Short description of the best practice

Sandy, degraded, gullied undulated land was developed through a set of activities in collaboration with the local village communities in order to solve their problem of fuel and fodder and check the process of desertification in the area.|

Location

Gandhivan in Block Jamwaramgarh in district Jaipur in the Rajasthan state of India

Brief description of the natural environment within the specified location.

Dry

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

Very low

Main problems addressed by the best practice

Solved the problem of fuel and fodder of nearly 500 families of the neighboring villages.

Outline specific land degradation problems addressed by the best practice

Checked soil erosion, stabilized sand dunes and harvested the rain water which was flowing in vain earlier and causing land degradation. |

Specify the objectives of the best practice

Solving the problem of the people of the area of fuel and fodder and checking the process of land degradation and desertification.

Brief description of main activities, by objective

Revived 5 old ones and erected 3 new water harvesting structures.
Planted 40,000 trees of fuel and fodder species.|
Plugged 50 deep gullies and stabilized 30 sand dunes.

Short description and technical specifications of the technology

All the activities were carried out in close collaboration with the community people and in consultation with some of the forest officers and engineers the using indigenous knowledge and low cost technologies.

Name and address of the institution developing the technology

Gram Bharati Samiti |Amber Bhawan, Amber
Jaipur - 302 028

Was the technology developed in partnership?

Yes

List the partners:

1.Youth volunteers
2.Women leaders of SHG
3.Engineers
4.Forest officers

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

Yes

List local stakeholders involved:

1.Youth volunteers
2.Women leaders of SHG
3.Engineers
4.Forest officers

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

They participate in all the activities since planning through implantation, monitoring and evaluation.|

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

Provided temporary jobs to nearly 400 people of the area.
Solved the problem of fuel and fodder of nearly 500 families of the neighboring villages.

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

Message of planting trees, stop cutting existing forests, conserving rain water etc. was disseminated among 20,000 people of neighboring 20 villages.|

Impact on biodiversity and climate change

Explain the reasons:

It helped surviving lots of birds and wild animals and protected hundreds of endangered species of medicinal value.
Level of underground water came up in the wells of the area, moisture could be conserved, vegetation cover grown up over the sand dunes etc.|

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:

• Policy or regulatory incentives (for example, related to market requirements and regulations, import/export, foreign investment, research & development support, etc)

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

Rain water harvesting structures could be erected at many places having similar conditions.
Plugging the gullies and stabilizing sand dunes could be replicated elsewhere.
Solving the problem fuel and fodder, it replicable every where.|

Replicability

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

Yes

At which level?

• Local

Related to human resources

Youth and women volunteers should always be involved in such projects.

Related to technical aspects

Indigenous technology best own people’s knowledge and experience is always beneficial.