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An Overview Of Our Solution

Darjeeling Prerna facilitates community stewardship of biodiversity conservation in critical mountain ecosystems by promoting sustainable agro-ecology. We worked with communities to reduce use of synthetic agro-chemicals, promote agro-biodiversity and improve livelihood opportunities. By responding to emergent needs of farmers in fringe villages of the Singalila National Park, Darjeeling, India in a flexible way, we piloted and implemented innovative solutions to human wildlife conflict management. Our interventions, which included technical inputs and soft skill training, increased connectivity in fragmented landscapes and strengthened food and nutrition security. The intervention inputs were stacked on knowledge and resources of the community, linked with a larger transboundary landscape vision and enhanced community stewardship.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Nirlaba

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Forests

Population impacted

733

Size of agricultural area

58.52 ha. [landholdings 0.5-2acres] on fringes of protected area of 78.60sq km

Production quantity

500-800 kg/ha per year

People employed

2 core staff: 5 community volunteers

Describe your solution

Our solution focuses on improving the knowledge base of community members and encouraging change in agro-ecological practice. Working with progressive farmers chosen by the community and working alongside and within existing community structures ensured high levels of community engagement and commitment. Using principles of permaculture and sustainable agro-ecology, farmers were supported to use locally available resources. This reduced conservation threats and limited external inputs and monetary transactions in a socio-ecology with limited access to money. Farmers who were saving seeds like naked barley and buckwheat on their land were supported to share the seeds and propagate it within the community.These ‘living’ seed banks improve food security and increase biodiversity. Planting chirrata, an HWC unpalatable medicinal herb was piloted. Our community based management of HWC supported farmers to build bio-fences and promoted alternate crops. Innovate community approaches, and active community participation ensured double-length of bio-fence being built as compared to budget. These living fences improve connectivity, increase diversity, prevent HWC and once established, reduce farmer time spent on fencing and repairs. Biofences provide fodder and livelihood options too. Community stewardship in promotion of sustainable agro-ecological practice enhanced livelihoods, improved connectivity in the landscape and strengthened both on-farm and off-farm biodiversity.

Describe your implementation

Activities Progressive farmers were trained on sustainable agro-ecology: including composting, natural pest repellents, indigenous micro-organisms, cropping patterns and terrace management. Follow-up workshops in each village ensured site-specific learning and practice. Seeds from traditional seed-saving farmers were propagated, addressing agro-biodiversity loss through ‘living’ seed banks. Bio-fences addressed issues of HWC, connectivity and biodiversity. Adoption Progressive farmers became leaders for change facilitating village level training enabling faster community adoption. Responding to HWC, was crucial in increasing community involvement and ownership. Ensuring communities decision making brought about creative and innovative use of limited resources for strengthening of bio-fences enabling twice the length of bio-fence anticipated. Conditions Flexibility in implementation allowing communities greater roles in resource allocation and implementation was vital. Working in true partnership with existing community institutions, and incorporating community knowledge, practice and resources ensured acceptance of interventions. Success factors Sustained engagement and intervention were key to enthused community action. There was active partnership with Forest Protection Committees and ‘samaj’. Hearing and responding to the critical community issue of HWC enthused greater community investment.Forest department support and partnership in the interventions gave a greater affirmation to the project. Obstacles There is a knowledge gap between research and extension work. Contextualising agro-ecological knowledge with active participation of progressive farmers, best practices became accessible in season and site specific mini- and micro-inputs. Mountain HWC has limited policy space as the Indian discourse is predominantly mega fauna and plains centric. Robust data collection ensured an evidence based policy brief that was shared in key platforms.

External connections

State Agencies: West Bengal Forest Department CBOs: Forest Protection Committees. Samaj, Mineral Springs SVS Consulting partners: i-permaculture.org NGOs: NCDC Nepal, ATREE, WWF-India Donor Agencies: CEPF, Rufford Conservation Experts: Dr S Pradhan, Dr S Khaling Forest Department’s alignment and proactive officers ensured that the key stakeholder promoted objectives at the community level. The level of partnership with the forest department strengthened while responding to HWC, and the project leveraged support from the department, who supported sustainable extraction of vegetative stock from the forest for bio-fences. In one village, the department provided funding to strengthen bio-fences. The progressive farmer trainings were held in Mineral Spring, Darjeeling’s first small farmer organic and fairtrade collective, facilitated by DLR Prerna, enabling positive exposure and experience for the participants and inclusion of tea in the bio-fence. Cross-learning with Nepal-based organisation working in the transboundary landscape informed our interventions. Regular data collection of HWC at every village was used to make policy briefs for advocacy for improved mountain HWC management and presented at platforms like the West Bengal Non-Judicial Bench for Environment; Sustainable Mountain Development Summits, Integrated Mountain Initiative and South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation Forestry Centre. Data was also shared with the Forest Department regularly.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

The Eastern Himalaya is a biodiversity hotspot. Singalila National Park, Darjeeling, India is one of four protected areas in the Darjeeling District with Red Panda (Endangered), Clouded Leopard (Vulnerable), Satyr Tragopan (Near Threatened), and Chestnut-breasted Partridge (Vulnerable) as some key species. Traditional practices of conservation in islands and excluding communities has resulted in habitat fragmentation, limited gene flows and negation of conservation efforts. Monocultures of improved varieties from a small gene pool bank and lack of incentives for traditional and local seeds has resulted in agro-biodiversity loss. Use of synthetic agro-chemicals is a threat to conservation. There is increasing human wildlife conflict (HWC). HWC policy in India focus on mega-fauna of the plains only and does not include the 13 species of small mammals and birds recorded to date in just one forest village that destroy up to 40% of expected productivity [DLR Prerna, 2012].

Describe the context in which you are operating

Singalila National Park (SNP), India is a high altitude park (7,900ft - 11,941ft) which forms part of a critical transboundary landscape of contiguous forests of Nepal, Bhutan and India. SNP has 17 fringe villages on its lower slopes which come under Joint Forest Management, a Forest Department led community conservation institutional set-up. Local community governance institutions known as ‘samaj’ also co-exist.
The fringe villages, characterised by steep slopes, lie between 7,500 and 8,500ft and are far flung, isolated and difficult to access. Access to social benefits is poor and the market remote and exploitative. Communities are highly natural resource dependant and marginalized.
Community livelihoods depend on forest works remittance and agro-biodiversity. With increasing out-migration, agriculture is declining. Agriculture is marginal and depends on synthetic agro-chemical use. The limited agricultural land and limited access to forest resources lead to food insecurity.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

70% reduction of synthetic agro-chemical use after 3 years removed the use of a key conservation threat of persistent agricultural pollutants. This resulted in improved soil and water health. There was wan increase in agro-biodiversity with the sharing of seeds from a few farmers who had been cultivating traditional crops, including naked barley and buckwheat. Cultivation of these seeds had drastically reduced in the recent years. A selection of species were identified for bio-fence strengthening after a year long vulnerability mapping of HWC by each community to offer functions of protection, fodder and livelihood option like tea. Besides the primary function the bio-fences increased green cover, soil and water conservation as well as connectivity in a fragmented habitat. Community conservation stewardship increased with the interventions as was seen in high conversion from the use of synthetic agro-chemical use to sustaiable agro-ecological practise and biofence strengthening.

Language(s)

Nepali, Sherpa, Hindi, English

Water

With the 70% reduction in synthetic agro-chemical use, contamination of downstream dramatically reduced and removing a key conservation threat. Improving slopes of terraces also meant precipitation led soil-erosion was reduced. Technological water-wise solutions were also piloted like rain-water harvesting and grey-water management.

Food Security/Nutrition

The propagation of traditional seeds like naked barley and buckwheat as well as promotion of vegetables diversified food basket. The traditional seeds and vegetables have high nutritive value too. The reduction of synthetic agro-chemicals removed toxic chemicals from the food chain. These specific interventions contributed to food and nutrition security of the communities.

Economic/Sustainable Development

Use of locally available resources removed the dependence of communities on monetised external agricultural inputs. The knowledge and traditional seeds were localised and institutionalised within the community which is an empowering action. HWC management contributed to reduction loss of crop productivity. These interventions were linked with the forest department for greater support and convergence.

Climate

Sustainable agro-ecological practices focused on soil health and water conservation and crop management ensuring healthier, diversified resilient crops. Local pest repellants made from herbs and cow urine provided immediate pest management solutions. Reduction of synthetic agro-chemical use meant a petro-chemical dependent with a large carbon foot print agricultural input was replaced by locally available resources.

Sustainability

This is an economically sustainable solution. It relies on a very small amount of grant funding, spread over three years for initial training and sustained engagement. Communities livelihood opportunities and farm productivity increase, and so the intervention becomes self-sustaining. Costing less than $40 per family per year, returns far exceed initial investment. The interventions are based on local knowledge, institutions and resources reducing external dependency and continued evolution by the communities after the project investments.

Return on investment

The pilot and development phase cost $90,000 over three years; in the expansion phase, the total cost for three years was $15,000. We worked with 137 families in five villages for less than $40 per family per year, excluding organisation core staff and expertise investment of $4,000/year. This is an excellent return on investment, given that before intervention, loss to HWC was $30-$100 per growing season, per family. Coupled with savings on synthetic agro-chemicals and off-farm inputs, increased yields, improved soft-skills, bargaining power from institutional strengthening, this represents an extremely good return on investment when financial returns and ecosystem benefits are taken into account.

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How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

As the solution is primarily knowledge and resource based and draws on locally available resources, it is possible to replicate the solution elsewhere. Once developed, we expanded the implementation from one to five villages, and are in the process of rolling out a modified program incorporating climate resilience in a new lower altitude landscape in six larger villages with 626 households [Cost remains $40 per household per year] and in two high-altitude villages in North Sikkim on a consultancy basis for WWF-India. Key to success is an engaged local partner or trusted CBO, adapting the programme to microclimates and traditional practice, and flexibility to incorporate biodiversity into existing and emergent needs of the community. Ensuring community involvement in decision making and intervention design at both design and implementation stage is vital. We have developed a suite of interventions, training inputs and manuals that can thus be adapted for use in varying contexts.

Overview

Darjeeling Prerna