Environment

Organic Farming

EDP Training on Small Millets Production and Promotion:

Globalization has its adverse impact on the health of people, including rural masses. It is basically due to change in food habits. Since the introduction of Green Revolution, we have lost the native seeds and given up organic farming methods. As a result, farmers have lost the fertility of their lands and also a steady income. The consumption of modern agricultural items has worsened the health of many people.

Having diagnosed the adverse impact of modern cultivation methods, GREEN has taken steps to preserve native seeds, especially of pulses and cereals, and promoted organic farming in dry lands. We promoted cultivation of small millets among small and marginal farmers having dry lands.

To accomplish this noble task, GREEN organised an Entrepreneurship Development Training program on the subject of Cultivation and Production of Small Millets. It invited small and marginal farmers as participants. Over 135 farmers and members from women SHGs participated.

This EDP Training motivated the participants to create awareness among public to understand the natural value and nutrient potential of native pulses and cereals. It also encouraged them to use these millets in making variety of food stuffs.

Experts from Iyarkai Velan Inayam (Tamilnadu Natural Farmer Association) promoted by (late) Shri. Nammalvar, provided technical support and guest lecturers during the training process.

Farmers Development Training:

GREEN organised a training program for small and marginal farmers on agriculture promotion in dry lands. We trained 76 farmers and motivated them to adopt organic farming techniques in their dry lands. We promoted horticultural processes in their lands as part of agro-forestry initiative.

Vermi-Compost / Bio manure Preparation Training and Demo:

GREEN has been organising training programs in its target villages to promote bio-compost and bio-fertilizers. GREEN constructed a demo pit for Earth worm culture. It involved school children in Erasakkanayakkanur village. Deputy Director of Agriculture, used to participate in such training programs. The school children are maintaining the model pit. Moreover, as part of desertification process, we involve farmers in vermi-compost demonstration. These manures maintain soil fertility in their farm lands. Such activities do help children in their households to learn more about vermi-compost preparation.

We bought African based Earth worms from a leading farm and we gave it to the rural women. The residues from the earth worm pits are high nutrient to the crops and there is a heavy demand for it.

Workshops on Bio-manure and Organic Farming Practices:

GREEN organised awareness workshops on the preparation of bio-manure at household levels and promotion of organic farming practices in agricultural farms. These awareness programs facilitate small and marginal farmers, especially Youth Club members, to come forward to organise public events to demonstrate cultivation of Azola, organic-bio fertilizer and Navakavya preparation. Moreover, members of Youth Clubs organise group level meetings in their living locality to motivate the members and others to address and combat desertification, land degradation and drought processes.

The small and marginal farmers and women farmers are actively engaged in our program activities. With low input costs, they undertake organic farming practices in their farm lands. This process helps them to enhance, soild fertility, prevent soil erosion in their farms.

Farmer Interest Groups

Formation of Farmer Interest Groups (FIG) and Regular Meetings:

A Farmer Interest Group (FIG) is a self managed, independent group of farmers with a shared goal and interest. The members work together to achieve this goal by pooling their existing resources, gaining better access to other resources and to share in the resulting benefits.

GREEN initiated the formation of FIGs in its project area to facilitate small and marginal farmers to increase productivity and to obtain better prices for their own produce. We started the initiative in collaboration with the District Horticultural Department, Theni. We formed the FIGs among farmers who involved in banana farming and other cash crops.

GREEN formed 55 FIGs with 1100 farmers as members involved in banana cultivation. We also formed 25 FIGs with more than 500 farmers involved in vegetable farming. We facilitated these farmers to get trained on new cultivation methods, to acquire knowledge, exposure and technical assistance. We also helped them to get access to micro credit linkages and other related assistance for sustainable agricultural practices.

Climate Change

Awareness Workshop on Climate Change and Global Warming:

One among the prime concern of GREEN is protection of environment and conservation of ecology in our target area. We have undertaken various awareness and promotional activities in our target area with the support of local Self Help Groups and Micro Level Groups over the years.

GREEN organized awareness workshops on Climate change and Global Warming issues pertaining to our local region. In every workshop around 75 participants representing youth, women SHGs and farmers participated. Personals and officials from Forest and Revenue Departments also participated,

The workshops facilitated participants to acquire knowledge through training sessions and exposures. These workshops emphasised that even a small change in the forest would make tremendous changes in the rainfall and also positive impact on our climate. Such activities would address the adverse effect of Climate Change and global warming issues faced at present.

The workshops also addressed the roles and responsibilities of public, specifically youth and individual households, to combat the climate change responses at local level.

Resource persons and environmentalists explained various methods of saving the Earth by combating global warming issues, and explained the importance of protecting environment and ecology.

Environment and Bio-diversity Conservation:

GREEN always takes serious efforts to propagate environmental protection and bio-diversity conservation in its working area. We organise every year public awareness programs under National Environmental Awareness Campaign (NEAC) of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, through PEACE Trust, Dindigul.

These programs help to create awareness on soil conservation practices, land degradation and prevention of desertification and drought among the public in the target villages. These activities resulted in creating constructive discussions among SHG members, Students, Youth groups and Farmers.

The members of Farmers and Youth clubs organise public events and make necessary arrangements for demonstrating cultivation of protein-rich Azola and preparation of organic bio-fertilizer and Navakavya. Further they organise group level meetings in their living locality and motivate their members and others on addressing and combating desertification, land degradation and drought through collective efforts.

GREEN organised Poster and Sticker Campaigns on desertification and land degradation in its target area. These campaigns are organised in six different kinds of posters with pictorial representation and informative mode with good quality printing to create awareness on adverse effect of land degradation, impact of soil erosion, causes and effects of desertificationc. These campaigns sensitised small and marginal farmers, women farmers, youth leaders and students at village levels. They are being told about their roles in combating desertification and preventing soil erosion with latest techniques available.

Tribal Empowerment

The Aboriginals:

The tribal community in India, consisting of 100 million, are the aboriginals. They are the indigenous people who are also called as the traditional forest communities. They guard the biodiversity and cultures in forest lands. By birth, they have the bio-cultural rights to protect the lands, water bodies and natural resources as per their own culture and traditions. These rights are already recognised by international environmental laws, including UN agreements and declarations.

Fifth and Sixth Schedules:

The Constitution of India has two schedules, viz., Fifth and Sixth Schedules exclusively for tribal people living in India. It calls some areas of tribal people as scheduled areas under Fifth Schedule and tribal dominated areas in four states viz. Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram as tribal areas. The Union Government has more powers in respect of administration of scheduled areas and whereas the tribal areas have special provisions for the administration under 6th Schedule. The Fifth Schedule emphasises the creation of Tribal Advisory Council. The Sixth Schedule provides for District Councils and Regional Councils with certain legislative and judicial powers. The key objective of the Fifth Schedule is to provide protection to the tribal community living in Scheduled Areas from alienation of their lands and natural resources to non-tribal communities.

PESA/Panchayat Act:

The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 or PESA is the most important piece of legislation for the tribal areas of India ensuring self governance through traditional Gram Sabhas to provide tribal welfare and accountability for tribal people living in the Scheduled Areas. Overwhelming majority of tribal population of India lives in nine States that come under Fifth Schedule of Indian Constitution.

Since independence, unfortunately, PESA or Panchayat Act under Fifth Schedule has never been applied. It has remained only on paper. The proper implementation of PESA would not only empower the tribal community through self governance, but would also deal a severe blow to the backwardness of the Adivasis. Sadly, the exploitation of these most exploited people of India goes on because the rich and the powerful cannot give up their parochial mindset, or stay away from the natural resources and land of the indigenous people.

Role of GREEN:

GREEN aims to improve and strengthen the realisation of bio-cultural rights and sustainable forest management capabilities of the indigenous and other forest communities. GREEN also aims at promoting community participation in decision-making processes.

Hence, with the active participation and support of Siemenpuu Foundation, Finland, GREEN involved in creating awareness on Fifth Schedule among tribal community residing in the settlements of Western Ghats. Moreover, as a short-term measure and also as part of Fifth Schedule, GREEN initiated steps to collect and market forest produce collectively and directly by tribal community members without involving any intermediaries.

Tribal Federation:

GREEN strengthened the Tribal Federation functioning in the tribal area. The key objectives of the Federation are:

To increase the membership;
To organise campaign activities;
To strengthen infrastructure facilities;
To provide safe drinking water;
To fix reasonable prices for forest produce (like herbal, seeds, and other non-timber products) collected by the Tribal people; and,
To mainstream into social markets with assured income.

Campaign Activities:

GREEN organised various campaigns in tribal settlements, including in Kurangani village. The major thrusts of our campaign are:

Conducting campaigns on enforcing 5th Schedule in triball areas;
Promote awareness on Land and Forest Rights;
Awareness on climate change and using alternative energy sources;
Promotion of tree plantation activities; and,
Low carbon farming activities.

GREEN organized campaigns in ten tribal villages and hamlets. The campaigns included exhibition of posters, singing and playing awareness-based songs and games with active participation of tribal community members. We also facilitated getting welfare programs like Old Age Pension, Widows Pension, and Special Cards etc., from the concerned departments. We also created awareness on the impact of open defecation, need for closed latrines, importance of sanitation, using boiled water for drinking purposes and personal hygiene specifically among tribal adolescent girls and boys.

Tree Planting

Tree Plantation Activities:

Many of our farmers involve in rain fed farming. Due to erratic rainfalls, they faced failures in their dry land crop cultivation. It resulted in heavy losses and indebtedness to small and marginal farmers.

Hence, GREEN has decided to promote horticulture activities among them through a special intervention on planting of fruit-bearing economic trees. The main purpose of this program is to promote tree cover in the area by supplying them with native seedlings and saplings at free of cost and thus helping them to involve in income generation activities. GREEN identified native species of horticulture and raised them in the nurseries.

Housing

Eco-friendly Shelters:

With the support of SELAVIP Foundation, GREEN facilitated construction of 30 bamboo-based houses for tribal community during 2016.

The overall purpose of constructing houses for tribal community members is to assure a safe and secured living for the houseless tribal people. GREEN facilitated the construction of low cost houses with locally available materials like bamboos and lantana camara varieties.

The members of tribal community live in 12 remote villages in Kurangani hills located in Western Ghats of India. They normally construct houses with mud, grass, dry wood and stones. The houses are too small to accommodate a single family. These houses are not safe for the family and they could be attacked by poisonous creatures at any time. Being hunters and gatherers of food items for meeting both ends in life, they were unable to build a safe house for themselves. Hence, GREEN took up the initiative.

GREEN started its initiative with a participatory approach. It approached the tribal community members in their own villages and had discussions with them and evolved the concept of construction of eco-friendly houses made up of locally available materials. GREEN had detailed discussions on the roles and responsibilities of beneficiaries. It evolved a plan of action involving the beneficiaries. The members of tribal community broadly accepted the construction of houses with bamboo stems and wooden barks.

In addition to having fruitful discussions with target beneficiaries, i.e., tribal community members, the staff team of GREEN had dialogues with members of Panchayats in the Tribal region. The Panchayat leaders and local representatives supported our initiative and provided with approval for construction of bamboo houses.

The members of tribal community identified the labourers from within their own community and took decisions collectively on the rates and procurement of construction materials. The beneficiaries shared the cost of transportation of construction materials to the concerned sites.

The houses constructed with free air flow with window openings and the inner sides were covered by native mats and carpets. The underneath space of each houses was provisioned for livestock rearing like, chicken, goats, etc. As part of climate change response, GREEN focussed on low carbon techniques, carefully avoiding the usage of materials like plastic sheets, tin boards, vinyl, polymers, synthetic materials, etc. We constructed 30 houses in two phases.

Moreover, the entire tribal community were supported by provision of GREEN toilets and solar lamps by GREEN as a special and innovative effort.

For more information, please click on Roofing for the Roofless

Kurangani Development

Endangered Species

Endogenous Spices Tourism project in Kurangani has facilitated a community based tourism that would sustain, enhance and preserve mountain culture and ecosystem. The project has built the capacity of the local people to sustain the project for ever. Kurangani Spices Promotion Society, a registered body has consideration of potential adaptation and mitigation strategies for climate change. Several Associations and Groups have been formed among the Mountain communities to sustain Spices Tourism in Kurangani. Handicraft items by tribal women have attracted tourists from India and abroad. Marketing of the products has been arranged by State Tourism Department. Native excellence of tribal community has been recognized.

Salient features which will attract tourists in the ETP destination are given below:

Spices Valley
Kolukkumalai Tea Estate (The Highest Tea Garden in the World)
Waterfalls, mountain rivers
Caves, cloudy peaks and precipitous ledges
Trekking paths
View points for a glimpse on the forces of nature.
Floral and faunal diversity
Tribal culture and tribal hamlets
Cardamom, tea and coffee estates.
Kurangani’ hilly terrain is unexploited and unexplored. Several endemic species are found in the shoal forest near the Central Station. The natural vegetation of this region is replaced by forest plantations.
The region is popular for its wonderful faunal diversity. Beautiful birds and butterflies can be seen during monsoons. A vast spectrum of birdlife and other biodiversity is found in Central Station, Top Station and in the mountain ledges. The common animals that inhabit this mountainous area are Nillgiri langur, lion tailed macaque, common monkeys (hanuman), Panthers are found in the Central and Top Station.

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