A
PROFILE
1. Project Background:
India's globally and nationally important biodiversity is threatened by several factors: (i) extensive livestock grazing; (ii) over harvest of forest and aquatic species for timber, fuelwood, food and medicine; (iii) habitat fragmentation from conversion to agriculture, infrastructure, industry and human settlements; (iv) industrial pollution; and (v) unsustainable development in areas adjacent to high biodiversity areas. Some of the root causes are: poverty and lack of sustainable alternative livelihoods for resource dependent communities; lack of integration of biodiversity and livelihood/poverty considerations into development planning around biodiversity rich areas; lack of financial and social incentives to local communities from conservation efforts and related funding; and the inability to effectively translate and replicate lessons and benefits of the very diverse and successful previous experiences in participatory forest/natural resource and benefit sharing programs in the country.
2. Project
Objectives:
The objective of the project is to conserve biodiversity, while improving rural livelihoods through testing and establishing decentralized participatory approaches across a range of globally and nationally important landscapes under different management regimes. The expected outcomes of the project include: 1) improved conservation of globally and nationally important biodiversity; and 2) increased incomes and livelihood opportunities for local communities from conservation and sustainable use of biological resources and alternative income generating activities. Secondary outcomes are 1) improved coordination amongst service providers (state forest departments, local government and line agencies such as agriculture, water supply, irrigation, etc., community institutions, NGOs and private sector); 2) acquisition of stakeholders of new roles, skills and incentives that support conservation and sustainable use of biological resources; 3) increased capacity of community and local institutions to influence decisions on resource allocation and use and manage such resources.
3. Project description:
The proposed
project is focused on conservation of globally and nationally important
biological diversity, and improving livelihoods and income opportunities for
communities in high-value biodiversity landscapes. The project will apply culturally appropriate
and tested participatory approaches to support opportunities for improving
livelihoods of rural forest dependent communities. Investments will be tailored to individual
community needs through a site-specific microplanning
process, building on current planning systems used for ecodevelopment
and other natural resource management projects in watershed, forestry, etc. The
proposed project envisages to focus on five or six
sites of globally and nationally important biodiversity in
The proposed project will be a fully blended operation supported by IDA and GEF funding. The potential activities to be supported under the project are:
Component 1: Increasing sustainability of protected area network through building social capital and maximizing local benefits: Protected areas are one of the key components of the country’s efforts to conserve biodiversity. Development of ecodevelopment and joint forest management in some state forests have provided models of new approaches to participatory management, providing benefits of both local communities and conservation. The project will build on these models and expand lessons to other globally important sites (including national parks and sanctuaries and their surrounding landscapes) in the to strengthen linkages between conservation and improving livelihoods of local communities that live adjacent to these areas as well as to enhance the local and national economy. Initial emphasis will be on conservation areas around forested landscapes, but deliberate effort to include some non-forest sites would be made to test if the same principles and practices can be applied.
a) Expand participatory management models across broader landscapes: The project would support an ecosystem approach to conservation across broad landscape units. The conservation landscapes would have high biodiversity value and include protected areas but would also cover a broad spectrum of adjacent habitats including production and community forests, and/or agricultural landscapes. Areas would be selected based on their value as major conservation units (e.g. tiger or elephant conservation units, biological corridors, etc.). Such an ecosystem approach would be consistent with international agreements and best practices.
b)
Five to six sites would be chosen as pilot
demonstration sites in different biogeographic zones
to test participatory models in a range of biological, geographical and social
settings, taking a landscape approach.
The initial focus would be on forested landscapes, and the sites
selected will include protected areas and their buffer zones nested in a forest
or agricultural landscape, clusters of protected areas linked by biological
corridors as well as one or two sites representing different ecosystem types
(e.g., mountains, arid-desert, islands, marine and coastal wetlands and
mangroves, etc.) and their buffer zones. It is anticipated that each project site
will cover an area of between 1,000 to 2,000 sq. kms.
or more, and will represent areas of significant
biodiversity value and species richness.
The proposed project sites will represent five or six of
c) Although
the criteria for selection of the pilot landscape demonstration sites would be
developed during project preparation, it is likely to include the following
criteria: biodiversity values (e.g., biological representativeness,
biological uniqueness, biodiversity richness, ecosystem value and functions,
etc.), socio-economic values (e.g., economic value, socio-cultural value,
scientific value, etc.) and conservation feasibility (e.g., protection status, level of threats,
size and ecological vulnerability, management capacity and commitment to
conservation, and new models of participatory natural resource management of
state governments and local communities, etc.).
The first step in this process would be to
assess the individual, institutional and systemic capacities relevant to
project implementation existing among the project partners, including local
communities, stakeholders and non-governmental organizations, and the address
of such gaps through focused capacity development activities. This would be
followed by initiating the participatory, micro-level, planning activities to
identify the management needs and objectives of each sub-component of the
project “sites” and subsequent implementation of site-specific participatory
approaches to improve local livelihoods and incomes while conserving global and
national important species and biodiversity in the proposed landscape sites.
d) Strengthen institutional arrangements for sectoral integration and improve capacity of protected area and forest managers, local communities and other stakeholders to conserve biodiversity within protected areas and within production landscapes, while providing benefits to local communities: The project would foster an institutional mechanism for sectoral integration to ensure judicious utilization of resources and complementary manner of sectoral programs. Although some capacity exists in the country to manage protected areas, specific efforts are needed to strengthen and improve attitudes, skills and competence for participatory conservation approaches as well as integrating biodiversity consideration into forest, agriculture and land management programs in areas outside the traditional protected areas. The proposed project would support capacity building and expansion of participatory conservation lessons and outreach to protected area managers, communities and other stakeholders in locations around the selected demonstration landscape and seascape units. In addition, it would support local language materials to provide tools for Environmental Impact Assessment and other useful tools for developing conservation-related skills, and provide support for improving awareness and knowledge amongst youth and local communities.
e) Provide competitive small grants to
expand "participatory conservation” approaches in other areas throughout the country. As part of the effort to expand and
disseminate lessons and experiences of past and ongoing successful models of
participatory resource management or “ecodevelopment”,
the proposed project would establish a fund to provide small competitive grants
to other protected areas that are willing to apply such approaches. Specific
criteria would be developed during project preparation for award of grants, but
such criteria could include the following: (i)
demonstrated commitment to participatory conservation, including willingness to
provide direct financial support and management responsibility to community and
NGO led initiatives; (ii) ability to leverage additional governmental and
non-governmental resources for conservation; and (iii) existence of direct
opportunities to derive livelihood and income benefits from conservation and/or
reciprocal commitments (e.g., ecotourism, sustainable fisheries, non-timber
forest products, etc.).
f) Component 2: Mainstreaming biodiversity and livelihood concerns in production landscapes: For the effective conservation of biodiversity across broader landscapes (beyond the limits of protected areas), efforts are needed to mainstream biodiversity and livelihood concerns into habitat management in these lands. The initial effort at mainstreaming would be within the demonstration landscape units and corridors that connect such areas. The proposed project would support the incorporation of biodiversity conservation into forest management activities, agricultural and community land use planning, as relevant, in these demonstration areas..
a) Integrate conservation and livelihood objectives into forest management/afforestation schemes: The proposed project would complement the ongoing development initiatives for improving forestry practices that support biodiversity conservation and rural livelihoods, including forest protection and management and afforestation, particularly in environmentally sensitive areas and ecological corridors in lands adjacent to protected areas within the demonstration landscape units. Specifically, project support would be focused on capacity building and technical assistance for revision and implementation of forest working plans, forest operational guidelines and forest practices and other participatory practices to support conservation and livelihood objectives.
b) Mainstream biodiversity concerns into rural development and livelihood programs: Using tested participatory approaches, the proposed project would support efforts to mainstream biodiversity concerns into rural development and livelihood programs, by promoting micro-enterprise development schemes, formation of self-help groups, establishment of village revolving funds, and other successful approaches that are linked to reciprocal community commitments to conservation and sustainable use.
Component 3: Promote mechanisms for participatory management, improved skills, capacity and learning for conservation and management of biological resources: Emphasis on capacity building of forestry staff, local government and local communities through cross-learning, research and studies, strengthened partnership with non-governmental sector, monitoring linked to reciprocal commitments, etc.
a)
Develop and
promote mechanisms for participatory management of resources: The
proposed project would provide support in the form of technical assistance,
training, research and documentation and dissemination of best practice
relating to the participatory management of resources, with the intention of
improving awareness, policy and technical knowledge.
b) Establish learning centers and networks: Building on expertise built up under the current Ecodevelopment Project, World Bank funded Forestry and Forest Research Extension and Education projects and other similar initiatives, the proposed project would provide small incremental support to protected areas and/or their related institutions (e.g., Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala, Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu, Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal, etc.) to serve as foci/centers of excellence and learning for improving capacity, skills and expertise in participatory conservation management. These centers of excellence would provide training, skills development courses and workshops, cross visits and opportunities for exchange assignments for other protected areas staff, NGOs and community groups throughout the country. Support would also be provided to learning centers for personnel and skills training, preparation of best practice manuals/outreach, documentation and dissemination of best practice so that they can serve as learning centers.
c) Build capacity for simple biological and social monitoring and conflict resolution: The project would support efforts to improve community monitoring of biodiversity inside and around protected areas and other sites of biological importance through training and capacity building, to improve conflict resolution mechanisms in relation to conservation, and to overall strengthen protected area monitoring systems. In terms of the latter, the proposed project would provide technical assistance, training and pilot demonstration for the defining monitoring frameworks, measurement approaches and technology, managing information and reporting for establishing and improving the monitoring of protected area management effectiveness, building on the past experiences.
d) Improved capacity to address legal and institutional issues relating to conservation of biodiversity: The project would provide support for specific studies, technical assistance and capacity development to address legal and institutional issues relating to conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, resource access, participatory and co-management approaches. This work to be undertaken through partnerships with non-governmental sector at the national and state levels.
Component 4: Improved knowledge and understanding of biological resource conservation and management: This component would specifically support targeted efforts to improve understanding and appreciation of biological resources.
a) Valuation of ecosystem services and
functions to guide policy and decision making: The proposed project
would support special studies and capacity building to provide economic
justification for conservation of critical natural habitats through ecosystem
services such as watershed protection, coastal protection (e.g., mangroves,
estuaries, etc.), fisheries production (coral reefs, etc.) and other topical
concerns in order to guide policy and decision making on the sustainable use of
these resources.
b) Media
outreach to raise awareness of linkages between global environmental and local,
regional and national benefits: The
project would support state-level, national and local level media and outreach
campaigns to raise awareness to the linkages between global environment and
local, regional and national benefits, including improved livelihoods and
incomes for local communities, protection of watersheds (river-basin benefits)
and coastal fisheries.