Sameer Punde

Malki Jungle Suraksha Scheme - launching India’s first ever conservation incentive programme to combat deforestation in the north Western Ghats

“For a meagre sum, landowners in the Konkan region lease out their forests to logging contractors who then supply firewood to nearby industries - this is the single largest threat to the forest landscape of the Konkan biodiversity hotspot.”

Dr. Archana Godbole, Director AERF
The Konkan region is placed in the northern section of the Western Ghats Biodiversity hotspot (see www.biodiversityhotspots.org) and forms part of the Sahyadri-Konkan corridor, one of the five major landscapes in the Western Ghats (http://www.cepf.net/xp/cepf/where_we_work/western_ghats/eco_profile). Only 0.6% of the forests in Ratnagiri district within Konkan are currently protected in statutory forest reserves. The rest of the land and its forests in this region are on private lands (http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/RATNAGIRI/phy_forests.ht...)

When in dire need of cash, landowners in this region lease out their forests to logging contractors who then clear-fell the forests and transport the wood to industries in neighbouring districts. Many rare trees such as Saraca asoca, Hydnocarpus pentandra, Strychnos nux-vomica are lost in the process. This has a knock-on effect on key species such as the Great Pied Hornbill (Buceros bicornis) and the Malabar Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus).

The Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) is a non-government organisation actively involved in community based conservation of forests in the Konkan region for 13 years. In 2006, AERF (with support from the British Ecological Society) conducted extensive surveys to identify forests of high conservation value within the Konkan region (see map). Through the Malki Jungle Suraksha Scheme, the AERF will ensure the long-term protection of some of the sites identified as high priority. AERF has also undertaken research on rare trees within forest fragments which will complement this programme and help in managing forest patches. In 2007, Dr. Archana Godbole received a Whitely Associate Award on her long-term work on the sacred groves of the Konkan region (http://www.whitleyaward.org/display.php?id=130) for more information about AERF and its work please refer to www.aerfindia.org

With support from the RSG, the AERF will launch a conservation incentive programme to address deforestation on private lands in Konkan. Using a process similar to logging contractors who lease private forests, the AERF will establish agreements with landowners to protect and manage forests on their lands. In the first year of this programme, AERF aims to establish agreements covering an area of at least 100 acres in some of the priority areas.

Read about his previous RSG project at http://www.ruffordsmallgrants.org/rsg/Projects/SameerPunde

For more information contact aerf@hathway.com or go to www.aerfindia.org