GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH
ABSTRACT
Andhra Pradesh Forestry Project - Bio-diversity Conservation - Formation of Eco-Developmental Committees in Protected Areas - Guidelines by the Government - Orders - Issued.
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ENVIRONMENT FOREST
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (PMU) DEPARTMENT
G.O.Ms.No.167 Dated: 15.12.1997
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O R D E R
In the Andhra Pradesh Forestry Project, taken up with the assistance of World Bank from 1994-95, Bio-diversity Conservation in the Protected Areas (Wild life Sanctuaries and National Parks) is one of the major components.
2. The Project envisages to rationalise the State's Biodiversity Conservation programme through initiation of the comprehensive strategy for the improvement of the management of biological resources within and outside the protected area system, through the preparation and implementation of a State-wide Integrated Protected Areas System (I.P.A.S) Plan.
3. During the project period, it is proposed to improve Biodiversity Conservation management in (10) protected areas through implementation of Eco-development activities in and around the protected Areas of 200 villages approximately.
4. As the successful implementation of Eco-development Programme depends to a large extent, on the active participation and involvement of the local people, Eco Development Committees have to be constituted for the purpose of protection and development of protected areas and members of each Committee as a community shall be allowed the benefits of Eco-development activities, subject to observance of rules and regulations under Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972 (As amended in 1991), Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967 and Forest (Conservation Act, 1980.
5. After careful examination of all factors stated in the reference read above, the Government hereby approve the constitution of Ten (10) "Eco Developmental Committee's (EDC's)" for successful implementation of Bio-diversity Conservation of the Protected Areas (Wild Life Sanctuaries and National Parks) through active participation and involvement of the local people.
6. The salient features, rules and guidelines applicable to the constitution and operation of the above Eco Developmental Committee's are detailed in the Annexure-I to this Order.l
7. This order issues with the concurrance of the Finance and Planning (FW.Expr. EFST) Department vide their U.O.No.44686/332/ EBS.EFS&T/97, dated 29.11.1997.
(BY ORDER AND IN THE NAME OF THE GOVERNOR OF ANDHRA PRADESH)
C.S. RANGACHARI,
SPL.CHIEF SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT.
ANNEXURE TO G.O.MS.No.167, DATED: 15-12-97, E.F.S&T (PMU) DEPT.
A N N E X U R E - I
I. ECODEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (EDC):
A. CONSTITUTION:
1. A village meeting will be convened in the target village by an officer not below by an officer not below the rank of Forest Range Officer.
2. The quorum for the meeting shall be one adult member each from atleast 50% of the households in the Villages thus represented
3. In the meeting, the Concept of Eco-development will be explained by the Convenor (Forest Range Officer). He shall hold series of participatory meetings with the community as well as separate meetings with women groups and deprived sections. After taking the views of the community and with their concurrence eco-development committee shall be formed within the frame work of guidelines issued herein. Such (EDC) shall be recognized by the concerned P.A. manager.
4. Eco-development committee will be constituted with two adult representatives from each house-hold out of whom atleast one should be a woman. Also care is to be taken to represent SC/ST community in the EDC.
B. FUNCTIONS:
1. The Eco-development Committee shall maintain a register showing the details of the members. The members may file declaration form containing the details like name, Father/Spouse name, age, address, etc.
2. The Eco-development Committee shall maintain a minutes book and record the proceeding of the meetings of the management committee held from time to time.
3. The meeting of Eco-development Committee be held atleast once in two months to review the developmental activities.
4. Under special circumstances (1/3)rd of the Eco-development Committee members can requisition an emergency meeting of the general body of EDC through Forest Range Officer concerned.
5. Every EDC will have an account in a Bank / Post Office in to which funds meant for EDC shall be deposited. The account shall be operated jointly by the Chair person and member secretary of the Committee. The details shall be placed before the EDC for approval.
6. The members of the EDC's shall individually and collectively ensure protection of the Forests / Wild Life of the P.A.
7. The members of EDC to assist the Forest Staff in apprehending persons committing Forest / Wild Life offence like encroachments; Poaching felling of trees, grazing and fires etc., in consonance with the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967 Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 and Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
8. To help in the timely execution of the all eco-restoration works taken up in the EDC's area including mobilisation of work force.
9. The member of EDC to report to the PA authorities concerned about illegal activities of any particular member, which are found prejudical or deterimental to the interests of Forests/ Wild Life.
10. The members of EDC to guard against misuse of funds provided for eco-development.
II. MANAGING COMMITTEE.
A. CONSTITUTION:
1. Fifteen elected representative from the eco-development committee of which atleast 30% shall be women members.
2. Representative of Integrated Tribal Development Authority (ITDA) as member.
3. VAO / VDO / EO / Panchayat Member / Teacher as member.
4. Representative of NGO's.
5. Concerned Forest Guard as member.
6. Concerned Foresters / Deputy Range Officer / Forest Range Officer as member secretary.
7. The Forest Range Officer shall act a returning officer for election of memers of managing committee. The term of the management committee shall be 2 years minimum (2/3)rd majority of General Body should approve change of Management Committee or Chair person.
8. The management committee shall elect its chair person from its members whose term shall be co-terminus with the term of management committee.
9. In ITDA areas atleast 50% of the elected members of the Management Committee shall be tribals.
10. The quorum for committee shall not be less than half of the strength of management committee.
11. Non elected members will have no voting rights.
12. In Non-ITDA areas (1/3)rd of the members shall be from SCs and STs.
13. The member secretary shall be the convenor of the managing committee.
N. FUNCTIONS:
1. The managing committee shall meet atleast once in a month.
2. The member secretary shall convene the managing committee meetings and maintain the record of the proceedings. The copy of the proceedings shall be sent to the Forest Range Officer . The managing committee shall not takeup any activity which is contrary to the approved eco-development plan or relevant acts and rules.
3. If any member of the EDC indulges in acts against Forest and Wild Life or approved eco-development plan, such member shall be debarred from future benefits from the EDC by the managing committee.
4. The managing committee shall implement the action plan by assigning duties and responsibilities to the members of EDC to ensure protection of Forests and Wild Life under its charge. The members of EDC shall have preference for wage employment in eco-development works.
5. The joint account will be operated by the chair person and member secretary as per the written resolutions of managing committee.
III. FUNCTIONS AND RESONSIBILITIES OF P.A. MANAGEMENT:
The P.A. Management shall provide assistance to the eco-development committee.
1. In selection and demarcation of area allotted for protection.
2. In conducting PRA and preparation of Micro Plan and its implementation.
3. In transferring the skills of sound Habitat /Wild Life Management practices to the members of the EDC's
4. In convening meetings of Member Secretaries and Chair persons of the EDC's in P.A. once in six months.
5. If a Committee fails to function properly or if there any instances of financial irregularities or any violations of rules and regulations stipulated there in the Wild Life Warden will dissolve managing committee after due enquriy.
IV. MICRO PLANNING:
A Micro Plan incorporating Eco-development activities will be drawn up in a participatory manner prior to commencements of activities. For the purpose of Micoplanning the EDC members, the park management and NGO's, if available, shall thoroughly perambulate the EDC area. PRA or PANIA exercise will be carried out keeping in view of the needs of the people on one hand and of conservation of Bi-diversity on the other to draft the microplan. The microplan shall aim at making the EDC free from dependencies on the PA by the end of the plan period which is ten years. The micro plan also prescribe measures to be taken to make the Eco-development committee self sustainable to carry on the programme even after the end of the project.
The micro plans should clearly spell out the various impacts like social, technical, ecological and financial in respect of each of the proposed activity for effective implementation.
The micro plan prepared shall be placed before the EDC subsequently.
The micro plan shall be signed by the Forest Range Officer on behalf the Park management and by chair person on behalf of the EDC as mark of mutual consent regarding selection of activities. Habitat Improvement Operations in PA's will be identified by the PA management in consultation with EDC members and they will be clearly mentioned in microplan as approved by CWLW or Officer authorised by him.
A MOU shall be entered into between PA management and EDC clearly mentioning the reciprocal commitments.
V. ECO- RESTORATION:
A list of operations which may be helpful in Habitat improvement are given below. However, the operations are site and locate specific. The PA manager will decide the suitability of the operation for habitat improvement in his Protected area. The PA manager may choose from operations, listed below;
1. Erection of live fencing on shallow continuous tenches 30cm along the RF boundary only.
2. Digging of contour trenches in sloping areas and sowing of grasses and legumes on the mounds.
3. Planting of NWFP trees in the trenches at 5 X 5M espacement in degraded open patches. Natural blanks are not to be planted to provide for edge effect and wallow points.
4. Soil and Water Conservation measures such as gully plugging, check dams will be taken up.
5. Removal of exotic plants and Weeds like lantana, parthinium etc., to reduce congestion and encourage growth of grass.
6. Formation of saucer pits in stream beds and kuntas during summer months to provide water for Wild Life.
7. Raising of intensive fodder plots outside PA's.
8. Retention of dead, dying trees.
9. Fire tracing along fire lines and gridlines.
10. Any other operations required for improvement of Wild Life habitat like maintaining all tiers of vegetation, and ground flora management.
11. Providing of Ungulate plots and arranging Salticks to the Wild Animals.
12. The PA manager may include any other site specific operations not listed above in the interest of better PA management.
VI. INVESTMENT PLANS:
A) People, who are dependent upon the PA's who were denied accessibility to the resources, are to be compensated for their loss of opportunity to the PA resources, which they were enjoying before the formation of PA.
B) Village oriented activities like physical construction and fuel and fodder plantations are also to be included in the investment plan.
The individual and village oriented works should be in the ratio of 50 : 50.
A) Programmes to benefit individual / people:
1. Providing individual house holds with suitable tools and implements to practice their traditional professions and also to provide alternate income generation schemes, where ever their existing professions are not remunerative.
2. The tools and kits to rural artisan to practice their profession like Fishing nets, Cobbler kits, Carpenter tools, Pottery tools, Sewing machines etc., fall in this category.
3. Introducing and improving alternate programmes like Apiculture, Horticulture, Pisciculture, Mushroom cultivation to provide addistional income during non-agricultural season.
4. Encouraging group activities like basket making, garment making, Sewing, Printing, Painting on clothes, leaf plate making, rope making, poultry, peggeruy, inland fishing, value added processing units, vegetable vending, kirana etc.
B) Village Oriented Programmes:
1. Development, of Village Wood lots and Pasture plots outside PA
2. Deepening of existing Tanks and Kuntas and Construction of check dams outside PA to provide water to the Village cattle.
3. Improvement and creation of tanks outside PA to increase yields from their existing agricultural fields.
4. Providing of Drinking water sources to the Village community.
C) Eligibility Criteria for Village Eco-Development Investment:
Families dependent on the Forest resources of PA should from the main target group under the Eco-development programme. Care should be taken to ensure that the investment should be activity oriented. And in respect of each activity cost contribution should be spelled cut in the micro plan. In case of individual house hold the cost recovery with repayment schedule should be worked out with phasing of interventions.
VII. PROVIDING OF ALTERNATE ENERGY SOURCES:
This Programme aims to reduce the pressure on PA for fuel wood, by adopting the following measures in collaborations with Department of NEDCAP.
1. Providing fuel efficient chulha's to every house hold in the EDC village.
2. Providing Bio-gas plants to house hold having 4 to 5 cattle.
3. Supplying Solar Cookers on request.
VIII. CREATION OF REVOLVING FUND:
For sustaining the eco-development programme even after the end of the plan period a revolving fund be created in each eco-development village to help in continuation of the programme. The revolving fund is to be set up from the following sources.
1. Individual beneficiaries to contribute not less than 25% of the cost of the asset provided to him towards the revolving fund, but wherever tribal groups are there this condition need not be insisted.
2. The value of the labour input by the members of the EDC by way of Shramadan in the community work should add towards revolving fund.
3. Thrift groups are to be encouraged under social banking.
IX ROLE OF N.G.O.S:
For any Governmental programme involving interest of the people to succeed, the Non Governmental Organisaztion have an important role to play. The NGO's can act as facilitators between the Government and the people. The Eco-development programme is one such programme where the NGO;s can play a meaningful role as enumerated below:
1. Help the process of development proper understanding between PA management and the community for propagation of the principles of Bio-Diversity Conservation.
2. Help in preparation of a Micro-plan for the EDC.
3. Help in introduction of relevant environment - friendly technology in the village in improve the skills of the local people.
4. Help in mobilisation of resources from other developmental agencies.
5. Help in propagating the concept of thrift, credit and social banking.
6. Help in conducting training of local communities for capacity building, leaderhsip skills, gender sensitisation.
7. Help in continuous monitoring of EDC activities including Monitoring of assets provided under the programme.
8. Help in conducting baseline survey in all EDC villages, sample indicators of Socio- economic condition of the target people.
IX. N.G.O. SUPPORT:
Each individual NGO is expected to associate in atleast 4-5 EDC's. They shall take up work of motivation, preparation of micro plan, gender sensitisation, monitoring of Eco-development programmes, organising thrift, credit and revolving fund. MOU is to be entered into between NGO and Park management defining the role and financial commitments.
Evolve and put into use a proper monitoring and evaluation mechanism for each EDC with simple indicators obtained through participatory machanism.
XI. ECO TOURISM:
In each Protected Area tourism zone is to be identified which will be used for receiving tourists on limited scale.
In this zone, Eco friendly machans and bunkers will be erected for riewing Wild Life at water holes, nature trails and animal back Rides ( elephant ride) may slowly be organised.
For conducting tourists, local youth especially tribals will be trained as tourists guides.
The Revenue from tourism will be ploughed back to Protected Area for development.
XII. TRAINING:
1. Locals especially tribals engaged in the collection of NTFP will be trained so that mother trees are not killed.
2. Conduction of trainings to local artisans to improve their skills including supply of implements to them.
3. Trainings to the members of the EDC to improve their skills in conducting PRA, implementing, monitoring and eveluation of eco-development activities.
C.S.RANGACHARI,
SPECIAL CHIEF SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT.