In these conditions, still there is ray of hope; there are approximately 12,000 forest protecting groups, spread all over the Orissa. Rough estimates indicate that in Districts like Nayagarh, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Dhenkenal and others there are nearly 7688 village groups protecting around 2 million hectares of forest, ranging from a few years old to several generations old initiatives. These initiatives also exhibit an array of diversity in origin, management systems, institutional arrangements, etc. indicating situation specific conservation models evolved due to various interacting factors. Some of these efforts have traces before independence.
Most of these initiatives come up as a response to acute scarcity of fuel wood, fodder small timber and Minor Forest Produces (MFPs) to meet domestic and agricultural needs, here the forest is seen as a source of community development and a resource which needs to be managed sustainably for succeeding generations. While livelihood assurance through MFP collection, ecological services and economic benefits from the forest were the main considerations behind many initiatives, thus, it is the interaction between forest and the local community, where people felt the need to secure their future through local action.
These efforts of
local population make a difference in many contexts,
the difference is not only meant for forest and
wildlife but the difference is evident for the
society. Here the conservation starts from the
ground and fruits of conservation i.e. benefits of
conservation percolate in the ground. Most of these
initiatives are self initiated however sometimes the
co-alliances like Forest Departments or local NGOs
acts as a catalyst, accelerating the process and
giving shape to the ideas of the people.
In the scenario of sustainable development, where we
have to realize the intricate balance between use
and exploitation, we have to distinguish between our
need and greed. Integrated Approach with
comprehensive management of local resources is a key
for sustainable development. This democratic,
decentralized approach starts from micro level
planning, implementation and monitoring done by
primary stake holders. Dhanrasi is an ideal example,
where there is a self initiated integrated
development model developed by village communities
themselves, however a grass root level NGO “PRAYAS”
worked as a catalyst by facilitating the process
through capacity building programmes and technical
support.
The Village Dhanrasi:
Dhanrasi is a small tribal dominated village of
fifty two households; the village comprises about
49% tribal population and 52% of other backward
classes. Women are outnumbering males with sex ratio
of 1043, women are not only dominating in sense on
numbers but they are also very active in every
village process. Detailed demography of the village
is given in Annexure-5.1. Dhanrasi is situated 60Km
away from Sundargarh towards west direction. The
boundary line of Chattisgarh is 9Km away from the
west boundary of the village, Kuchedega GP is
situated 2Km away from the north boundary of the
village while block head quarter Hemigir is situated
17Km towards north of the village.
History of Dhanrasi:
Before 200 years, where Dhanrasi is situated there
were no civilization. The area was covered with
dense forest. Gradually people coming from Rayagada,
Sambalpurand other places settled. To establish
agriculture and prepare land for house hold they cut
down the trees and burnt it. They sawed paddy (Dhan)
and Til (Rasi) on that time, as the land was fertile
they harvested ample yield of both therefore the
village is named as “Dhanrasi”.
The Conservation Attempt:
In the village micro-plan prepared by villagers in
2002, they priorities forest protection as issue
that requires immediate attention. Even in group
discussion they expressed grave concern regarding
forest degradation, its impact and measures to be
taken. At the time of establishment of village the
forest was ample and agriculture was also
flourishing. Over the period the forest degraded to
the maximum extent. The villagers believe that it
was the act of villagers themselves that degraded
forest.
According to few old people Dhanrasi was an abode of
snakes, and villagers were considering them as
“Laxmi” (Goddess of Wealth). This belief was
particularly based on sound traditional ecological
knowledge base that respects ecological
interlinkages and sharing of resources with other
life forms. Role of snakes in rodent control and
ultimately in ecosystem is well known in modern
ecology. Snakes control rodents like mice, rats and
protect our wealth from destruction. This was the
base of this belief. However most of the old people
believe that villagers set fire in the forest for
individual profit and snakes fled from Dhanrasi.
Therefore “Laxmi” went away. Wealth can be
replenished through forest protection.
Not only this belief but realization among the
people especially young generation about forest
degradation and impacts of deforestation created
determination to protect forest.
Dhanrasi villagers protect two types of forest irrespective of its ownership. Village forest called as a “Grammy jungle” which has been protected since last 20 years shows well stocked vegetation, while the patch of forest called as “Social forest” which has been protected from 2000 is quiet sparse. With consideration of change in physiographic conditions like soil conditions, water availability, the village forest is quite dense and it is situated along a perennial stream. The social forest is on degraded patch of land which is continuing with community protected forest of neighboring village and shows sparce vegetation. The village forest and part of social forest are situated on revenue land. Some part of social forest comes under forest land. The distribution of land in village is given in Annexure-5.2. Village forest is showing characteristics of dry deciduous mixed vegetation with presence of Sal, Bija, Piasal, Sisoo, Beheda, Karla, Mahua, Char and other. The social forest is composition of trees and shrubs like woodfordia (Dhataki). This area is also indicating natural regeneration of Khair (Acacia catechu), which was considered to extinct locally. Still this patch also exhibit exotic species like Australian acacia, Eucalyptus and cassia (Chakunda) that are planted by villagers under social forestry Programme.
History of conservation
effort:
The Dhanrasi forest was degraded to the extent that
it was difficult for the villagers to collect forest
produces to fulfill their daily needs. About 20
years ago on the occasion of one festival “Raja
Parva” (initiation of agricultural season) the
villagers realized consequences of forest
degradation. They faced problem to collect firewood
for feast. This moment gave villagers realization
that they have to protect forest to sustain their
life. Since then they gave protection to village
forest through informal system. They didn’t followed
patrolling as the forest is very adjacent to the
main conveyance and villagers always have
surveillance on this forest. This helped them to
identify any deterring activities in forest. Nobody
is allowed to collect fuel wood and small timber
from this forest, this forest is only utilized to
fulfill communal needs like feasts on festivals.
There are evidences of traditional conservation
systems in this village. The villagers are
worshiping few species of trees like Pipal, Neem,
Bel, etc.
Few traditional forest management systems revealed
from the discussion with villager, the detailed
observations are as follows:
1. “Rakhya Budha”, (an Old Age Guard) tree of Kullu/
Karaya (Sterculia urens)
During our informal discussion about traditional
forest conservation methods, I observed a
distinctive tree with white bark indicating its
rareness in that area. It was observed that there
are only two trees of that kind were present in the
forest area of Dhanrasi. Locally the tree is named
as “Rakhya Budha” (Rakhya-Safeguarding, Budha-Old
man) mean, an old age guard protecting and directing
the village. No-one in the village dare to cut the
tree as it is important village deity, there are
various customs attached with this tree, few of them
are as follows:
Worshiping ceremony of the tree is done once in the
during festive of “Raja Parva”, however only men can
participate in this ceremony, women folks especially
married ladies are not permitted to worship this
tree. Every newly married couple in the village
obtain blessing from “Rakhya Budha” before starting
their married life.
All the above are customs besides this he also told
important medicinal properties experienced by the
villagers from the tree, bark of this tree is found
to be wound healer.
The “Rakhya Budha” is nothing but “kull” or “Karaya”
tree i.e. Sterculia urens , which is a common
species of deciduous forest in India and it’s gum is
among the important NTFPs of central India. However
as mentioned before it is rare in Hemgir area. Some
kullu trees observed in “shoalla” i.e. up-stream
area where there is perennial or seasonal stream,
ravine area. I also observed that in Hemgir region
most of the roads are passed through forest, on the
turning where there is Kullu tree it is worshiped as
“Rakhya Budha”, and all passengers pray him good
fortune and safety during journey. He further
explained joyfully about beauty of the tree, its
flowers, pods and many more. From his talks it was
revealed that villagers only use its bark for
medicinal purpose, while they were not aware about
its gum. (The Karaya gum is edible gum used in
chocolate and candies, it also possess medicinal
properties and is important component of many
Ayurvedic preparations. However this asset of the
tree is proving enemy for it as in many parts of its
common occurrence, it is becoming uncommon due to
destructive harvesting practices to extract gum,
which lead to the slow death of the tree.) We also
observed a small temple at the base of second Kullu
tree. Both the Kullu trees are situated on the bank
of “nallah” leading to water tank build by villagers
in consultation with “PRAYAS” through its watershed
development programme.
There is another
interesting place “Dev-mool”, where village deity is
residing, this resident of village deity was nothing
but a sacred patch of four to five tree-creeper
complex. “Dev-mool” is situated on the village
boundary; it is the starting point of “Gramya
Jungle. Four tree species identified are viz. Piasal,
Asan, Behada, Sal and Palash Creeper, while the
sacred stones worshiped as village deity was placed
under a dead Asan tree, covered by creeper of Palash.
The “Dev-mool” is essential part of culture of the
village; various customs are attached with the
place, where all ups and downs of the villagers are
related with the village deity. Few customs related
to “Dev-mool” are as follows:
This regenerating forest became inspiration for
present generation, in 2000 young mass of the
villagers decided to protect remaining forest of the
village. Furthermore capacity building programmes
organized by PRAYAS for watershed development gave
realization to the people about natural resource
management and importance of forests conservation in
it.
Present Management system:
They formed various committees like nursery
committee of women and protection committee of men
which were assigned with particular work. The
nursery committee members collected seeds from
surrounding forests and dispersed in their forest.
For some species like Neem, Amla they prepared
seedlings and planted in this area. The protection
committee was particularly involved in surveillance
activities. The villagers are well informed about
legal and administrative process and many times they
take assistance of this process in catching and
punishing forest offenders.
They have divided forest into different zone in
which activities and utilization are decided through
consideration of forest. More degraded forest get
prime attention and is kept free from any type of
use for effective regeneration, while each year
villagers decide use zone in village meeting. Gazing
is banned in regenerating forest where maximum
plants are susceptible to cattle attach, but it is
allowed in other areas where crop is not
susceptible. Generally cattle feed upon agricultural
land in lean season on agricultural leftover and
also provide manure to farm. Moreover they have also
constructed soil and water harvesting structure in
social forest which are replenishing ground water,
improving soil and accelerating vegetative growth.
There no restriction on collection of NTFP’s. Women
folks of the village play very crucial role in
collection of forest produce. Kendu forms major NTPF
of this area, along with it Mahua flowers and
fruits, char seeds and gum are another major NTFPs.
The area is now inhabited by many wild animals. We
got stresses of schedule-I species like four horned
antelope (Chausingha), Sloth bear, Indian fox and
wolf. There is taboo among villagers regarding
hunting of animals, people believe that village
deity love wild animals and it don’t allow hunting
in village forest.
Threats and Opportunities:
The villagers face acute scarcity of water in summer
season, lack of irrigation confine people to take
only one or two crops in a year. This scarcity is
forcing people to migrate in other places especially
in lean season.
However soil and water conservation measures taken
by villagers with the help of PRAYAS are playing
crucial role in improvement of the area. They have
also developed conflict resolution mechanisms where
intra village and inter village conflicts on
resource management are solved mutually.
Though forest department is wishing to include this
area under Joint Forest Management (JFM) villagers
don’t want to loose their ownership through this
programme. Initially they took assistance of the
department but later on they realized that they will
loose rights under the programmes like JFM.