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Hillhacks

Climate Change: Use of technology in building adaptive capacity of local forest communities

A Talk by Pushpendra, Maura Bulgheroni at Main Conference

Abstract

Climate change and its impacts of forest ecosystems and forest-based subsistence livelihoods of the forest users is one of the important discussion points in forestry sector in India. Climate change is causing shifts in the geographical range of the species and their distribution and changing their phenology at faster rates. in order to sustain multiple functions of forests, proactive adaptation strategies are being planned in Himachal Pradesh to reduce the risks from climate change and to enhance the adaptive capacity of the forests. In this endeavor, a project named “HP Forest Ecosystems Climate Proofing Project” is being implemented from the current year in two districts - Kangra and Dharamshala - of Himachal Pradesh. One of the main objectives of the project is to explore the on-going climate adaptive practices of the local communities and to strengthen them through project interventions. In this regard, use of technology in strengthening and sustaining these adaptive practices of people can be of great use. The authors presents their case and looks for technological options from the audience that contribute towards making forests climate resilient as well as enhance the adaptive capacity of the forest-dependent communities.

Main Description

Forestry in Himachal Pradesh (HP) constitutes a major sector and resource for livelihoods for rural residents providing them with a multitude of timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Fuel wood is the most important energy source and fodder is needed to feed domestic livestock. In all regions of HP degradation of forest resources is advancing as a result of limited management options and biotic, anthropogenic and climatic factors. There are authentic indications that climate change is going to accelerate the degradation of forests thereby increasing the vulnerability of forest ecosystems and rural population unless adaptive measures are taken.

Climate change (CC) is causing many species to shift their geographical range, distribution and phenology at faster rates than previously thought. CC models used by Ravindranath et al. have stressed the need for anticipatory and proactive adaptation strategies and policies to maintain the multiple functions of forest ecosystems. Impacts of climate change on forests are expected to be irreversible with most of them only becoming visible only after years or even decades of delay. Hence, there is a need to take proactive measures rather than waiting for impacts of climate change on forests to manifest themselves.

The overall objective of the envisaged project is “Forest ecosystems in HP are managed in a way, that the risks of climate change and its negative impacts are minimized and/or mitigated, resulting in an increase in biodiversity of the treated Himalayan ecosystems and sustained income in rural areas from sustainable management of natural resources”. The project is expected to lead to reduced forest degradation, increased biodiversity, enhanced income for forest-dependent communities in vulnerable landscapes, increased availability of spring water in treated spring catchment areas and sustainable management of forests in the project area.

Chamba and Kangra districts have been identified for project implementation based on a climate vulnerability assessment applying modelling approach and landscape approach. The most important criteria used for the selection of districts were forest vulnerability ranking, forest area covered, population of the district, proximity to most vulnerable district, climatic variation and long-term vegetation shift as well as presence of major reservoirs. The project is to be implemented in 20 ranges in 8 forest divisions within these two districts. The micro-level selection of project area will be done in the inception phase on the basis of multiple criteria. The Project will target forest dependent communities in 600 villages, reaching approximately 150,000 rural people in 30,000 households over 7 years. The Project envisages 1 year preparatory and capacity building phase and 6 years implementation phase.

The HP Forest Department will be the Executing Agency of the Project. The project will be implemented by the State Project Management Unit (SPMU) supported by Divisional Project Management Units, four each in Chamba and Kangra districts. SPMU will be established under the umbrella of State Level Steering Committee of SFDA. Core management staff of SPMU will be appointed through deputation from HPFD. Other experts and subordinate staff will be appointed through a resource agency.

The Project will be implemented through active involvement of formally registered village-based forestry institutions such as Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs), Village Forest Development Societies (VFDC) or Forest Cooperative Societies (FCS) who will be supported by village community mobilisers. These institutions will be constituted/revived in accordance with revised Participatory Forest Management (PFM) Rules.

A team of Project Management Consultants (PMC) will be appointed to strengthen managerial and operational capacity of PEA. PMC will be partly financed through accompanying measures and partly through a soft-loan derived from financial cooperation (FC). PMC will ensure the adherence of the project to KfW’s operational guidelines. PMC will comprise one long-term International Chief Technical Advisor, one long-term National Advisor and various other long- and short-term advisors and consultants.

Project interventions will include the following main activities:

1. Rehabilitation of forest stands - Rehabilitation of Lantana infested areas and planting of multi-purpose mixed broad-leafed forests in 15000 ha; - Under-planting and conversion of open, degraded Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii) stands to mixed broadleaved forests in 3000 ha; - Improvement of existing bamboo forests in 1000ha; - Rehabilitation of 150 spring catchments through drainage line treatment and physical and biological soil and water conservation measures; - Silvicultural operations in 5000 ha of Chir Pine area including intermediate felling in young and medium-aged forest stands in order to improve climate resilience of these stands.

2. CCA relevant forest management tools are developed and applied - Improvement of nurseries (use of modern technology for nursery management and plant production); - Development and promotion of pilot measures to reduce human-wildlife conflicts; - Development of guidelines for climate change adapted forest management; - Development of microworking plans for each village or set of villages in case of multiple village rights of forest area; - Signing of MoU between the village institutions and HPFD indicating mutual rights, obligations and responsibilities for implementation of microworking plans; - Incentivize forest protection against fire and biotic pressure through a saving book approach.

3. Capacity development of stakeholders - Assessment of training needs and conducting training programmes for all stakeholders; - Improvement of training infrastructure and enhancing project management capacity of the PEA by providing them international exposure to CCA relevant tools and techniques; - Training and capacity building for community-based participatory forest management and for the development of micro-enterprises and income generation activities; - Internalising CC relevance in various spheres of development planning by exposing policy makers and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)to project processes and conducting national events on climate proofing of forest ecosystems.

4. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) - Implementation of comprehensive M&E systems for evolving dynamic feedback and corrective mechanism; - Development of an effective management information system; - Documentation and dissemination of project experiences.

5. Income generating activities - Promotion of natural resource and particularly forest-based livelihood and micro-enterprise activities; - Development of self-help groups and user groups as basis for management of resources (including finance) and income generating activities. This will also include ensuring bank linkages for target groups; - Convergence with other State and Central Sponsored Schemes for securing livelihood of the target population.

Speaker

I am a Indian Forest Service officer of 1999 Batch alloted to Himachal Pradesh Cadre. I served as Divisional Forest Officer at Paonta Sahib and Bilaspur from 2004-2010. Then, in 2010, I went to USA on study leave to pursue by PhD. I have completed my PhD in Geography and GIS from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,USA. Recently, I have rejoined forest department and now posted as Project Director, HP Forest Ecosystems Climate Proofing Project at Dharamshala, HP. My interest and specialization areas include spatial analysis; spatial econometrics; causal inference; policy evaluation and operationalization of the notion of geographic space in analytical problems.ell everyone about yourself, if you like. Give links!

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