Overview
The Improving Rural Livelihoods A/R Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project activity has mobilized resource-poor farmers to raise tree plantations on farmlands. It proposed to link resource poor farmers and end users of wood products in order to optimize the land use and to facilitate the co-ordination of wood producers, agronomists, financial institutions and non-governmental organizations to improve the livelihood opportunities of rural households. The project activity has been implemented on the degraded farmlands or lands used for rainfed subsistence agriculture.
The project has been implemented in the two states of India: Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. The project area included small landholders spread over a total of six districts: Rayagada, Koraput and Kalahandi districts in Orissa and the districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, and Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh. These districts have a predominance of indigenous population, notified as Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes in India, with the majority of them being poor.
The participation of small and marginal farmers representing indigenous communities and their organization as part of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) A/R made this project unique in contributing to their land use choice, improvement of livelihood opportunities and in promoting their capacity to organize and implement climate change mitigation initiatives.
Benefits
The project has contributed to sustainable development in the following ways:
- Development of institutional mechanisms for implementing A/R Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project activities;
- Promotion of local financing arrangements for restoration of degraded lands by resource-poor farmers to meet the cost of plantation and maintenance;
- Identification of resource-poor farmers and to improve their awareness to tree growing;
- Improvement in productivity of degraded lands under the project activity through a participatory approach involving local farmers, JK Paper Ltd, and VEDA Climate Change Solutions Limited (VCCSL);
- Development, testing and dissemination of best practices in plantation and agro-forestry to minimize risks (fire, pests, insects and disease) and maximize environmental and social benefits;
- Provision of seedlings raised from clonal technology to the farmers to raise plantations;
- Promotion of farmer-industry partnerships with buy-back arrangements to purchase wood;
- Generation of additional income from carbon credits to the farmers;
- Development and strengthening of the capacity of various stakeholders: resource-poor farmers, governmental and non-governmental organizations through training and technical assistance to take advantage of the international mechanisms;
- Conservation of biodiversity through reduced dependence on natural forests by producing raw material for housing, construction and industry on private lands through plantation forestry;
- Building partnerships with national and international research organizations and promoting awareness and adoption of appropriate agro-forestry models among the farmers.