Abstract
Self-organization is a key condition to the success of community-based conservation initiatives, including those recognized by the Equator Initiative of the UNDP. This paper contributes to emerging scholarship that focuses on community-based conservation in South Asia and in particular examines self-organization strategies within a small-scale community-based conservation initiative in a cross-cultural setting to further understanding about how such initiatives originate, sustain and grow. This is achieved through a case study of the Baripada Forest Protection Initiative in India by utilizing in-depth interviews and focus groups. In addition to certain often-cited strategies for self-organization, the Baripada initiative included unique features of self-organization such as village community design, implementation and adaptation of rules for local natural resources use and conservation, little need for financial support, and significant mobilization of human resources. These strategies, along with emerging social learning opportunities (e.g., a community plant diversity register) inspired by the Baripada initiative, inform and enrich the criteria for designing and evaluating conservation and development initiatives, irrespective of their scale.
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Notes
The Equator Initiative is an international collaborative platform which brings together United Nations, national governments, civil society, businesses and community-based grassroots organizations to recognize outstanding local efforts that achieve poverty reduction through sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity (EI 2009). As part of this mandate, the Equator Initiative has honored internationally outstanding local CBC initiatives from the equatorial region through a biennial contest since 2002.
Check-dams are small walls of pebble stones or sandbags built across the direction of water flow for the purpose of water harvesting. The small dams retain excess water flow during monsoon rains in a small catchment area behind the structure.
Kabaddi is an Indian game with six players on each side. The player tries to cross the target line at the opposite side, saying Kabaddi, breathlessly and trying to touch players from the opposite side. The opposite side players’ objective is to catch and hold the player until s/he is out of breath and is stopped from crossing the centre line.
This method is a package of four practices (locale-specific application of nutrients, controlled tillers, readjusted line spacing and intercropping with crops such as Sesbania sp. for green-manuring) to improve paddy production in the region. It was pioneered Dr Savant, an agronomist from Parbhani Agricultural University.
Rural Commune’s Medicinal Plant Conservation Centre was recognized by Equator Initiative of UNDP in 2002 for establishing a state-wide network of 13 Medicinal Plant Conservation Area (each ranging from 250–400 hectares) in Maharashtra through developing the partnerships among the State Forest Department, local village communities and NGOs (Shukla 2006).
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Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the generous cooperation and warm support of the residents of Baripada, without which this research would not have been possible. We also express our sincere gratitude to Dr Ananad Phatak, Mr Suhas, and Mr Chaitram Pawar for sharing their views and experiences with Baripada initiative. Mr. Chhagan and Ms. Samrta helped in translation during the field work. The funding support from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, International Development Research Center (IDRC), Canada, Community-based Conservation Research Center and University of Manitoba, Canada at various stages of this research is gratefully acknowledged. We would also like to thank the reviewers for their helpful comments.
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Shukla, S.R., Sinclair, A.J. Strategies for Self-organization: Learning from a Village-level Community-based Conservation Initiative in India. Hum Ecol 38, 205–215 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-010-9301-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-010-9301-y