Better practices for Raab cultivation in Dangs Forests of Gujarat Of the many known causes of forest fires in India,

slash and burn agriculture practiced in the vicinity of forests is one. Raab cultivation, a form of shifting cultivation practiced by the tribal communities like the Bhils and Konkans in the Dangs Forests between the fertile plains of south Gujarat and rugged plateau of western Maharashtra, could also be a possible cause of forest fires in the region. Raab farming is reported to be more intensive in the Dangs district. Malki lands (ownership of which has been conferred to the tribals of the region by the government), where Raab is mostly practiced, is at present under immense pressure. Once described as .sea of forests. during the colonial period, Malki lands today appear as heavily lopped forests, rendering the trees to extreme physiological stress and at times beyond the capacity to rejuvenate. Historically, Dangs has been a region of civil unrest particularly during the British rule. In 1970 the question of conferring occupancy rights to Dangis for the lands on lease being cultivated by them in the protected forests of Dangs district was under consideration. The government after careful consideration directed that the land be placed at the disposal of the revenue department for conferring occupancy to the Dangis. This was however subject to certain conditions The community forestry project of WWF-India dates back to mid nineties. At the inception WWF-India

interected with the Forest Department and local communities to better understand the Joint Forest Management (JFM) processes and success stories and also worked as an interface between the local communities and the FD. The objective was initially to make people aware about the benefits of JFM and provide a platform to bring the views and perceptions of the local people to the Forest Department. WWF-India initiated work in three states in the Western Ghats, viz., Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala in 2001. In the year 2002, WWF-India implemented a pilot project, on assessment of JFM at village Ahwati in Maharashtra. Kunbar in Gujarat and Vanchiyode in Kerala. This was an opportunity to develop a deeper insight into status of JFM and challenges ahead in these states. Experiences gained by the programme helped in implementation of the present project during 20032005 in the biodiversity hotspots. These .hotpots. are areas of high biological diversity high endemism and under high anthropogenic pressures. Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas are two hotspots in India (Norman Myers 1988, 1990). The following sections discuss in detail the case studies in the abovementioned states. All the case studies have the potential to link with Joint Forest Management as a followup of this programme. A brief account of the case studies follows : specified in the state government.s resolution in February 1992. The occupancy rights would be given only to the Dangis and not to outsiders who may have obtained leases of certain lands in Dangs. Occupancy

rights were given only in respect of those lands, which were actually leased to Dangis and in their natural possession as on January 1, 1970. The reserved trees on these lands continue to vest with the forest department but the cultivators are entitled to lop them for the purpose of cultivation. However, the responsibility of cutting the trees from the reserve forests, rests with the state forest department for revenue generation through auctions. The Forest Department, Government of Gujarat has been making attempts to motivate the farmers to switch over to better agricultural practices, for example, the use of vermin-composts in the fields has been suggested visavis the use of burnt litter. Timber auction has created lot of awareness and there has been a realization within the community that fires in the forest subsequently decrease the value of timber. It does not fetch the requisite price at the forest deposit and results in a loss to the tribals. The Forests and Biodiversity Programme of WWF-India undertook an initiative, to understand the compulsions behind cultivation of nagli (millet) and rice through the traditional methods. Socioeconomic surveys were conducted in the villages Enginepada, Bhujad, Chikhla, Devdiyavan, Masli, Khatar, Dhulda, Bandhpada, Mahal, Dhongiamba, Bardipada, Sajupada, Hadaol, Lahnkasad, Girmal, Goundha, Devan Tembrun and Jamlapada. Efforts were taken to encourage farmers to undertake cultivation through better practices. The challenge was to overcome the mindset that cultivation of nagli and rice is not possible without Raab

cultivation. An experiment cum demonstration was undertaken involving the cultivation of nagli and rice without practicing Raab burning. Forest Protection in Maharashtra and Gujarat WWF-India associated with rural communities in northern parts of Nasik district of Maharashtra Rajpipla forest division of Gujarat with strong willingness for forest protection. The area is inhabited by tribals and nontribals who are dependent on agriculture as a main source of livelihood. The rainshadow portions of the region are almost devoid of vegetation and most of the forests have been destroyed by earlier generations. Demand for fuelwood, timber and fodder might have been the major factors responsible for decreasing the forest vegetation. A large percentage of population reared goat and sheep for their sustenance till a few years back. Realising the adverse impact of deforestation, the villagers accepted the establishment of Joint Forest Management (JFM) initiated by Governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The concept of JFM has taken the shape of a movement within the last couple of years. WWFIndia associated itself with this movement around three years back by playing a role of catalyst between the government and village community. Initially, WWF-India was restricted to monitoring and evaluation of the concept by organising training programmes/ workshops for testing criteria & indicators. It also used its expertise in the area of public awareness and educational techniques in the field of nature conservation.

An idea, of setting up a model project in the cultivation of medicinal plants for economic benefits and environmental awareness of the villagers, was initiated in one of the successful project sites called Ahwati in Nashik district. The project was initiated previous year with cultivation of ten medicinal plant species. The purpose was to reduce pressure on natural forests for economic gains, to make use of the extra portions of land lying with villagers (nonConservation with Communities in the Biodiversity .Hotspots. of India 9 agricultural and degraded land), to reduce loss of certain species as a result of extensive use of land under agriculture. The project motivated the neighbourhood villages as well. The public awareness programmes, launched by WWF-India jointly with JFM active supporters, has resulted in the formation of new committees in a number of villages. From a meager number of a dozen JFM Committees till about two years back, today there are more than 150 villages working under the JFM movement in Satana and Kalvan, two sub-divisions of the district. Today villagers talk about the greening of their barren hills in most of the forums. Capacity building of Forest Protection committees in Kerala Forests constitute about 9% of the land area in Kerala. Although it.s almost ten years since the Joint Forest Management programme was initiated in Kerala it was strongly felt that the Forest Protection Committees (Vana Samrakshana Samithies) in Kerala needs strengthening through capacity building. The present project focused on

Capacity Building of Vana Samrakshana Samithies at villages Vanchiyode and Pottamava w.r.t. to natural resource management. After an analysis of the NTFP usage in the villages, extensive training programmes were organized for their sustainable management. While implementing the core programme there were many occasions in which the two VSS had a chance to share their experiences and problems related not only to NTFP management but also issues related to administration. It helped in the common sharing of ideas and promoting links between the two different types of VSS. This has given origin to the development of a concept of inter & intra VSS coordination that could prove fruitful and effective in enhancing the effectiveness of sustainable utilization of natural resources and in turn forest management. Feasibility of Group Certification of Swertia chirayita in Eastern Himalaya The state of Arunachal Pradesh harbours a rich stock of high valued medicinal plants like Taxus wallichiana, Acorus sp, Picrorhiza kurroa, Swertia chirayita etc. Local communities of the state with otherwise limited scopes of livelihood are engaged in the trade of these plants. Most of the Swertia chirayita marketed from the state is harvested in West Kameng district. The whole process of marketing involves many players at different levels such as agents from pharmaceutical companies, retailers from Assam, local contractors, local subcontractors and harvesters.

Marketing of Swertia chirayita is a seasonal occupation for the local villagers. The process starts from September and continues till February every year. In September, traders from Assam contact the local villagers and place orders as per the demand in the pharmaceutical companies. The collection of the species is presently banned by the state government. However there were reports of harvest of the species from the wild. An effort was made to explore the possibility of introducing cultivation of Swertia chirayita and organize the farmers for group certification using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) principles. 10 Conservation with Communities in the Biodiversity .Hotspots. of India 1. An Introduction to Participatory Forestry in India and the Case Studies Participatory Forestry in India is widely known as .Joint Forest Management. where protection and management of forests is jointly undertaken by Forest Department and the local communities. Joint Forest Management (JFM), a programme of peoples. participation in forestry had been initiated from a small village .Arabari. in Midnapore district of West Bengal in 1972. The objective was to involve the local communities in protecting the forests by sharing the benefits accruing from resources collected from the forest. Similar exercises had been undertaken in Sukhomajri village in Haryana. The success of the programme in these two states led the policy makers to rethink and reorient its emphasis from revenue generation to conservation and form

a participatory approach to forest management. However, JFM was formally initiated in June 1990 after receiving an endorsement from the government of India on the JFM system. Certain guidelines like formation of Village Forest Committee (VFC) or Village Forest Protection Committee (VFPC) and the role and functions of these committees were framed. All the state governments were advised to provide a formal framework for implementation of JFM. Twenty-three states in India have till date formally initiated JFM by constituting FPCs. At present there are 63,618 FPCs through out the country managing an area of more than 14 million ha (RUFFOR and MoEF, 2002). Among all the states, Orrisa has the highest average area under one FPC (597 ha/VFC) and Uttar Pradesh has the lowest area of about 4.69 ha. (Rabindranath, Murali & Malhotra, 2000). West Bengal has the largest JFM programme in India of 53.81% of forest area of the state. Remote Sensing assessments have clearly indicated the improvement of crown cover in some parts of the country due to protection and management of the forests. Micro level studies in some states have shown an improvement in productivity and diversity of vegetation and an increase in income accruing to FPCs from Non timber Forest Produces. Large financial support have been received for the programme from different funding agencies like World Bank, OECF-Japan, DFID-UK, and SIDA .Sweden, EEC and UNDP. The ultimate goal of the JFM programme is to initiate participatory forestry which can ultimately lead to a

wider role, responsibility and authority for the rural communities in decision making, infrastructure sharing and financial management. The approach in the present study has been to work with the Forest Protection Committees. Although this has been possible in the states of Maharashtra and Kerala, our work remained confined to the local farmers in Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh where the Forest Protection Committies could be involved only in th Conservation with Communities in the Biodiversity .Hotspots. of India 11 1.1 The Case Studies : The community forestry project of WWF-India was initiated in 1997. At the time of its inception WWF-India started interacting with the Forest Department and local communities to understand the JFM process and also worked as an interface between the local communities and the FD. The objective was not only to disseminate the benefits of JFM among the local communities but to also work as a platform to bring the views and perceptions of the local people to the Forest Department and to implement the programme in a sustainable way. With support from International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED), UK a series of workshops were organized in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Kerala in Western Ghats in India during 2001-2002. In 2002, WWF-India implemented a small project on the assessment of a SFM at village Ahwati in Maharashtra by developing Criteria and Indicators based on the local communities under the aegis of the World BankWWF Alliance. The objective of the

study was to gain a greater insight into the benefits of JFM for the communities. While working with the communities it was realized that the same exercise could also be replicated in other areas where JFM is being practised successfully. Under the Ford US grant a project was designed to work with the communities on different issues of community forestry in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh during 2003-2005. These .hotpots. are areas of high biological diversity, high endemism and under high anthropogenic pressures. Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas are two hotspots in India (Norman Myers 1988, 1990). The following sections discuss in detail, the case studies in the abovementioned states. All the case studies have the potential to link with Joint Forest Management as a followup of this programme. 12 Conservation with Communities in the Biodiversity .Hotspots. of India.. 2.1 Western Ghats Gujarat Case Study 1. Analysing reasons for intentional / accidental forest fires in Dangs region, Gujarat Introduction The Dangs district in Gujarat is located between 200 33.40. and 210 5.10. N Latitudes and 730 27.58. and 730 56.36. E Longitudes. The total geographical area of the district is 1,764 sq. kms. In the east it is bounded by the Dhule district of Maharashtra, in the west by Valsad, in the north by Surat district both of Gujarat while in the south by the Nasik district of Maharashtra. Of the total geographical area, dense forest

constitutes 1,008 sq.kms, degraded forest 500 sq.kms, thorn scrub (open forest) 2 sq.km and 184 sq. kms under protected area category. At present in Dangs 58,758 ha is under Malki land (private land) category, 22,000 ha as protected forest and 84,000 ha as reserve forests. The total population of the district is 1, 86,729. There are 311 villages covering 8.9 % of the total land area of the Dangs. (Census data, 2001) The Sahyadri Hills occupy the eastern part of the Dangs district while the western portion descends into the plains of Gujarat. The district also forms the northernmost limit of the Western Ghats ecoregion. Barring a few high hills in the east and south, most of the area is made up of a series of flat-topped low hills. The elevation of these hills varies from 105 m in the west to 1,317 m above mean sea level (amsl) on the eastern border. However, most of the area Map : Project Locations in Dangs District, Gujarat Conservation with Communities in the Biodiversity .Hotspots. of India 13 lies between 300 m and 700 m amsl. There are four distinct river valleys viz., Gira, Purna, Khapri and Ambika rivers in the area that emerge in the hills of the Western Ghats and flow towards the west (Wohra, 1991). Almost all the annual rainfall occurs between June and September. The average annual rainfall in the district is about 2,000 mm and the west receives more rains than the east. May is the hottest month when the mean daily maximum temperature soars up to 400 C while December is the coldest month in the district. Minimum temperatures are usually well above freezing, and frost is not usual (Patel, 1971).

The forests of the Dangs belong to the subgroup .South Indian moist deciduous forest., and within this are more specifically classified as moist teak forests (Champion and Seth, 1968). According to the classification followed by Puri et. al., (1983) these forests are classified as deciduous teak forest types which are intermediate between dry and moist categories. They are named as the Tectona-Terminalia-Adina-Anogeissus series. The forests are known to be the richest in Gujarat and contain many invaluable timber species as well as medicinally important species (presently Dangs occupy about 30% of the forest area of Gujarat and generate 50% of its forest revenue and flora of Dangs is richest in Gujarat). Teak (Tectona grandis) is the most dominant species in Dangs and occurs throughout the area. Authentic information about the original inhabitants of Dangs prior to the early 18th century is scanty. However, it is clear that the original inhabitants of the Dangs were the Bhils. This is predominantly an adibasi region with tribals of Bhil, Gamit, Konkanas (kunbi) and Varlies who are called Dangis. The recorded history of Dangs is 400 years old and was first referred by Sir John Hawkins, a British traveller in 1608. According to him Bhils were the rulers of the region and practiced shifting (slash and burn) agriculture. Although there is no record available on exactly when the Konkanas entered the Dangs, it has been inferred that they were called by the Bhils in order to cultivate their lands (Patel, 1971). The Konkanas migrated here from the coastal areas of Maharashtra like Konkan. According

to an oral tradition, the community migrated north as a result of the famine of 1396-1408 that devastated the Konkan region (Hardin 1998). The Konkanas used to practice settled cultivation known as raab. During the early 18th century, the Dangs was ruled by small principalities presided by four Bhil chiefs and ten Naiks. The Konkanas were required to cultivate the lands of these chiefs and Naiks in lieu of tribute (Patel, 1971). Until the late 18th century, slash and burn agricultural system prevailed in the Dangs which was sustainable as the population was small and the shifting agricultural cycle i.e. fallow period between two successive cropping must have been longer. However, by 1891, there were already records to show that the Konkanas were practicing some form of settled agriculture in the Dangs. This usually consisted of lopping the trees within the agricultural field and around the area to be cultivated rather than cutting or burning entire trees (Lucas, 1892). As mentioned earlier, this form of cultivation is known as Raab. The forest history of the Dangs over the past two centuries has been tumultuous. It has been one of defeat and loss of land and livelihood for the local communities. But at the same time, it has also been a history of struggle by the local people of the Dangs against the scheme that farming is detrimental to the forest. The British took over the forests in Dangs from the Surat merchants in 1867 alleging that the Bhils were being exploited. Gradually the British unfolded their original plan and curtailed the rights of Dangi chiefs. In 1889 the forests were divided into

reserves and protected categories depends on the size of nursery, availability of labour within the household for its collection from the forest, and type of crop being grown in the nursery. On an average, in a plot of 50 sq. m 700kg -1000kg of biomass is burned. The unlocked elements from the burned biomass pool are the source of readily available nutrients for the crops for which the nursery is prepared. The general belief of the farmer is that the robust seedlings grown in this manner provide higher yields than those which are raised in the nurseries where biomass is not burned. This can be corroborated from the study done by Worah (1991). Once the seedlings attain the desired growth (40-60 cm height), these are transplanted into the larger plots. No further inputs are required except occasional weeding after transplantation of crop seedlings. The soil fertility of the bigger agricultural plot is maintained by shifting the location of the nursery (where biomass is burned) every year in such a fashion that practically every chunk of land within the Raab fields becomes the nursery bed after 5-7 years. The forest trees growing within the Raab fields also help maintain the fertility of soil over the years by pumping out nutrients from deeper soil layers to the surface, litter fall albeit smaller amount due to lopping of these trees and fine roots turn over etc (Semwal et. al., 2002). In the distant past the Bhils used to practice shifting agriculture, in this region, which over the years due to socio-economic and ownership changes, forest utilization policies,

got transformed into settled agriculture known as Raab. In this form of cultivation burning of biomass played an important role in the maintenance of soil fertility and good crop yields. This form of agriculture is promoted by the Konkanas another tribal group who moved into Dangs in the 13th century from the Konkan region of Maharashtra due to famine conditions in Konkan at the time (Mark Poffenberger 1998). Degraded Forests in Dangs Hot spot on the world depends on the size of nursery, availability of labour within the household for its collection from the forest, and type of crop being grown in the nursery. On an average, in a plot of 50 sq. m 700kg -1000kg of biomass is burned. The unlocked elements from the burned biomass pool are the source of readily available nutrients for the crops for which the nursery is prepared. The general belief of the farmer is that the robust seedlings grown in this manner provide higher yields than those which are raised in the nurseries where biomass is not burned. This can be corroborated from the study done by Worah (1991). Once the seedlings attain the desired growth (40-60 cm height), these are transplanted into the larger plots. No further inputs are required except occasional weeding after transplantation of crop seedlings. The soil fertility of the bigger agricultural plot is maintained by shifting the location of the nursery (where biomass is burned) every year in such a fashion that practically

every chunk of land within the Raab fields becomes the nursery bed after 5-7 years. The forest trees growing within the Raab fields also help maintain the fertility of soil over the years by pumping out nutrients from deeper soil layers to the surface, litter fall albeit smaller amount due to lopping of these trees and fine roots turn over etc (Semwal et. al., 2002). In the distant past the Bhils used to practice shifting agriculture, in this region, which over the years due to socio-economic and ownership changes, forest utilization policies, got transformed into settled agriculture known as Raab. In this form of cultivation burning of biomass played an important role in the maintenance of soil fertility and good crop yields. This form of agriculture is promoted by the Konkanas another tribal group who moved into Dangs in the 13th century from the Konkan region of Maharashtra due to famine conditions in Konkan at the time (Mark Poffenberger 1998). Degraded Forests in Dangs