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Towards Green Villages

Objectives

• To understand the biomass economy

• To debate and dialogue environmental sustainability

• To take stock of current state of rural development

• To evolve ways to use ecology for economy

Structure

• Not a skill sharing but deepening understanding

• Content is evidence based

• Focus on sharpening our advocacy/ implementation strategy

• Speakers represent key areas

• Emphasis on group works

Expectation

• To broaden our understanding

• To seek/form alliance for greater common good

• To initiate change

India’s Biomass Economy


• SD is development that meets present needs without compromising

the ability of future generations to meet their needs

• Economics often gives the wrong signals

• It is internally consistent but makes the wrong assumptions

• It works in the short term but leaves us vulnerable in the long term

• It should create employment and eliminate poverty

• It should create wealth for everyone

• This requires an economic system that is strongly altruistic and

cooperative


• Ecology contributes 80 percent of income of poor

• Around 29 percent of ‘national wealth’ sustains 60 percent of

population

• The ‘informal’ sector employs 92 percent of India. Private and

public together only 8 percent

• Over 60% people depend on agriculture, fisheries and forests

• Agriculture: directly employs 234 million people


• Agriculture contributes 21% of GDP

• Though declining, dependence increasing

• GDP may not be showing the right dependence

• Industry’s major resources are biomass

• Latest trends show that people still feel agriculture as the livelihood

• So GNP (Gross Nature Produce) is the right indicator

Ecosystems in India

Ecosystems in India

• Ecosystems are ecological governance units

• Ecosystems decide economic activities

• Effective socio-economic governance based on this

Ecological Regions of IndiaEcological Regions of India

Ecosystems in India

Importance of ecosystems

• Key components of eco-systems

• They are the origin of all ecological maladies

• A small change in ecosystem triggers poverty

• The most effective unit for development

• They define precisely the local needs based on ecology

• They have clues to persistent poverty issues

• They are the basic unit for sustainable development

Ecosystems in India

Ecosystems and current development plans

• Rural schemes are uniform

• Few of them are area specific like DPAP

• Centralised development ignores ecosystems

• So most programmes fail to impact

Ecosystems of India

State of economy in ecosystems

• Very difficult to measure

• Arid and semi-arid ecosystems are the poor regions

• Most of migration happens from degraded ecosystems

• Majority of unemployment in these areas

State of Poverty in India

State of Poverty in India

• India’s poverty line: Rs. 12/day in rural, Rs.18/day in urban India

• More than 300 million people below this line (70% in rural)

• Poverty > getting chronic, concentrated

• Natural resource rich areas the poorest (60%)

State of Poverty • Economy grows at around 9%, agriculture at 2.3 %

– Food grain available: 152 kg /person (rural). 23 kg less than in 90s– 30% households eat less than 1,700 kilo calories per day/person– Rural poor spend 70 percent of income on food. Starvation

• 57% of land facing degradation (increase of 53 percent since 1994)– Impact esp. on common lands & rain fed areas. About 68 percent of

the net sown area drought prone.

• 60% of cultivable areas are rainfed (no irrigation). Produce 42% of food– 2.5tons/ha productivity

• 80 % of India’s landholding is less than one hectare– The average annual land fragmentation is 2.7/land holding– 33% landless (22% in 1991-92)– Every second farmer today indebted. Suicides

State of PovertyGovt.’s anti-poverty schemes

• 60 years of targeted anti-poverty programmes

• More than 2000 rural development programmes

• Rs. 314 billion for poverty alleviation/year

• Rs. 260 billion for food subsidy/year

• Rs. 71 billion for irrigation/year

• Rs. 6 billion for afforestation/year

• Rs. 2,270 Billion to sustain the bureaucracy/annual

• It takes Rs. 3.65 to transfer Rs. 1 programme money to poor

• 58% subsidised food doesn’t reach poor

• 1/3rd employment creation against target

State of Poverty

Growth vs Poverty• Highest rate of economic growth in history

• Lowest rate of agriculture growth in history

• Employment per growth unit lowest ever, less than 1%

• Rural unemployment at 9.1 percent, double in 2 decades

• Poverty reduction slower during post-reform

• Need 108 jobs a minute for the next five years

• Can create 10 jobs from current growth

• Ecology has huge potential: 110 jobs/minute

• Need to redefine poverty

• GNP is effective gross nature produce

State of Poverty Increasing demands on Biomass

• Population is increasing by 2 per cent every year– 1 Ha sustains now four people, 1.5 people/Ha in 1980s

• Firewood production must increase from 100 million ton to 300 million tonnes• Green fodder production from about 230 million tonnes to 780 million tonnes.• India’s per capita forests decreasing: 0.08 Ha now, 0.20 in 1951• Number of people dependent on forests is growing: from 184 million in 1996 to

226 in 2006. • Timber demand (both housing and industrial): from 23 million cubic metres to 29

million cubic metres in 2006.• Per capita consumption of paper rose from 3 kgs in 1995 to about 5 kgs in 2003

(in China it was 29.1 kg per person). In Asia, per capita paper consumption is five times higher than in India.

• But overall biomass production in India seems to be declining rapidly• Around 240.62 million Ha of India’s 306.25 million Ha reported land are used for

biomass production. Out of this only on a very small fraction of agricultural lands productivity has improved due to irrigation. On the rest, productivity has gone down. And it is declining.

Ecological Poverty Explained

• India is biomass based thus dependent on ecology

• Poverty is caused by ecological degradation

• Poverty is caused by less access to ecology

• Thus India’s poverty is ecological poverty

• Ecological poverty is thus lack of access to natural resources

• To face the unprecedented demands from biomass this has to be

fixed

An Opportunity

• Ecological poverty is recognised now

• This gives us an opportunity to redesign rural programmes

• Programmes like NREGA and BRGF are instruments

• Civil society has more roles to play

Challenges for Ecological Poverty

• 0.6 million villages, .23 million elected local governments, 3.8 million elected representatives

• 2.3 villages per Panchayat (in Assam, as high as 29 villages/Panchayat)

• But a centralised approach: gradually the Federal government is in charge of resources

• Those who take decisions are not the ones who have to live with the consequences of those decisions

• Panchayats have all power over natural resources

• Panchayats are regarded as implementing agencies

• Only one state has devolved power

• In tribal areas, it is in more distress

• India has to make a fundamental shift to meet this challenge.

• A shift in state’s role from an often-corrupt regulator of the micro-environment to the provider of an enabling and more market-friendly environment

Rainfed Areas, New Crisis Center

Introduction

• Irrigation areas stagnating

• Food production less than pre-Green Revolution period

• Need to double up food production

• Rainfed areas are the answer

Rainfed areas, new crisis center

Rainfed agriculture in India extends over an area of 97 million ha and

constitute nearly 67 % of the net cultivated area


The ecology of rainfed areas

• One crop agriculture but 42% production

• Degraded natural resource base, low soil fertility, soil erosion

• 15-20% rainwater runs off from rainfed farms

• But has 65% of unutilized irrigation

• Most of backward districts in these areas

• 60-70% poor of India are in these areas



Challenges - Opportunities

• Future food security: 37% extra food grain has to come from here

• Huge opportunity for regeneration of ecology

• Watershed approach: way out of chronic poverty

• Overall employment and livelihood opportunities

Ecological opportunities

• Every village in India has the resources to self-sustain

• Water conservation emerges as the core of these models

• Community governance is key to sustainability

• Lays key principles of sustainable development

Community-led Water Management Initiatives

• Jhabua

- Government initiated but implemented successfully by local communities

• Hivre Bazar

- Community initiated, highly successful

- Second generation model

Jhabua

Jhabua: A watershed in rural development?

• Background- history of ecological degradation

• From ecological degradation to ecological poverty- impacts on economy

• Migration

Copyright Supriya Singh, SANDEE 2005

Jhabua 1985 A moonscape devoid of any vegetation

Copyright Centre for Science and Environment, 1985

Jhabua 1997 Soil and water conservation begun in 1994 begin to bring life back

to the land

Copyright Centre for Science and Environment, 1997

Jhabua 2005 Dynamic community leadership in some of the mission villages has

continued the conservation work


A People’s Movement


Jhabua 2005 But in other villages…..


Reasons for success of Jhabua

• Public participation was the key to success. This required appropriate financial and institutional strategies.

• Inter-departmental coordination to ensure there was no policy fracture.

• Political will in the form of the personal supervision of the Chief Minister.

• Multi tier governance structures created- decentralisation of works

• Success- increase in water level, crop yields, income; decrease in migration,

• Ecological regeneration- economic transformation

The missing links

• Decentralization caught up in bureaucratic red tape• The government beat too hasty and abrupt a retreat• 2000-2001- Sudden loss of jobs and a drought =

migration• Appropriation of benefits by the rich and powerful• Valley to ridge approach• Impractical time frame- Development proceeded too fast

for the institutional mechanisms to keep pace• Follow up work post watershed development missing• Lot of funds generated are lying unutilized in banks

Hivre Bazar: A tall order

• A replication of Ralegaon Siddhi• From punishment zone to model village• Community leadership, charismatic leader• Revival of community institutions• Discipline• Lesson – It takes little to reclaim your life- the

economics of community led conservation

The starting point of ecological regeneration and economic revival was water

• The villagers took control of their ecological destiny in their hands.

• They started harvesting their rainwater endowment. With groundwater recharged, agriculture improved and animal productivity increased.

• Once they became concerned about their water, the villagers also became concerned about their watershed. The hills are today rich and green.

• Distress out-migration has stopped.

Key Lessons

- A case for how ecological regeneration is married to economic well being

- Government for the people- collective leadership

- Importance of ecology in economy- Let people control their natural resources (get

rid of the state)- Respect traditional knowledge (learn from the

villagers themselves)

Ecological opportunities

• Every village in India has the resources to self-sustain

• Water conservation emerges as the core of these models

• Community governance is key to sustainability

• Lays key principles of sustainable development

A roadmap for sustainable village

Key development tips

• Need of a new development paradigm (flow chart)

• Redefined poverty as lack of access to natural resources

• Water invariably becomes the core

• Built strong institutions based on right based approach

A roadmap for sustainable village

ECOLOGICAL POVERTY

CreateNATURAL WEALTH

CreateECONOMIC WEALTH

A roadmap to sustainable village

Key governance tips

• Government does not recognise these, ignore as sporadic cases

• Government never supports/empowers local institutions

A roadmap

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