ricoclime

it has been a busy few weeks. since i last wrote. fortunately the centre postponed voting on the sixth schedule and sent it to committee for more study (or something like that). so there was no bandh. so i was able to get into and out of town easy enough. rohin, myself and jesse (a volunteer from the two week pdc in oct.) went out to the singalila area for an initial assessment on five forest villages we are soon to be working with. i am working on a longer posting about this project, but will hold it back for a very specific reason (to be given later). this project is part of a large international bio-conservation project called Critical Ecosystem Protection Fund (CEPF). the area covered by CEPF starts in the middle of nepal, moves east through here, bhutan, and into the rest of india's northeastern states. CEPF's focus is the protection of critical, threatened and endangered species and habitat. a part of this is the recognition of the need for bio-corridors to link critical habitats so specie populations can mix and bred in the necessary numbers for sustainable long term survival. the singalila area is considered such a corridor linking the high himalayas with the plains, as well as being habitat for several critical species (red panda and cloud leopard being the best known). our project within the larger framework of CEPF is working with these forest villages, which are located in the buffer zone of the singalila wildlife sanctuary, to create sustainable livelihood that does not impact the jungle around them. our approach will be both participatory and permacultural.

firstly, we are not going to go in and tell them what they should do, nor are we going to just 'give' them things. we intend to engage them as part of the process so that they make choices about what and how this transition to a sustainable village will take place. we will provide training's, information, and resources so they can make the most informed and appropriate decisions. and yes, it is a fine line between empowering them and directing them. it is a process i have full confidence we, dlr prerna and myself, can do.

secondly, we will be using permaculture ideas, understandings, and strategies to design our approaches and interactions with these communities. likewise, the training's and resources we will be providing them will permacultural. i won't go into specifics here, that's for the later more in-depth posting. what the outcome will be, very simplistically put, is an internalizing and cycling of resources with the result of minimizing the villages impacts upon the environment around them. what we really hoping for and working towards, which i believe quite possible, is that these communities will actually become beneficial in multiple ways to the preservation of the critical, threatened and endangered species and habitats that are around them.

pretty exciting.

as far as i know this is the first time this approach has been taken anywhere. if you know of any other projects like or similar to ours i'd very much appreciate any information or contacts you can send me.

now the qualifier. it's a classic. we've been awarded the grant from CEPF. this being an int'l project implemented in india (in our case) we have had to jump through many hoops and get multiple signatures. all of which was no more a problem than the minor bureaucratic shuffle. and all was sweet and complete we thought. however, a couple weeks ago we received word from CEPF that one more signature was needed. with this signature the money would finally be released, deposited into our account, the project really happening, nothing more to wait for, go for it, do the needful. well, we've met the bureaucrat and it was not good. i'm very tempted to describe this person and what happened, though not unkindly. however, this being a public space with the need to be sensitive and politically conscious i am not doing so. they do not have my address, but who's to say who will stumble across these writings. it's strange this balancing that i'm having to do for the first time in my life. anyway, we are now having to do the political dancing. we don't know the outcome. however, this project will happen. we've come this far with an idea that is good, necessary, doable and has received support, some enthusiastic, from everyone.

so i'll hold the in-depth writing till i can tell you all that we are doing the needful.