Short description of the best practice

The rehabilitation and co-management of degraded bamboo forest areas offers many opportunities for recovering provisioning services of the local ecosystem thus adding to sustained livelihood security and for securing supporting services such as better soil formation. Through this output, the project plans to enhance the role of bamboo forest areas in maintaining (a) connectivity between relatively undisturbed forest tracts that provide refuge for globally significant biodiversity and (b) the livelihood system of about 789 families in the five project districts. The project will work with the tribal/ rural landless and marginal land holding families who have significant dependency on the surrounding forest areas for socio-economic needs. The aim is to demonstrate a model for addressing poverty alleviation and environmental protection by engaging needy families in sustainable management of degraded bamboo areas found in forest lands in and around their villages, and sustainable harvest of the resource.
Each pro-poor family will be allocated approximately 20 hectares of degraded bamboo forest area in and around their villages for rehabilitation and sustainable co-management, targeting 5 hectares per year over the time frame of the project. This amounts to coverage of approximately 14,500 hectares.
The families are provided with financial and technical assistance for sustainable management of degraded bamboo areas, as well as for sustainable harvesting. These families will benefit in the short-term from an additional source of income for rehabilitation services rendered, broadening the income base of these families. At present each family on a monthly basis are paid INR 2500/- which amounts to INR 30000 annually as an additional income for the households. Over the long term, sustainable co-management practices undertaken by the families may regenerate the local bamboo forest resources creating opportunities for families to access the resource for income generation, as per the existing JFM resolution and government order of Madhya Pradesh. This will help diversify sources of livelihood in the short and long term, in turn, having a beneficial regional impact by reducing distress migration under socio-economic duress.
Target families will develop their skills for managing and protecting degraded bamboo forest areas and sustainable harvesting of bamboo.|

Location

Nine Forest Divisions North Betul, West Betul, South Betul, West Chhindwara, South Chhindwara, East Chhindwara, Sidhi, Singroli & Umariya |

Brief description of the natural environment within the specified location.

: Except for the valleys of the Narmada and the Tapti, Madhya Pradesh consists of a plateau with a mean elevation of 1600 ft above sea level, interspersed with the mountains of the Vindhya and the Satpura ranges. The main river systems are the Chambal, Betwa, Sindh, Narmada, Tapti, Mahanadi and Indravati. Nearly one third of the state's area is covered with tropical forests ranging between the rivers Chambal in the north and Godavari in the south. To the east of Chambal, the area has rocky surfa|
Singroli, Umariya- Red & Yellow Medium black & skeletal (Medium/light)
Betul-Chhindwara- Shallow black (Medium)
Sidhi- Mixed red and black soils (Medium)
The climate is extreme in the north of Madhya Pradesh. It is cool and breezy in the central parts and humid in the eastern and southern regions. The project districts are primarily located in dry deciduous zones, with high precipitation and temperatures. |

Prevailing socio-economic conditions of those living in the location and/or nearby

The poor families involved in the project have an average income of INR 10-15000 annually with some variations depending on their subsistence living.
Mostly small & marginal farmers, forest dwellers, land laborers. The poor community depends on forest based resources as one of the primary source of income.|

On the basis of which criteria and/or indicator(s) (not related to The Strategy) the proposed practice and corresponding technology has been considered as 'best'?

•Livelihood impact: Community-led sustainable management of degraded bamboo areas would lead to a good harvest of bamboo culms . It is expected that clumps would improve from 15-20 culms (baseline scenario) to 25-35. Therefore, it is estimated conservatively that by the end of the project period degraded bamboo areas would generate at least 1.5 to 2 million bamboo culms . Approximately 0.3 to 0.4 million bamboos will be obtained annually, which can be used by the community as an income-generating resource:
• Enhanced ability to meet fodder needs: Regeneration of bamboo would promote healthy growth of foliage. It is estimated that through regeneration the project could deliver about 3-5 tons of biomass  per hectare, which amounts to a conservative estimate of about 40,000 to 70,000 tons of biomass from 14,500 hectares for meeting the fodder needs of livestock. This will be especially important in the lean season when dependency on forests for uncontrolled grazing increases immensely. |

Main problems addressed by the best practice

Land Degradation- Bamboo Forest Areas degraded due to over grazing, lack of protection/management/treatment etc.|Participation of poor communities dependent on forest low|Overgrazing in forests – this has adversely affected forest regeneration

Outline specific land degradation problems addressed by the best practice

1.Degraded Bamboo Forests due to overgrazing and deforestation
2.Very low per hectare availability of bamboo culms per clumps
3.Congested bamboo clumps with low productivity of good quality bamboo
4.Severe soil erosion in those areas
5.Poor regeneration capacity of the degraded bamboo forests
6.Poor communities in and around the areas with limited livelihood options

Specify the objectives of the best practice

Degraded Bamboo Forests treated for ecological revival|Increase in per hectare availability of bamboo culms per clumps|Arresting severe soil erosion in those areas|Assisted Natural Regeneration leading to growth of other key vegetative spp.
|Ensuring livelihood of the Poor communities in and around the
degraded bamboo forest areas
|Ensuring the access and benefit sharing of poor communities towards forest resources under the Joint Forest Management scenario.

Brief description of main activities, by objective

Selection of site and poor families in and around the degraded bamboo forest areas
1. Poor families assigned area of degraded bamboo forests
2. Orientation and sensitization of poor families towards management of these areas.
Treatment & Management of the Degraded Bamboo Forests
1. Families assigned areas for the management of the sites.
2. Families provided certificates to ensure their involvement

Short description and technical specifications of the technology

In brief, Rehabilitation of Degraded Bamboo Forests comprises site identification, cleaning operations like weeding, felling of bamboo in congested clumps, soil work, protection etc. These activities are carried out as an yearly procedure. The cleaning of congested clumps also has a scientific method in which training and orientation is provided.|

Name and address of the institution developing the technology

Madhya Pradesh Forest Department|Satpur Bhawan
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)

Was the technology developed in partnership?

No

Was the participation of local stakeholders, including CSOs, fostered in the development of the technology?

Yes

List local stakeholders involved:

Poor families from in and around the degraded bamboo forest areas in nine forest divisions of Betul, Chhindwara, Sidhi, Singroli & Umariya|

For the stakeholders listed above, specify their role in the design, introduction, use and maintenance of the technology, if any.

The 789 families involved in the treatment of the degraded bamboo forest areas in and around their villages annually treat, manage, and protect the area assigned to them. In the process they interact with the forest officials to provide their own traditional knowledge towards the management of the bamboo forests etc. The two way interactions help build the knowledge towards such forestry practice. The families each year allocated 5 hectares of degraded bamboo forest areas, where weeding, cleaning congested bamboo clumps, soil work, protection, etc. are carried out. The yearlong management by the families and protection helps the bamboo forests to revive.|

Was the population living in the location and/or nearby involved in the development of the technology?

Yes

By means of what?

• Participatory approaches

Describe on-site impacts (the major two impacts by category)

The treatment, management and protection work have resulted in good growth of bamboo culms which indicates increase in productivity of bamboo.|
The areas assigned to the poor families since have increased protection and involvement it has resulted in increased natural regeneration capacity of the areas which indicates enrichment of the in-situ biodiversity.
Each poor family against the treatment and management of the degraded bamboo forests receive a monthly remuneration of INR 2500/- or INR 30000 annually. This additional houselhold income increase has provided support to their socio-economic heeds addressing the issues of health, education etc.|

Describe the major two off-site (i.e. not occurring in the location but in the surrounding areas) impacts

The involvement of the community has set examples for the nearby communities for exposure to the work being done.
Protection measures by the community resulted in less incidences of forest fires.

Impact on biodiversity and climate change

Explain the reasons:

The participatory forest management by the local poor communities successfully addresses the revival of the local degraded eco-system. The communities have developed, protected and managed the sites towards biodiversity enrichment. Thus along with ecological revival the increased productivity of bamboo from those areas on the long run have ensured livelihood of the poor families under the access and benefit sharing through the JFM. This action leads to CC mitigation and adaptation at the community level.|

Has a cost-benefit analysis been carried out?

Has a cost-benefit analysis been carried out?

No

Was the technology disseminated/introduced to other locations?

Was the technology disseminated/introduced to other locations?

Yes

Were incentives to facilitate the take up of the technology provided?

Were incentives to facilitate the take up of the technology provided?

Yes

Specify which type of incentives:

• Financial incentives (for example, preferential rates, State aid, subsidies, cash grants, loan guarantees, etc)

Can you identify the three main conditions that led to the success of the presented best practice/technology?

Sensitization of the poor communities towards their involvement in the treatment of the degraded bamboo forests in the nine forest divisions
Ecological revival associated with immediate and long term livelihood opportunities realized by the stakeholders.
The State level initiative by the forest department to promote bamboo

Replicability

In your opinion, the best practice/technology you have proposed can be replicated, although with some level of adaptation, elsewhere?

Yes

Related to human resources

Communities willing to participate in participatory forest management if livelihood systems are well linked with the initiative.|Eco-System services possible for communities to deliver if the intervention design promotes livelihood and access and benefit sharing mechanisms.

Related to technical aspects

The communities doing good work should be exposed in-situ as well as ex-situ through experts/ organization of similar experiences to bring innovativeness and learning’s towards the work.|The learning’s from the activity should be documented as a Climate Change derivative which at present is yet to be done. Like the carbon sequestration, study on the enrichment of the biodiversity etc.