings were organized in each selected village with community members to disseminate and discuss the findings of the earlier survey and discussions. An annual fuel wood consumption assessment was also done and its results shared.

Based on discussions with the communities, capacity building programmes were devised. The first training programme was done on sustainable energy options with the objective to minimize the fuel wood pressure from the DNP. This was done in partnership with Non-Conventional Energy Development Agency (NEDA). With the State Education Department another training programme was initiated for teachers in schools around Dudhwa.

Two artisan groups were identified from Dhyanpur and Barbata village of Sonaripur Range of DNP. These groups are engaged in preparation of traditional handicraft items like baskets, hand fans, file folders and mobile covers. The artisans, mostly women, prepare handicraft items from local grass varieties Kansa (Saccharum spontaneum, Linn) and Bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus). The handicraft items with little modifications in designs had a good market demand. They are a potential sustainable livelihood option for the community.

CEE decided to provide some market linkages for these articles. A networking exercise was done to bring in partners for product design, development and marketing. The Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd (TRIFED) supports tribal artisans groups in the form of registered self help groups or committees by providing marketing support. A plan for skill based training, development of products; promotion of the handicraft in market was discussed. The network developed to support project implementation included Sarvangeen Vikas Samti, World Wildlife Fund for Nature, Non-conventional Energy Development Agency, TRIFED, Forest Department, Primary and Secondary Education Departments, SVS, WWF, Khadi and Village Industries Commission, etc.

Developing Sustained Conservation Practices
The present activities are focused on developing an eco village to demonstrate sustainable energy and livelihood options, in collaboration with WWF. Balera and Maura villages have been selected based on willingness of the community members and the overall support provided by the villagers during the earlier work. It is planned to demonstrate a toilet linked biogas unit in both the Balera and Maura with community participation. The improved chullah (stove) is also being demonstrated in both the villages with a view to reduce the pressure of fuel wood collection. Organic farming practices are being discussed with selected villages.

For more information contact:
Neeraj K. Pal
Centre for Environment Education,
Northern Regional Office
19/323, Indira Nagar
Lucknow- 226 016
Ph: 0522 2716628; Fax: 0522 2716570
E-mail: ceenorth@ceeindia.org