Day: June 21, 2022

Through various programmes and projects, Vasudha Foundation intends to promote the sustainable consumption of earth’s bounties

The question of whether climate change is real or not has been rendered meaningless. Peer-reviewed papers, high-level scientific studies and severe anomalies observed in natural climatic conditions prove that climate change (now widely termed as climate crisis) is one of the major global concerns of our times. Although, international conventions with legally binding instruments and national level action plans/schemes are in place to address climate change, yet very little action has been taken to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and avert (mitigate) climate change. Several factors can be attributed for this shortfall, like lack of integration of climate change action with development agenda; political unwillingness and lobbying; lack of regional-level plans and such others.

With an earnest spirit to contribute to fill this lacuna and to work towards sustainable development, Vasudha Foundation was set up in 2010 as a not-for-profit organisation. The core mission is to conserve Vasudha, which in Sanskrit means the Earth, the giver of wealth. Through various programmes and projects, the Foundation intends to promote the sustainable consumption of earth’s bounties. Over the years, Vasudha Foundation has collaborated with a number of multi-lateral organisations and state governments on three programme verticals, namely: putting India on a climate-friendly and resilient pathway; energy access solutions, and scaling up renewable energy.

Recognising the fact that there are no universal solutions for climate change, Vasudha Foundation has endeavoured to develop regionally appropriate action plans to tackle climate change. It was part of a consortium that helped to develop State Action Plan for Climate Change (SAPCC) for the states of Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim and Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in collaboration with GIZ and other consortium members. These SAPCCs were well received and also approved by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, (MoEFCC), India.

Moving a step ahead and to promote a bottom-up approach for climate change planning, Vasudha Foundation has now initiated the project of developing District Climate and Environment Action Plans (DCEAP) for multiple districts of India. DCEAP is one of the first district-level planning projects in India that would help to identify district-specific climate change drivers and provide recommendations for mitigation. This project intends to work closely with the respective district administration and other relevant stakeholders to understand the development priorities and propose smooth integration of climate change action with the district aspirations. Besides enabling the districts to address climate change, this project would also contribute in the state climate change action planning and implementation process. Overall, these efforts would make concrete contributions for the national emission reduction aspirations as indicated in India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) submitted under Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as well as help India to meet the Sustainable Development Goal-13 i.e. “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”.

Vasudha Foundation is also an integral part of the pioneering work called the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Platform India. The GHG Platform – India (GHGPI) is a collective civil-society initiative providing independent estimation and analysis of India’s GHG emissions across key sectors such as Energy, Waste, Industry, Agriculture, Forest and Other Land Use (AFOLU). The platform was jointly conceptualised by Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and Vasudha Foundation. Vasudha Foundation also acts as the Secretariat of the platform, besides estimating and preparing reports for the AFOLU sector. The other partner organisations for GHGPI are Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW); Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP); ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability – South Asia; and world Resources Institute – India.

GHGPI has completed three phases and currently hosts national estimates for GHG emissions from 2005 to 2015 by accounting CO2, CH4 and N2O gases. It now also has sub-national (i.e. state level) GHG emission estimates. It strictly follows the methodology guidelines as given by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and sources the activity data from government published data. Overall, GHGPI acts as a repository of information on the process of GHG accounting and estimations (emission estimates, methodology reports and back-end calculation sheets have been uploaded on the GHGPI website). GHGPI has been recognised by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in the Second Biennial Update Report (BUR) submitted to the UNFCCC.

Vasudha Foundation has carried out several projects in the energy sector as well. Some of the initial projects pertaining to energy were: 1) Preparation of District Energy Plan for the districts of Mandla in Madhya Pradesh and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh; 2) Detailed assessment of rural electrification in India and coming up with a campaign on ‘Universal Service Obligation’ for rural energy services, and 3) Bhutan Energy Cooperation Agreements and the Implementation of Hydropower Projects in Bhutan. One of the ongoing energy sector projects is the ‘Energy Mapping Initiative’. It is a web-based reservoir of analytics, data and interactive information on power generation in India. At present, the energy mapping platform offers information on operational and proposed thermal power plants (TPPs) in India which is based on an extensive database put together by the Vasudha Foundation team. 

On the community front, Vasudha Foundation also forayed into working on providing “energy access” solutions to rural communities. One such project that it ventured was to set up a “community biogas plant” in the village of Lalpur in Madhupur Taluk of Jharkhand. As a pilot and in order to build awareness the village women were also trained and oriented on biogas plants for meeting heating and cooking energy demands. Vasudha also installed two household-level biogas digesters in the village and this helped to build awareness of the communities on bio-gas. While the community bio-gas plant did not succeed due to a number of reasons, many individual biogas plants were installed in households in the vicinity.

Climate change invariably impacts all the sectors and regions (although to a different extent). Therefore, climate change adaption and preparedness is also crucial. For one of the climate change adaptation projects, Vasudha has worked with the farmers and other stakeholders (in the state of Punjab) on water conservation practices of agriculture, particularly rice cultivation and also addressing the issue of straw management, from the perspective of the burning of rice straw. 

Through its ongoing and future projects, Vasudha Foundation is determined to endeavour towards addressing climate change and the different cross-cutting issues by developing implementable and achievable action plans; providing region-specific solutions; adopting the decentralized approach and bottom-up method and ensuing stakeholders’ participation.

AROH Foundation shows how a thoughtful alliance of people, resources, systems and policy makers can come together to mitigate the water crisis

For hundreds of years, water bodies, both big and small, have played an integral role in our lives. But spurts in urbanisation and decline in agriculture and allied activities in the recent past have resulted in the neglect of natural water resources. Many have been encroached upon or transformed into a dumping yard. Depletion of the water table and groundwater contamination make the situation more alarming. Attending to this global issue at a local level, AROH Foundation has engaged with communities to revive dead water bodies in villages of Uttar Pradesh.

AROH Foundation, which was engaged in implementing Holistic Rural Development Project in 18 villages of three districts—Budaun, Bulandshahr and Firozabad, in western Uttar Pradesh, stepped in to revive dead water bodies of the region.

AROH along with CSR partner HDFC Bank explored all opportunities to restore water bodies for posterity and involved local community, government departments and policy makers as an imperative stakeholder for sustainable success of the intervention.

Under the course of strategic actions, six ponds were identified, pond profiling was done, encroachments were demolished, soil and water testing were conducted by AROH’s experts. The ponds were dewatered and desilted, increasing its depth considerably, capacitating them of holding adequate water. Given the downward penetrating root system, perennial compost composition was used as a natural bund-strengthening and stabilising agent. The overflow from the ponds was designed to flow into the irrigation channel which irrigates fields in and around the village.

This massive drive of water conservation and augmentation, which was aligned to Jal Shakti Abhiyan, has rejuvenated 10 acres of pond, increasing recharge for around 298496375 cubic mtrs of groundwater. It also supported sustainable livelihoods, benefiting around 25700 people.

The areas around the ponds are dressed up with fencing. Saplings are planted, benches installed and staircases built. Such areas have now become a popular meeting place.

Rejuvenated ponds not only counter the water crisis, but also offer alternate livelihood opportunities that come in the form of composite fish and duck farming. Committees of landless men and women were created and registered under Fishery SHGs. The members underwent capacity building training programmes. Simultaneously, in an attempt to increase water footprints within “Jal Shakti Abhiyaan”, AROH installed 18 solar run water pumps in every village, set up water posts in schools, tested around 200 hand pumps for their water quality, introduced lesser water consuming crops and farming techniques.  AROH Foundation has been conducting advocacy of water augmentation and mass awareness programmes by forming “JalSamooh”.

 “Due to dry ponds, farming had become very difficult for us. The situation changed only after the water bodies were revived,” says Leela Devi, one of the members of an SHG trained in fish farming.

AROH promotes the thought that revival of existing water bodies, revamping water conserving structures can be seen as the most economic, effective and fast measure in the water conservation drives. A thoughtful alliance of people, resources, systems and policy makers can come together in mission mode to mitigate the water crisis. We as a planet are already blessed with abundance on water with us. Just forethought and small efforts can help us mitigate water crisis at various levels and can create ripple effect towards the mission of water conservation. We should remember that now is the time and every bit shall count.

The Miyawaki method adopted by SRIJAN under its Tapovan initiative in Madhya Pradesh’s Tikamgarh is one of the most effective ways to build forests really fast 

One of the core programmatic components of SRIJAN has been integrated natural resource management. A conscious effort towards improving environmental outcomes is to increase the green cover with consideration of local conditions and knowledge amalgamated with successful techniques. One such technique to improve environmental outcomes is the Miyawaki method of forest plantation. It has been named after its inventor Akira Miyawaki, a Japanese botanist. Tapovan, the initiative undertaken to grow forests using the Miyawaki technique, has been piloted at four sites of Tikamgarh, in Madhya Pradesh.

Miyawaki forest technique

Miyawaki is a technique pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki that helps build dense, native forests in a short time. This method includes planting trees (only native species) as close as possible in the same area which not only saves space, but the planted saplings also support each other in growth. It also blocks sunlight reaching the ground, thereby preventing the growth of weed. The saplings become maintenance-free (self-sustainable) after the first three years. The approach is supposed to ensure that plant growth is 10 times faster and the resulting plantation is 30 times denser than usual. Miyawaki method helps to create a forest in just 20 to 30 years, while through conventional methods it takes anywhere between 200 to 300 years.

Intervention

The protection and maintenance of the plantation was necessary for the success of the intervention. Community engagement is an unavoidable part of the process. During the initial planning meetings, community members wished to develop the forest as a hub of medicinal, fruit and local plants that can be used as fodder. The community members then selected a range of native plants based on four categories, i.e. canopy, tree, sub tree and shrubs for plantation. The process was followed by the identification of sites for plantation, based on water availability, community interest and ownership, and location free of disputes. A private land, already donated for construction of temple, was selected for plantation by the community members in Niwari village, whereas in Dor village, the Panchayat came forward to allocate a patch of government land. The community members were convinced to protect the plants. They all agreed not to graze their cattle in the selected sites.

People engaged voluntarily for land preparation, layout and transplantation of seedlings. As many as 5,020 plants were planted in August in the presence of PRIs and community members.

In the days to come, it is expected that the developed sites will provide the community members with commodities like drumstick, mango, harra, bahera, reetha, seesam etc.

 “Tapovan is a small dense forest planted through the Miyawaki technique by which we can establish self-sufficient and dense forests in two to three years. After a year it was noticed that the height of some plants had exceeded twelve feet! It had become so dense that it was difficult for anyone to go inside the forest. Local and medicinal plants have been planted in it, which has built a strong association with the people of the community with this forest. Such forests can be planted in all villages.”

Kamlesh Kurmi
Project Manager
SRIJAN