PROMOTING PARTICIPATORY AFFORESTATION AND EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE ECO- DEVELOPMENT IN BHITARKANIKA, INDIA
Location of the project:
Bhitarkanika Ramsar site is situated between 200. 30’ to 200 . 50’ north latitude and 860. 30’ to 87o. 06’ East longitudes. It comes under Raj Nagar Block of Kendrapara District. The principal activity is the plantation programme in this project with the participation of local people which has been organized in the campus of the 36 schools and 6 temples.
Problems of the project area:
Bhitarakanika Ramsar site which is the second largest mangrove eco-system after Sunderbans with high species diversity having unique ecosystem of International importance. After independence, the influx of refugees from Bangladesh to this area create a lot of anthropogenic pressure resulted in shrinkage in mangroves forests, fast decline of bio diversity, man-animal conflict etc. In combination with the decreased mangrove forests, a number of villages have already been swallowed by Bay of Bengal and another two are waiting to be sunk soon due to the rise of sea water level under the effect of Climate Change.
Hence the prime purpose of the project is to raise community awareness and participation in development of eco-system services in the target area. The project has been designed and planned for action, education and awareness for sustainable development among the stakeholders in reviving and rejuvenating the ecosystem through the Center for Environmental Awareness and Education (CEAE) in the selected 13 High Schools already established in the project area with the support of JFGE, Japan during 2009-2013. CEAE has been acting as the focal point for promoting participatory afforestation and education for sustainable development at the community level.
Activities:
- Focal point of the programme
- School & Temple campus plantation
- Mangroves nursery and plantation
- Nursery Training
- Mangrove protection Commmittee
- Workshop on education for sustainable development
- Competitions on panting and essay writing
- World Wetlands Day
- World Environment Day
Please go through our Annual Report For more details
NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT AWARENESS CAMPAIGN OF THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST & CLIMATE CHANGE, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Activities:Awareness campaign & plantation programme.
Target group addressed:SHG women-15 & School & local children-120.
Venue /Area Covered:Kunjuri high school, Kunjuri, Dist- Khordha, Odisha
Response of the participants
a)Their comments on the activities carried out under the event :
In the programme, the target habitation is the farming community who are depending upon agriculture. Since the area is regularly affected by disasters like cyclone and drought, the natural resource base is declining. This year ‘drought’ has been terribly impacting the agricultural economy. There is growing suicidal deaths of farmers in the State. In this scenario, the programme has been relevant to a great extent. In the awareness meeting it has been also given idea on the use of green manure and reduction of excess chemical fertilizers which is highly important to bring into practice in the area. The community has observed to be serious on the subject. They have also given their feedback on application of organic manure. The participant women have shown interest to follow these processes in their lands. There has been tremendous interest as shown by the women for plantation. The material supplied in odiya language is very much relevant.
b) Their response during and after the event:
The community has expressed their happiness to be a part of the project.
The women and youth members expressed their increased understanding on the issue, conservation and eco-friendly agricultural practice aspects.
c) Any learning from the event activities:
There is always threat of sudden reduction of resources if it is not used wisely.
Local environment is highly influenced by disasters and need to be conservation of water through local initiatives with priority.
Please go through our Annual Report For more details
“SUSTAINABLE LIFE FOREST” PROJECT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION AND DISASTER RISK REDUCTION ALONG THE COASTAL VILLAGES IN ODISHA STATE, INDIA
Stakeholders of the project:
The target audiences of the project are Fisherman, SHG members, Farmers, Village leaders, Teachers, Students, Shrimp fry Collectors, Youths, local government (Panchayat Raj Institutions-PRIs), and local institutions. The project will cover 12 villages and at least 1500 household having 10000 populations during the two years project period.
Problems of the project area:
A high devastated cyclonic storm namely Phailin hit Odisha coast on 12.10.2013 which caused loss of human, animal and millions of big trees. As a result the livelihood of the local community and the biodiversity has been affected to a great extent. As such Odisha coast is vulnerable to climate change/ Global warming to a great extent. So 6 important estuarine zones have been identified by the NGO network to address the issue. There is urgent need to address the problem by involving the local communities to establish “Sustainable Life Forest” and protection including building their capacity by providing training, awareness education, establishing community base knowledge centre toward conservation of coastal eco-system. PALLISHREE successfully implemented a number of community based plantation and management projects in different parts of the State, organizing and capacity building of local communities. Based on this experience PALLISHREE has proposed this project to be implemented with the help of NGO network namely “NETCOAST” in a degraded coastal ecosystem to build up capacity of the community towards conservation and management. The project area covers 6 estuarine zones which includes two important Ramsar sites namely Chilika lagoon and Bhitarkanika. Satabhaya which is a part of Bhitarkanika Ramsar sites has been brought to the notice of international scientist community in the issues related to climate change/Global warming.
There is a need to aware the local community regarding the cause and effect of global warming. The community will be provided with capacity building inputs to manage wisely the use of the resources, conserve and regenerate. The local community involvement including the students as the future generation will make the project sustainable.
Activities:
The project “Sustainable Life Forest” project for environmental restoration and disaster risk reduction along the coastal villages in Odisha state, India has been implemented by PALLISHREE involving the NGO Network namely NETCOAST. During the year 2015 which is the 1st year of the project period, the following activities have been implemented:
- Formation of self Help Group (SHG)
- Training to SHG members
- Essay & painting competition among the students
- Observation of World Wetlands Day-2015
- Establishment of CCEAC
- Survey and assessment in the project villages
- Project kickoff workshop
- Raising nursery of different plants
- Preparation & publication of IEC & wall painting
- Conduct Participatory Action Plan (PAP) in the project village
- Training on educational material development & role of stakeholders
- Exposure visit
- Organic agriculture hands on training to farmers
- Preparation of organic manure demonstration
- Provision of saline resistant rice varieties to the farmers
- Sand dune vegetation plantation with mangrove associate plant species
- Mangrove and other species plantation, conservation and protection
- Protection material and installation for sustainable life forest
- Meeting for Protection of “Sustainable Life Forest”
- Establishment of seed bank
- Participatory review of key issues and problems for participatory
- “Sustainable Life Forest” management through workshops
- Establishment of state level Knowledge & resource center
- News Letter
Please go through our Annual Report For more details
COMMUNITY MANAGED PARTICIPATORY BIO-DIVERSITY CONSERVATION & ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE ECO-RESTORATION AT GOPALPUR ZONE ALONG BAY OF BENGAL, ODISHA, INDIA
The geographical zone coming under Gopalpur on sea along Bay of Bengal in the State of Odisha in India has been devastated by the last very severe cyclonic storm Phailin and the green cover disappeared. Govt. has taken care of the human and animals, but greens have already been neglected. This area is also very close to the project area of previous KNCF supported project. So PALLISHREE have applied KNCF to address this issue and thankful to KNCF as the said project has been sanctioned in time. This is the first half yearly report of the second year project of a three years plan project. The local community has been participated in the implementation of following activities.
Activities
- Continuation CEAE & women SHGs
- Mangroves Nursery and other general species nursery raising.
- Plantation of general plant in school campus/ community land.
- Plantation of Mangrove species
- Installation of garbage pits
- Exposure visit to model community based mangroves plantation
- Publication of news letter
- Training on disaster risk reduction strategies
- Sustainable Climate Change Register
- Essay & painting Competition among the students
- Workshop on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction
- Observation of WWD
Please go through our Annual Report For more details