Asia

Case studies of Andaman Island, Uttara Kannada
and Gadchiroli – Chandrapur, India.

Prepared by 3 Groups, Coordinated by
Pankaj Sekhsaria, Kalpavriksh, India

A Large part of India like most other parts of South Asia and for that matter the rest of the world were till recently covered with thick forests. This region is probably best known for the civilisations that flourished in the valleys of its great rivers like the Ganga, the Yamuna and the Indus after which the country is named. These were civilisations that reached a high degree of sophistication, and urbanisation. What is much less known is that there are innumerable, small, vibrant, diverse and extremely sustainable forest cultures that survive and flourish even today in the areas where the forests still exist. Across India one has also seen many people’s movements where communities have voluntarily come together for the purpose of conservation or in response to environment and ecological crises.

The first part of the case study mentions that although there is evidence of deforestation even in pre-colonial India, especially due to the expansion of agriculture, it has been shown beyond doubt that the large scale destruction of the forests was started by the British, India’s colonial rules. The author also states that many environmental historians hold the opinion that the large scale destruction of the forests in India is rooted in the commercially oriented forest use and ownership policies of the British government which continued even after India gained independence in 1947.

The other major causes of deforestation immediately after independence was agricultural expansion, often state-sponsored. In more rescent times it is new policies and programmes of development; rapid industrialisation, urbanisation and growing consumerism that have resulted in the widescale destruction of the forests. What has been equally bad if not worse is that the development projects very insensitively alienated the communities living in the forests, depriving them of their basic sources of survival, forcing them to move away and in the process making them refugees in their own land.

The paper covers 3 case studies from various parts of India representing different ecological, geographical and social situations. The first case study looks at the situation in one of the remotest corners of India, the Andaman islands. It examines in specific detail the deforestation in the relatively small island of Little Andaman which is also the home of a very small and remarkable, but also threatened tribal community, the Onge. The second case study looks at the district of Uttara Kannada in the Western part of India. One of the most thickly forested districts in the country, it also has a long history of people’s movements for the conservation of the forests. The third study is from the Gadchiroli – Chandrapur district from Central India, which has experienced wide scale deforestation in the past. What is of significance here is the successful initiatives taken by the local communities for the protection and regeneration of the degraded and denuded forests.

Case study 1: Andaman Islands

Prepared by Pankaj Sekhsaria, Kalpavriksh, Environment Action Group, Apt. No. 5, Sree Dutta Krupa, 908, Deccan Gymkhana, Pune – 411004, India
Ph/Fax: 91-212-354239, e-mail: ashish@nda.vsnl.net.in

In the first part of case study of Andaman Islands the author elaborates the details of The Andaman an Nicobar Islands that are considered to be the emergent peaks of a submerged mountain range related to the Arakan Yoma mountain range of mainland Burma. The islands are clothed in thick evergreen forests that are home to a large biodiversity and also have some of the finest mangroves and coral reefs found in the world. The islands are also home to six indigenous tribal communities; two of them -- the Shompen and the Nicobari are of Mongloid origin and reside in the Nicobar group. The other four communities are of Negrito origin and live in the Andaman group. They are the Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Jarawa, and the Sentinelese. These tribes are hunter, gatherer communities and have successfully survived in these islands for centuries, much before the advent of modern man here. Their knowledge and understanding of the forests is extensive and they share a close relationship with it.

The main timber operations in these islands are limited to the Andaman islands only. Though there has been deforestation in the Nicobars for the establishment of settlements the timber industry has so far stayed away from operating there.

Like in the rest of India, the prime responsibility for starting the forestry operations in these islands too rests with the British. In fact the British were the first outsiders who were able to successfully establish their settlements on the islands.

With India gaining Independence from the British in 1947, a new phase began for the islands too. A colonial hangover was evident in independent India’s colonisation scheme’ for the islands as a part of which thousands of people were brought from mainland India and settled here.

The case study provides data of population figures and annual extraction of timber in the Andaman and Nicobar islands to prove that the growth in the timber extraction operations corresponds directly to the growth in the population of the islands. This destruction of the forests for the extraction of timber was in addition to the clear felling that was done for the settlements themselves.

With the growing population of migrants on the islands there was a need for the government to create employment opportunities for the people. The abundant forests and the timber within it became the obvious source for the generation of both income and employment. This initiates the timber based industry. Today, the timber based industry in the Andamans comprises of two government saw mills, some small private saw mills and furniture making units and three private plywood units. It is these private plywood mills that are today the largest consumers of the timber in the islands.

The profits made and the incentives offered by the administration encouraged the plywood mills to go in for substantial augmentation of their production capacities. Today, however, with growing awareness, intervention by the courts and change in policies, logging in the islands appears to be reducing. Official figures of timber logged provided in the paper shows a downward trend in the last few years. Consequently the amount of timber offered to the plywood mills too has been reduced, leaving the mills complaining about lack of enough timber and idle capacities. Significantly, to make up for this shortage in the availability of timber the the private industry has begun to import timber from Malaysia under the Open General License (OGL) scheme Government of India.

The people who have suffered the most in these islands are the indegenous communities for whom the forests are home. This has resulted from the combined impacts of the destruction of the forests and the imposition of an alien and insensitive culture that brought along with it various diseases and other vices such as alcohol and tobacco. The two negrito communities, the Jarawa and the Sentinelese have scrupulously avoided contact with the outside world and even used violent means to do so. This however appears to be changing in the case of the Jarawa now. Whereas the Great Andamanese declined because of the various epidemics, the Onge are suffering on account of the destruction of their forests and the imposition of a way of life that is alien and insensitive to them.

In the second part of this case study the author explains about the situation in Litttle Andaman Island. Though the history of the settlements and the timber extraction operation in the Andaman islands in general is more than a century old, Little Andaman remained completely untouched till very recently. In 1965 ‘an Inter Departmental Team on Accelerated Development Programme for Andaman and Nicobar’, set up by the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Government of India, prescribed the route to take for the development of the Andaman and Nicobar island in general and Little Andaman in particular. The island of Little Andaman was specially earmarked for a Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) programme, considering many favourable factors like a large (by the standards of the Andamans) island, few inhabitants (only the Onge) and the presence of good natural and forest resources, particularly timber.

It is now clear that the presence of the Onge tribal reserve on the island of Little Andaman was completely ignored and all the proposals made and activities initiated were in violation of the rights of the Onge. The forest too had no value except for the timber that could be extracted from it. Otherwise they were considered useless wastelands that needed to be cleared, reclaimed, and aggressively developed.

Over the last 35 years roughly 30% of the island of Little Andaman has been taken over by outsiders for settlements, agriculture, timber extraction operations and plantations. The area of about 20,000 hectares of the island that was handed over to the Forest Corporation has been extensively logged over in the last three decades. Recently there have been reports alleging that the Forest Corporation itself, has been violating the tribal reserve by directly logging timber from within the boundaries of the reserve.

The clearance of land for settlements and the loss of forests to logging have had a direct impact on the Onge. They have been driven away from what was their prime and preferred habitat and have been forced to move deeper into the forest. With excessive poaching of their food sources like the wild pig, survival is becoming excessively difficult for them. Logging operations have also played the role of opening up the island further. Roads that are bull dozed in the forest to carry out the logging operations give the settlers greater and easier access to areas that were otherwise inaccessible. Not only has it facilitated greater poaching, but also made it much easier for the settlers to move further and further into the forest to establish settlements. The Onge have had to also face the onslaught of an alien, modern culture that is highly insensitive and unable to appreciate or even acknowledge their traditional way of life.

In the case study the author singles out consequences of deforestation and the development policies on the ecology of the island and the surrounding oceans. He also elaborates the traditional knowledge of the Onge.

Concluding the case study, the author identifies a number of evident causes of deforestation for the whole of the Andaman Islands, which are clearance of the forests for the establishment of settlements and agriculture and logging to feed the timber based industries that includes the saw mills and the plywood units. The author also singles out the underlying causes of deforestation, which are:

1. A colonial mentality that seeks to expand its own culture and power, and colonise the islands, resulting in the large scale migration of people from mainland India to the islands.
2. Strategic location of the islands. The island chain is located in the Bay of Bengal, close to countries in South East Asia and just north of an important commercial shipping lane. One strategy of the Government of India to maintain its advantage and strengthen claim over the islands has been to encourage more and more mainlanders to come and settle in the islands.
3. Governance by outsiders; people who do not belong to the islands resulting in policies that are ill conceived and insensitive.
4. A lack of respect, understanding or even acknowledgement of the life, society and culture of the tribals who are the original inhabitants and the real owners of the islands.
5. An attitude that has no value for the forests except for the timber that grows within and where development is synonymous with the clearance of forests.
6. Perverse economic policies; eg: the subsidies offered to the timber based industry.
7. Industrial and consumer demand; e.g.: the ever increasing demand for plywood from the markets of mainland India.

As a solution the author proposes the followings:

1. Steps by the government to discourage the migration of people into the islands from mainland India.
2. Removal of subsidies that make the plywood industry a viable and profitable venture and simultaneously, creation of alternate sources of wealth and employment. This can include Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) collection, encouraging of fisheries and redeployment of people inside the forest department for conservation and wildlife protection activities.
3. Education and awareness programmes in the islands regarding the

1. fragility, beauty and importance of the islands
2. real cost of the destruction of the forests
3. rights of the tribals, their sustainable lifestyles and the wealth of ethno- botanical knowledge.

This is particularly important because of the fact that now the indegenous tribes are very small and the dominant population in the islands is that of settlers from mainland. There is need to educate the settlers and to provide positive incentives to encourage conservation.

4. Legal provisions for the safeguarding of the forests and the rights of the aboriginal communities.
5. Strict implementation of these laws.
6. Convenient legal redress in the case of violations. for e.g. a greater provision can be made for court hearings in Port Blair, the administrative capital of the islands.

The case study also provides data of a number of main players in forestry and chronology for Little Andaman.

Case Study 2. Uttara Kannada

Prepared by Pandurang Hegde, Parisar Samrakshan Kendra, Hulemalgi Brothers, Chowkimath, Sirsi 581401, Uttara Kannada, Karnataka, India
Ph: 91-8384-27839 fax: 91-8384-25131

In Uttara Kannada district in the Western Part of India, 80 percent of the total geographical area is classified as forests. This stands out in stark contrast to all India figure where the forest cover is barely 18 percent of the total geographical area. Due to the large area under forests the district is known as the ‘Forest District’. In the national context the forests of Uttara Kannada represent one of the major suppliers of tropical timber and the teak from the deciduous forest regions of Dandeli in the district is famous for its excellent quality timber.

The tropical forest region of the Western Ghats has been identified as one of the 18 biodiversity "hot spots" in the world. In the early history of Western Ghats the region exported spice to the Roman Empire and the transactions were so frequent that the region of Uttara Kannada came to be known as the "Pepper Queen". The British took control of the region in the early years of the eighteenth century and had their eyes set on the rich timber resources of teak and rosewood.

The forests were brought under the control of the government to cater to the ever-increasing demand of the British Empire. The community ownership of the forests was appropriated by the British and the forests became state property. Commercial forestry was introduced and the process of conversion of natural forests into commercial teak plantations was started. The introduction of commercial forestry resulted in a conflict over natural resources and the ‘right’ of the people to use the resources became ‘privileges’. The government classified the forests into reserved forests (large parts of which were used for commercial forestry), protected forests and minor forests, where the local people were allowed access to meet their survival requirements.

Profits and the incentives inherent in timber harvesting, mining and power projects are the underlying causal factors of deforestation. Uttara Kannada with 80 percent of its land under forest cover was considered a backward district. In order to remove the backwardness of the district an organised development plan was launched by the state. The main actors involved in this were the politicians and the bureaucracy.

The development was introduced with four ‘P’s as the main components:

• Paper and pulp based industries
• Plywood Industries
• Power projects
• Planned development in Forestry (plantations), mining etc

The Western Ghats Forestry Projects (WGPF) funded by Department For Intenational Development (DFID) U.K. made an attempt to involve all the stakeholders in the region to implement the project. This was to be achieved through the establishment of village forest committees (VFCs) and to evolve Joint Forest Planning Management (JFPM). People’s participation was the basis for the afforestation project which was to be implemented by the state government through the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD). Unfortunately, however, the project that was full of the rhetoric of peoples participation was unseccessful in actually achieving this.

In conclusion the author states that people have to be actually included at all levels in planning, decision making and implementation to make any programme successful and that afforestation cannot be looked as a sectoral responsibility of the forestry sector. It is a process of social engineering, that should involve all the stakeholders. Any afforestation project will make a dent only when the underlying causes for deforestation are adequately addressed. Without paying attention to the causes of deforestation, afforestation projects cannot succeed.

Case Study 3. Gadchiroli – Chandrapur

Prepared by Mohan Hirabhai Hiralal, Vrikshamitra, Tandon Wada, Gandhi Chowk, Chandrapur 442402, India, Ph: 91-7172-58134

The case study begins with a summarized profile of the Gadchiroli – Chandrapur district, which is located in the central part of India. This region has a large population of tribal communities, particularly the Gonds who have a prestigious history of strong kingdoms here. Many other non tribal communities, largely traders from various parts of India too have moved into the region.

Traditionally, the people of the area had rights to procure commodities necessary for living from the surrounding area and forests. This right of the people was known as nistar rights. They were an important arrangement devised to meet the survival needs of the people and ensure in return that the communities conserved the forests.

The take over of the forests by the British changed all that in most parts of the country with the complete abolishment of the nistar rights in the early part of the 19^th century itself. In this region, however, the rights were continued, mainly due to the pressure exerted by the powerful landlords who were tribals themselves. The nistar rights continued to remain undisturbed till 1950 on account of this pressure. In recent times, however, this has been changing and there is a certain confusion and lack of clarity in the matter regarding nistar rights.

The residents of the area depend substantially of the forests as a source of food and livelihood, particularly through the collection of Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP). Food collected from the forest includes honey, roots, fruits, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, fresh leaves, and different types of fruits. People are also extremely fond of hunting, though it is not a very common activity. NTFP is an important source of livelihood. Major NTFP collected from the forest include the flowers and fruits of mahua (Madhuca indica), leaves of tendu (Diospyros malyxylon) and fruits like amla (Emblical officinalis).

Over a period of the last few decades the direct causes of deforestation in the region include activities of the local populations like, clearance for agricultural activities, and grazing of cattle in the forest which prevents regeneration of new herbage. Natural forest fires are common annual occurrences in the dry seasons and sometimes the FD also uses fire as a management policy. The main benefactors are the contractors responsible for tendu leaf collection as fire helps in the fresh sprouting of the economically important leaf. There have been a number of commercial threats to the forests as well. This includes the conversion of forests into teak plantations, and the operations of the charcoal contractors, who in the past had been leased out the parts of the forest. In recent years, the state government has been granting long term leases to industries and monopoly rights of exploiting the forest products like timber & bamboo and mining products like coal. Big industrial houses have also been trying hard to grab fertile and good forest land under the cover of degraded and denuded forest land. Not only has all this resulted in the direct destruction of the forests, but government policies have also alienated the local people who no longer associate with the forests like they did in the past.

As the underlying causes of deforestation the author points out the taking over of forests by the state, the absence of people’s participation in forest management, the attitude of the local people and the new social order. Explaining the attitude of the local people, the author states that after attaining independence in 1947 from the British, the common people felt it advantageous to presume that the government would do everything to set things right. Rather than shoulder the resposibility and collectively fight for safeguarding the traditional nistar rights, people were engrossed in securing personal momentary gains. The people remain silent and inactive even while the forest which is their main livelihood is being cut or burnt. They fallaciously feel that the forest belongs to the government, an alien element. The new social order the author mentions is the impact of an individualistic and consumeristic culture. The case study also provides a list of 10 consequences of deforestation to the region.

Forced by the worsening situation, people in the area began a self driven initiative for the conservation of their forest and resources. In village Saigata the lead was taken by an enterprising local resident, Shri Sarvabhan Khobragade. Today the regenerated forest area of 250 hectares in the vicinity of the village is exuberant with herbage though it is not safeguarded by any boundary wall or fencing. Wildlife in the area too has shown a come back. Many species of birds and animals including leopards are now reported here. The village has now decided to become a part of the official Joint Forestry Management Scheme of the government and this was initiated here in 1993.

In the village of Mendha (Lekha) too, the people started off on their own initiative. The main strength of the village lay in the awareness building and in the village institutions they created to deal with various situations. What has played the key role in the change in the village are the strong community organisations and institutions like the Van Suraksha Samiti (Forest Protection Committee) which were created and worked well. The village has also brought it’s forests under the official Joint Forest Management (JFM) scheme. This has not only formalised their position as the custodians of the forests but has also opened up the possibilities for negotiating benefits from the official forest related activities. The forest land within the boundary of the village exceeds 1600 hectares and the health of the forest is an indication of the intention and successful community effort of the village.

At the end the author mentions the lessons that can be taken from the Gadchiroli – Chandrapur experience. They are:

1) All people or village communities, irrespective of their religion, race, community, sect, language, sex, class, province, country, whether tribals or non-tribals, rural or urban, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, cannot be similar; therefore the structure and methodology of action must be devised keeping this fact in mind.

2) The most striking feature of the successes of in the above mentioned villages has been the initiative of the local people; action initiated from inside.

3) The campaign to safeguard the forests cannot be seen in isolation from the other processes in the village. It has to be accompanied with social, economic and political reform.

4) The decision making process itself should be based on consensus, as the decision making process by majority inevitably leads to the division of the society into factions.

5) In the representative power structure the village community is the base of the pyramid while the conceptual world is at the apex.

6) Even though the forest surrounding the village may legally be the collective property of the village, the villagers will not come forward to protect it unless they are fully assured that the forest belongs to them in actual practice and serves their best purpose.

7) From the point of view of the propriety of people's participation, JFM is progressive step in the right direction, but is not an adequate measure.

8) Nistar rights are a link that serves as an instrument of joining the people psychologically with the forest.

9) Knowledge is power, but a vast majority of people are unable to acquire it. A small section of people dominate over it. Accurate knowledge and information are needed for taking the correct decisions.

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