Perception Changed: A Case Study
Ek Raj Sigdel
April 27, 2009
"While going through the field verification report, I caught with a picture of plantation. Based on my previous knowledge, I could not imagine that the picture was really taken from the plantation site. Then, I d
ecided to visit the site in person. After visiting the plantation site, I got surprise and changed my old aged perception that if done properly and ownership is fully transferred to local community, then any work can be successful" said Janak Baral, one of the UNDP Commissioned Auditors, who was in Dhangadi to audit Western Terai Landscape Complex Project (WTLCP) records between April 13 and 16, 2009.
With the community consultations at household level and several rounds of mass meetings, some 180 families of the local communities of Kailali, Phulbari 3, Lalitpur, were convinced to plant various tree species in two third of the 30 hectare degraded open grazing land in July 2008. The land was being grazed by some 2000 unproductive cattle every day. On their own initiation, the local community encircled the planted land by two kilometre trench. They also appointed a forest guard to safeguard the plantation. In total, the plantation work coasted Rs. 3, 75,750, of which 40,000 tree saplings of eight different plant species,
like eucalyptus, bauhinia, bombax, bamboo equivalent of Rs. 1,16,000 was supported by WTLCP-Dhangadi.
ecided to visit the site in person. After visiting the plantation site, I got surprise and changed my old aged perception that if done properly and ownership is fully transferred to local community, then any work can be successful" said Janak Baral, one of the UNDP Commissioned Auditors, who was in Dhangadi to audit Western Terai Landscape Complex Project (WTLCP) records between April 13 and 16, 2009.With the community consultations at household level and several rounds of mass meetings, some 180 families of the local communities of Kailali, Phulbari 3, Lalitpur, were convinced to plant various tree species in two third of the 30 hectare degraded open grazing land in July 2008. The land was being grazed by some 2000 unproductive cattle every day. On their own initiation, the local community encircled the planted land by two kilometre trench. They also appointed a forest guard to safeguard the plantation. In total, the plantation work coasted Rs. 3, 75,750, of which 40,000 tree saplings of eight different plant species,
like eucalyptus, bauhinia, bombax, bamboo equivalent of Rs. 1,16,000 was supported by WTLCP-Dhangadi. Luckily, the devastating flood of Septembe 2008 did not disappoint the committed local communities, though it uprooted some 20% of the total seedlings.
Now, pointing towards the greenery land "these are my child and I should take care of the seedlings" said the forest guard. It is hoped that as the plantation being done in bottleneck area between Dudhuwa of India and Basanta of Nepal, it will
work as a corridor for wildlife movement on the one hand and on the other grasses and fodder that comes from the land will support sustainable livelihood of the local communities.
Now, pointing towards the greenery land "these are my child and I should take care of the seedlings" said the forest guard. It is hoped that as the plantation being done in bottleneck area between Dudhuwa of India and Basanta of Nepal, it will
work as a corridor for wildlife movement on the one hand and on the other grasses and fodder that comes from the land will support sustainable livelihood of the local communities. [WTLCP is a joint undertaking of the government of Nepal, UNDP, GEF, SNV, WWF, Bioversity International, NARC and LIBIRD].
Note: (First Photo taken in February 2008; Second Photo taken in July 2008 and Third Photo taken in April, 2009)
posted by Ek Raj Sigdel at
April 26, 2009
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