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| Doodhgaon - Our colleague Kamlesh speaks to students about nature and wildlife conservation |
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| Khamba - Village children learn to spot and identify birds on a nature trail |
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| Potiya - Our colleague Niranjan conducts an environment education programme in the village school |
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| Potiya - Our colleague Niranjan guides school students on a nature trail on World Wetlands Day |
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| Thuyepani - Our team speaks to villagers about forest fires and the need to help in fighting such fires |
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| Thuyepani - Volunteers build soak pit |
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| Turiya - Manish, who got a job at a resort |
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| Turiya - Members of women's SHG at a training programme |
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| Turiya - Our colleague Niranjan repairs a faulty biogas stove |
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| Turiya - Our colleague Niranjan shows how to make a bird bath from used water bottles |
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| Turiya - Our collegue Sumit guides SHG members on how to improve their livelihoods |
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| Durgapur - Dr. Khode examines a patient at our free medical camp |
THE FULL REPORT
Team:
Conservation Officer – Sumit Kumar Kar
Field
Assistant – Niranjan Hinge (Turia cluster)
Field
Assistant– Kamlesh Pawar (Khamarpani cluster)
Major highlights of the month
· Awareness
meetings on forest fires attended by 26 villagers
· Two voluntary work
activities organised to dig soak pit and de-silt percolation tank
· World
Wetland Day on 2nd February and Global Recycling Day on 18th
February celebrated.
· Two
nature trails and bird-watching sessions
· Birdbath preparation and
installation
· Education program at 10
schools attended by 262 students
· Film
show program attended by 338 students
· Selection
of 10 unemployed young villagers for driving training
· One unemployed youth
placed in a local job
· Training session on
cooking organised for women’s SHG at Turiya
· Mobile Health service
camps at 6 villages treating 157 patients
Conservation Action and Awareness
Forest fire in a deciduous forest with
plenty of teak trees, as in Pench Tiger Reserve, can result in devastating
consequences for the forest and all the animals in it. The recent forest fire at
Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka state can be considered as an example of
how damaging forest fire could be and highlights the need to be prepared for
such an event.
With a view to avoid such tragedy,
meetings on forest fires were organised by Niranjan and Kamlesh at Satosha and
Thuyepani on 27th and 26th February respectively.
The agenda of the meetings was to
increase awareness on the various causes of forest fires and their impact.
Various measures to prevent such fires were also discussed. Volunteer groups
were formed to assist the Forest Department in fire-fighting operations if required.
February 2 is celebrated as World
Wetland Day to celebrate the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on February
2, 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar. One of the key findings of the Ramsar
Global Outlook Report published recently is that wetlands are under far greater
threat than forests.
Wetlands in the vicinity of forests
provide drinking water to wildlife and humans and help in waste management as
well. In order to explain the importance of wetlands, a nature trail and
classroom lecture program was organised at Potiya Government Middle School.
On February 12, Kamlesh assembled a group of volunteers at Thuyepani to
construct a soak pit. Kamlesh had explained to the villagers the concept of
groundwater recharge and how soak pit construction can help in faster percolation
of waste water and reduce the spread of water borne insect vectors. The soak
pit was constructed near a hand pump used for drawing water for drinking.
On February 14, Niranjan organised a voluntary work program
to de-silt a percolation tank in Durgapur village. Five villagers volunteered for
the activity along with our team. Due to silt accumulation, the waste water
from the hand pump was not able to percolate and was stagnating.
Niranjan had earlier explained to the villagers the
importance of cleanliness and how water stagnation could create a mosquito
problem. The villagers cleared the area of weeds and cleaned the soak pit, from
which the excess water from hand pump operation, mostly grey water, now
percolates into the ground effectively without overflowing.
With
the arrival of summer, water availability for birds reduces. In order to
involve students in conservation of avifauna, our team organised bird bath
making in villages of buffer region. On February 18, Niranjan held an activity at Turiya Middle School to
make bird baths out of used plastic bottles. Bird bath making from clayware was
undertaken by Kamlesh at Khamarpani and Thuyepani. The bird baths were
installed by the students who also volunteered to regularly fill these water
baths through the summer.
LPG
is a cooking fuel that reduces the need for firewood for cooking purposes, is convenient to use and also improves indoor air quality. The Government of
India, through the Ujjwala Scheme, is providing free LPG connections to women of
below poverty level (BPL) households.
Satpuda
Foundation has been connecting the needy families with the nearest LPG
distributor so they can avail of the benefits of the scheme and reduce their
firewood demand. During the month of February, Kamlesh aided in filling forms and
submission of documents of ten households of Kundai and Bisenpur villages.
Abundant cow dung in rural India is tapped via biogas plants to convert
the organic material into biogas which mainly consists of methane. Biogas is a
sustainable form of energy which is used mainly for cooking purposes, reducing
the need for fire wood and thereby reducing pressure on forests. Biogas is
produced from slurry of cow dung through anaerobic decomposition. Satpuda Foundation
has been undertaking repair of faulty biogas production units and stoves. During
the month of February, Niranjan repaired a faulty unit at Turia.
Plastic pollution is creating a menace all around. With the availability of plastic packing in numerous products, the rise of plastic waste
is significant. The plastic litter not only makes the surroundings look dirty,
it is often mistaken by herbivores as a food source. This results in death in
some instances due to blockage of the digestive tract. Plastic waste often finds
its way into water and results in water pollution. Satpuda Foundation organises
anti-plastic programs in which volunteers help in gathering plastic waste and
dispose of it properly. During the month of February, Niranjan organised an
anti-plastic drive (on February 18) in Khamba village.
On February 24, Kamlesh organised
a nature trail for students of Doodhgaon Middle School. During the nature
trail, Kamlesh spoke about the various birds found in the vicinity of the
village and their role in the ecosystem. Kamlesh also explained the utility of
various plant and insect species found in the forest. Niranjan organised a
similar trail on February 15 in Khamba village.
Grazing
in the forests by livestock is an issue that affects wild herbivores and has
the potential to lead to human-wildlife conflict. In order to address the
issue, Satpuda Foundation is motivating farmers to adopt stall feeding. High yield cattle with stall feeding practices and proper fodder management
techniques can help reduce grazing pressure on forests and supplement the income
of cattle owners.
During February, our team met various farmers to identify
those who could be motivated and demonstrated to them the benefits of stall
feeding.
Mr. Jagdish Gohte of Kundai village was identified as one of
the resource persons to train other farmers. He was identified by Kamlesh as a progressive
farmer cultivating Napier grass (a perennial tropical forage
crop) on his plot for stall feeding purposes. He will be assisting us
in the coming months in providing technical support and will be providing samples of
Napier grass to all interested farmers.
Excess use of chemical-based fertilisers
has led to dropping farm yields and has turned many farm lands barren. Satpuda Foundation
has been working to address this issue through the construction of compost pits. Composting recycles various organic
materials otherwise regarded as waste products and produces a soil conditioner
(compost). Compost is rich in nutrients. It is used, for example, in
kitchen gardens, horticulture, and organic farming, thus completing the
nutrient recycling process. Kamlesh organised
the construction of two compost pits at Chirrewani
and Kundai with the aid of volunteers from the village during February.
Environment Education
In the month of February, a total of ten school education
programs were held by Niranjan, Kamlesh and
Sumit in which students were given lectures on a wide range of topics such as pollution,
man-animal conflict, biodiversity conservation and other issues related to nature
conservation. A total of 262 students
were addressed through these programs.
School Education Programs
During February, we organised film shows in which 338
students from six schools participated. Documentaries related to various tiger
reserves of India, the Western Ghats and the bird diversity of India were shown to
students.
Satpuda Foundation
has been conducting an IT education program for students free of cost since 2013. Basic computer skills are taught to the students to make them feel
comfortable with technology and improve their IT skills. A computer awareness and hands-on practice session was held at Kohoka Middle
School on 9th February in which a total of 16 students were
involved.
Nature games
Nature games are a critical
part of our education program as they impart important conservation-related messages
through simple, interesting games. They are more interactive than traditional
lectures and are more effective in capturing the attention of young minds. During
the month of February, three such nature games were organised.
Employment Cell
Satpuda Foundation has been
assisting local young villagers in obtaining employment by connecting them to
potential recruiters. During the month of February, one youth from Gorakhpur was
placed at the Arnyaani Pench Resort as a waiter with our assistance.
One of the activities related to
employment at the foundation is supporting Self Help Groups (SHG) consisting of
women for starting and sustaining new ventures which can give them adequate
financial returns. A women’s SHG in Turia started a canteen in December, with
our support and we have been mentoring the members in sustaining and improving
their venture.
In February, we organised a training
program to improve the members’ cooking skills with the help of Mr. Naveen
Thapa, a local chef. The training program was oriented towards providing first-hand training in salad making, serving to guests and improving standards
of cooking.
Separately,
Kamlesh organised a preliminary meeting with SHG members of Kundai village on
27th February to discuss training of members and new business ideas
for implementation.
During the month of February,
Kamlesh selected 10 unemployed young villagers of buffer zone villages around Khamarpani
for a commercial driving training program at Ashok Leyland Institute. The
training of the young villagers will be funded by the Panchayat and Forest
Department. The list off the young villagers has been submitted to the Forest
Department.
Mobile Health Service (MHS)
During February, 157patients were treated through our free
medical camps in the Turiya cluster.
Research
A research project to understand the awareness level of
farmers in the buffer region was undertaken by us. A questionnaire was prepared
which included basic information regarding agriculture, knowledge about impact
of fertilisers and pesticides on environment as well as crop raiding and
significance of insects and birds in agriculture. The project is intended to
study the awareness level among farmers and to identify areas which could be
improved through training. The study was launched as a pilot project at Potiya
village.
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