Sustainable Development: Stories from those making it possible

A publication by FLEDGE, Chennai

From the Preface:
While a large amount of time and energy is spent on deciding the future of sustainability using the Rio+20 outcome document ‘The Future We Want’, limited space is available for local communities to tell their stories on how simple, on-the-ground initiatives are being pursued enabling them to secure their livelihoods. In the absence of our ability to listen to the experiences from the ground, informed policy making and setting the agendas related to SDGs would be weakened.

In the process of looking out for the case studies and experiences on how community based interventions could provide long-term solutions for sustainable development, we came across a number of inspirational stories that range from simple interventions to secure income for local people though value-addition to biodiversity to house-hold actions to secure food and nutrition.

In this publication, we have made an attempt to collate the experiences of a range of communities in using biological resources as basis for securing livelihoods and moving towards the path of local level development, supported by a number of spirited Non-Governmental Organizations in India. One important undercurrent to the compilation is that for development to happen one need to innovate but innovate according to the needs of the local people.

Contents

• Food and Environmental Security of Tribals and Small Farmers
• Ecological restoration and landscape management of degraded Sacred Groves
• BAIF’s Community-led initiative for Agribiodiversity Conservation in Maharashtra
• Marine turtle conservation and awareness through community participation
• Organic indigenous rice varieties and value added products as a conservation strategy and livelihoods enhancement
• Putting people first – sustainable practices in conservation
• Lake Protection Forum: A Bottom-up Approach for Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Heavily Used Vembanad Socio- Ecological System (Kerala)
• Conservation of Traditional Rice Varieties and scaling up for livelihood security in the Bastar region of Central India
• Transforming lives and landscapes: Water as a source Conservation and management of Fresh Water Biodiversity in the lake district of Maharashtra
• Rediscovering endangered Lesser Florican by involving Phase Pardhi, a traditional hunting community
• Trees in the forest fringe villages – that provide household resources, supports local biodiversity and buffers a Tiger Reserve
• Practice of Traditional Knowledge for Sustainable Livelihoods – Case study on tribes from Tamil Nadu and Kerala
• Biodiversity conservation through Cluster centric approach for Tribal Livelihood Enhancement
• Eco-development in a Biosphere Reserve – honey collection and indigenous livelihoods in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
• Agro bio diversity and sustainable market-based farmers’ cooperatives for livelihood security
• Livestock Conservation and Livelihoods in Surendranagar, Gujarat

Visit the FLEDGE (Forum for Law, Environment, Development and Governance) website to view/download the report