Guardians of trees: Tribal women in India ensure trees are safe
With
lives that are closely bound to the forest, these tribal women of Odisha make
sure their forests are not exploited in the name of commercialisation or
'eco-tourism' for that matter.
Baripada:
Under the green canopy of towering Sal trees, a small white shrine is home to a
clutter of baked earth animal idols. In the silence of this forest, which is a
primary source of sustenance for Phoolmani, who lives in the Budhikhamari
cluster of villages on the edge of Baripada town in Mayurbhanj district, faith
meets livelihood options. They also collect mahua flowers, mushrooms, and other
non-timber forest products. "This forest belongs to us. They protect us,
just as we, in turn, protect the forest by guarding it all day in rotational
groups," states Phoolmani, emphatically. They have organised themselves
under the Budhikhamari Joint Forest Protection Committee, a pioneering land
rights collaborative intervention that covers 100 villages near the Manchabandha
Reserve Forest.
Usually,
it’s the women who are the first to perceive any danger to the forest. The
state Forest Department, which is meant to protect the forest, had quietly
given permission for the building of an eco-tourism resort there, in clear
violation of the 2006 law that empowers the tribal people with forest rights.
The
Indian Forest Act, 1927, which is the country’s main forest law, is a colonial
one, and since it was enacted to serve the former British rulers' need for
timber, it does not speak of conservation. This is what makes the Scheduled
Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights)
Act, 2006, popularly called the Forest Rights Act, a key piece of legislation.
The Act secures the rights of forest dwellers to land and other resources.
While
the local body elections were taking place, the Forest Department began fencing
off the entire forest and also knocked down as many as 1,500 trees in the first
phase of construction for the eco-tourism park, reveals Rights and Research
Initiative (RRI), an international non-profit group, and its local partner,
Vasundhara, which works along with the tribal communities here. The RRI is a
global coalition of organisations working to encourage forest land tenure and policy
reform as well as the transformation of the forest economy so that business
reflects local development agendas and supports local livelihoods.
Ever
since the 1992 Earth Summit took place in Rio de Janeiro 20 years ago, the
world had set for itself the key objectives of sustainable development,
protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and local community management
of forests. "But somehow the Forest Department in India is yet to come to
the terms with the fact that the right to the forests are now with the local
people, especially since the new law," says Tushar Dash, who leads
Vasundhara’s thematic group on Forest Rights Act.
When
the women realised that their control over the 118 hectares of forest land was
slowly slipping away, they decided to raise their voice. She says, "We
cannot allow outsiders to come in our forest. “We ensured that the collector
gave written instructions to the Divisional Forest Officer of Baripada to stop
the project,” says Lilima.
By
the end of March the communities living adjacent to the forest managed to halt
the eco-tourism project through the political processes defined under the
Forest Rights Act.
Ever
since the 1992 Earth Summit took place in Rio de Janeiro 20 years ago, the
world had set for itself the key objectives of sustainable development,
protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and local community management
of forests. "But somehow the Forest Department in India is yet to come to
the terms with the fact that the right to the forests are now with the local
people, especially since the new law," says Tushar Dash, who leads
Vasundhara’s thematic group on Forest Rights Act. The reserve lies 15
kilometres outside Baripada and is home to tigers as well as the dreaded Maoist
rebels whose power, according to Deo, is derived from the fact that poor
people, especially tribal communities, have been at the receiving end of urban
greed. He says, "The felling of trees to make the road is in itself an
illegal act by the Forest Department which is supposed to be the custodian of
the forests and here they got a young man of a tribal family arrested and
imprisoned for the protest.”
When
Bijay Kumar Panda, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Baripada, was approached
with the demand to stop work on the resort, his first reaction was to say that
the tribal people were being instigated by a few individuals. When confronted
with the facts he went to on to explain why in the first place the Forest
Department had tried to fence the area and start an eco-tourism project without
the permission of the local 'gram sabhas'. Panda says, "We protect whoever
protects the forest. Now a decision on the eco-tourism project can be taken at
a meeting of the Sub-Divisonal Level Committee (SDLC)."
According
to Radha Krushna Rout, Sub-Collector of Baripada, the views of the local tribal
communities are taken into account when any kind of infrastructural work
happens in the area.
Meanwhile, Baripada’s tribal women are
clear: They will stand united in the exercise of their forest rights and any move
to encroach on their territory will henceforth be met with strong resistance.
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