Renewable Energy from Chir Pine Forest and Community Engagement

2014 Renewable Energy from Chir Pine Forest and Community Engagement

Trainee’s Details: Name : Amit Kumar Programme : Ecology, Environment and Sustainable Development Institution : Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati Duration : 06/05/2014 to 05/07/2014 Organisation : AVANI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The report bears the invaluable contribution and inputs of several people without whom the project would have not been completed.

I am very grateful to Mr. Rajnish Jain, Mr. John Collery, Mr. Piyush Kumar Gupta, and Mr. Chanchal Singh from AVANI and people whom I interviewed for their advice and suggestions that enabled me to gain a lot of knowledge about AVANI’s philosophy and operations.

Mr. Ganesh Singh and Mr. Chandra Prakash, Sarpanch of Bhandari Van Panchayat and Rai Gadsyari Van Panchayat respectively, who shared a lot of experience working as a Sarpanch and discussed problems and maybe solutions in detail, which gave more insight about the project.

Also, I would like to thank entire team of AVANI for giving me a warm, friendly and vibrant working environment. I would like to thank especially Mr. Kedar Singh Bhoriyal for helping and guiding me throughout the internship by his excellence and valuable suggestions, while working in the villages. I am deeply indebted to all the people of the villages, where I visited during the internship for their warm welcome and cooperation along with their truthfulness and extended belief in me.

Finally, I would like to thank Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati for giving me such an opportunity and Dr. Pijush Kumar Dutta for his guidance during the entire two month of internship.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 2. OBJECTIVE 3. STUDY SITE 4. VAN PANCHAYAT 1. Structure and functioning of Van Panchayat and AVANI 2. Narrative report of meeting with Van Panchayat and Community 5. ESTIMATION OF BIOMASS OF PINE NEEDLES IN RITHA RITHOLI FOREST STRETCH 6. COMMUNITY PERCEPTION ON USE OF PINE NEEDLE 1. Perception among top collectors of pine needles during the year 2014 7. CONCLUSION 8. RECOMMENDATIONS References Annexure 1. Questionnaire for interviewing top collectors of pine needle in the year 2014

1. INTRODUCTION Avani is a voluntary organisation working in the kumaon hills of Uttarakhand, located in the middle ranges of the Central Himalaya region. The journey of the NGO started long back in the year 1997 and later registered formally in the year 1999, continuing the work initiated in 1997.

The genesis of AVANI came about in the context of the isolation and consequent problems of the far-flung villages situated in one of the highest mountain ranges of the world. The Nature compels the organisation to find out the local specific solutions of the problems. The accent has been focused on conservation rather than distribution, making people more self reliant, continuing to live with the beauty of mountains and celebrating social and cultural life with responsibilities and freedom.

The organisation has a very clear and strong vision for community development by creating conservation based livelihood opportunities, with the use of renewable energy and other appropriate technologies, which should bring positive qualitative change in rural life. For this, they are involved in developing livelihood programs based on technologies, renewable energy, traditional craft, and local resources. Apart from this, they also provide training and doing capacity building exercise to strengthen the lowest and marginalised section of the society who is in dire need of employment and skill enhancement so that people can support the needs of family.

In the way of realizing the dream, the organisation initiated work on developing appropriate and adequate technologies to meet the demands of energy and water requirements of the local villages, i.e. Basic needs for a human being, promoting crafts in the villages by developing handmade naturally dyed textiles, and farm based livelihood opportunities generation. Till now, the organisation contributed to the social and economic development of many villages with the projects on Solar Technology, Water Resource Management, Naturally Dyed Textiles and Paints, Avani Bio Energy based on Pine Needle Gassifier, Biogas, Healthcare, Education, MicroFinance and more.

Avani Bio Energy is working to generate electricity from dry pine needles collected from forest floor every season. The 120 KW capacity plant is working in Chachret village, where people are collecting pine needles for last two years along with people from other villages. A 120 KW power plant needs 1000 to 1200 tonnes of pine needles to run throughout a year and the collection season is from April to July, every year. The organisation is working on making the technology more efficient as well as collecting pine needles from individual as well as

approaching institutions like Van Panchayat for assistance in collective effort to save the forests and creating livelihood opportunities altogether.

2. OBJECTIVE 1) To study the functioning of Van Panchayat and explore pine needle collection as their livelihood opportunity.

2) To estimate the biomass of pine needles in Ritha Ritholi forest stretch.

3) To study the community perception about pine needle collection and ways to improve it.

3. STUDY SITE

Figure 1: Avani, Chachret Power Plant and nearby sites for pine needle collection

The work was done in many different villages. For estimation of biomass of pine needles, Ritha Ritholi forest stretch was selected as it was undisturbed from forest fire and any kind of human intervention. Bhandari van panchayat and Rai Gadsyari van panchayat were two van panchayat where exploration occurs for pine needle collection as their livelihood generation opportunity.

These two van panchayat are very near to Chachret power plant based on pine needle gassifier and as well as protecting forest efficiently. Many individuals, pine needle collectors were interviewed for perception about the initiative and their work. These villagers were from Chachret, Morari, Tunera, Bhatizar, Sukna villages. First three villages were located very near to Chachret power plant, while Sukna is one of the field centres of Earthcraft (Textile initiative by AVANI) for last many years.

The villages were having very diverse problems changing with their villages, among those, the water scarcity, push migration for income generation, forest fire, and absence of primary healthcare services. There is a hospital but also that too far from these villages and also do not have much services to offer. During emergency, there is no hospital within 100 km range. Some of the problems were also observed like no mapping of nearby area in forest fire mapping published in May and June, 2014, where many hills were completely engulfed by forest fire. The hot dry summer also brings acute water shortage problem for which villagers have to go almost 1 to 3 km down to fetch water for their daily use. Many villagers have to go to city for earning so that they can sustain their families expenses as there are very less livelihood opportunities in the villages for everyone.

4. VAN PANCHAYAT In Uttaranchal, Van Panchayats were born out of conflicts and compromises that followed the settlements and reservations of forests in the hills at turn of the last century. Van Panchayat Act is a hybrid of state ownership and community responsibility. Kumaon Panchayat forest rules enacted under the section 28(2) of the Indian Forest Act 1927 provides broad guidelines for the supervision and management of forests under the control of Van Panchayats. The Van Panchayat Rules were released in the year 1931 for the first time and later revised in the year 1976, 2001 and lastly in 2005 and a set of rules, named as Panchayati Van Niyamavali 2005 was released, which is being followed by the state government of Uttarakhand till now.

4.1.

Structure and functioning of Van Panchayat and AVANI

Figure 2: Contingent Model for engaging with Van Panchayats

The Major components of Van Panchayat (According to Uttaranchal Panchayati Van Niyamavali, 2005) are as follows: Objective: “To protect and develop forests and distribute their produce among stakeholders in an equitable manner�

Hierarchy: •

District Commissioner

•

District Magistrate (DM)

•

Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM)

•

Forest Conservator

•

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO)

•

Forest Range Officer

•

Patwari (Village Accountant)

•

Sarpanch

•

Van Panchayat o Management Committee

•

Regional Coordinator

•

District Coordinator

Management: •

DFO – Prepare Composite Management Plan for all Panchayati forests under his control for a period of five years which shall be approved by the conservator of forest of concerned region (Rules 11). Forest Conservator has to approve with or without recommendations for amendments within 60 days.

•

Conservator of Forest – Composite Management Plan

•

Van Panchayat – Prepare Micro Plan in the direction of Ranger or Deputy Ranger of forests or forest guard based on the guiding principles given in the composite management plan and needs and ecological conditions of the concerned Van Panchayat, which has to be passed by the general meeting of all the right holders before being finally approved by the Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) of the concerned region (Rules 11 and 12).

•

Van Panchayat – Prepare an Annual Implementation Plan for the management and development of Panchayat Forests with the help of Forest Ranger or Forest Guard, under the provisions of sanctioned microplan (Rule 13).

•

Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) – Approval of Micro Plan

•

Forest Range Officer – Direction for Micro Plan

•

Deputy Forest Range Officer – Direction for Micro Plan

•

Forest Guard – Direction for Micro Plan

Planning (Rules 11, 12, 13): •

The DFO shall prepare a Composite Management Plan for all the Panchayati Forests under his control for a period of five years and submit it to the Conservator of Forests for the approval (Rule 11).

•

It shall be obligatory on the part of VP to prepare a microplan for the management and protection of Panchayati Forests for a period of five years with the assistance of the Assistant DFO. The microplan will be placed before the general meeting of all the right holders for its approval before it is finally sanctioned by the DFO (Rule 12).

•

VP will prepare an Annual Implementation Plan for the management and development of Panchayat Forests with the help of Forest Guard, on the basis of the sanctioned microplan, and will get it approved by assistant conservator of forest by 01st September (Rule 13).

Duties (Rule 19): •

To prepare five year Micro Plan and one year Annual Implementation Plan and produce it to DFO or Assistant DFO for approval.

•

To develop and protect forests by preventing indiscriminate felling of trees and to fell only those which are marked for by the forest department and are useful from the point of view of silviculture.

•

To ensure that there is no encroachment on Van Panchayati land and that no rules are being violated that are being enacted under Kumaon and Sodic Land Act of 1948 and that no land should be encroached without prior permission for agricultural practices.

•

To construct and fix boundary pillars and to maintain them.

•

To carry out the directives of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate in developing and protecting forests.

•

To distribute its produce amongst right holders in an equitable manner.

•

20% of the area of the forest must be closed for grazing every year.

•

Protection of catchment areas and areas of water resources are well wooded

•

Ensure protection of wildlife

•

Prevent illegal activities in the forest

Powers (Rule 20): The Punitive Powers: •

They can levy fines up to Rs. 50 with the prior approval of the Deputy Commissioner (later revised up to Rs. 500)

•

They can seize intruding cattle and impound them under the cattle trespass act of 1871.

•

They can forfeit the weapons of the offender.

The Administrative and Financial Powers: •

They can sell grass, fallen twigs and store slates to local people.

•

They can auction trees up to the value of Rs. 5000 with the approval of the District Magistrate and Divisional Forest Officer. Auction above Rs. 5000/- is done by the Forest Department.

•

The income realised from resin, timber and fees are distributed as follows (Rule 30(2)). o 30% to Gram Panchayat for carrying out developmental activity of public importance o 40% to Management Committee (VP) for Village forest development and protection o 30% to Management Committee (VP) for carrying out plan of local importance and protection

•

Management committee can sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SHG, Forest User Group for managing the development and utility of forest with approval from General Body.

Major problems and challenges: •

The lack of effective and easily accessible dispute resolution mechanisms.

•

Inter-village inequality in availability if forest areas.

•

Erosion of panchayat authority and limited control over forest based livelihoods and income.

•

The rapid formation of Van Panchayats, rather than expanding space for local forest management.

•

One of the women Sarpanch shared her experience that she has to spend a lot of time and money to convey the plan for approval from higher authority and it is really a very tiring work as they have to travel a very long distance every time to discuss or explain.

4.2.

Narrative report of meeting with Van Panchayat and Community

Assigned work: Discuss the idea of pine needle collection during summer season, its economic and environmental benefits with Van Panchayat and Community.

Bhandari Village Van Panchayat: Sarpanch: Mr. Ganesh Singh (Since last 25 years) Introduction: The village has a very lush green dense oak forest and on the other side it also has dry, hot open pine forest. The agricultural land is available there nearby the oak forest and majority of population resides near the agricultural fields clustered at a place. The number of household is about 120 to 130 and the main occupation is agriculture and govt. services (defence services).

They have a very sacred way of conserving the oak forest as they offered entire forest and their produce to the god (Sam Devta) whom they worship and this is a belief amongst the villagers that they will be cursed if they took anything from that forest for their vested interest. It helped them in keeping forest in its natural setting or undisturbed. The pine forest is very hot during summer due to its natural behaviour and sheds a lot of pine needles which becomes the main reasons for spreading of forest fire throughout the forest.

Economic activities: Agriculture and livestock, Government services, wage labour Migration status: Both push and pull migration for educational and economic activities.

Micro Plan: Not available; very less dependent on government intervention.

Van Panchayat’s work: 1) Making or maintenance of boundary pillars which determines the territorial access of that panchayat;

2) Enclosing the way to forest before rainy season to prevent people from entering forest for the fodder mistakenly; 3) Cutting grass in a group after the monsoon season is over for livestock; 4) Equitable distribution of fodder among the villagers; 5) Checkdams to prevent soil erosion if necessary; 6) Appointing a guard for saving forest from illegal wood logging or other banned activities.

People’s participation: The participation level is active and everybody was vocal for their needs and problems. The faith and belief in leadership is good in the community and it can be acknowledged by the fact that when the leader acknowledged the fact that Raisin extraction will be very disastrous for the forest and it will cause a tree to fell down within 2-3 or 4 years, he opposed the demand from villagers for this activity to be allowed in their forest and explained about the impact and villagers never demanded for that again even after it is very much economic.

Feedback from the Sarpanch and Community people about the idea of pine needle collection as a livelihood opportunity for economic as well as environmental cause: Pine Needle collection is not a new thing for them as they do it for the agricultural activity like clearing the land by putting fire before the monsoon season arrives and as their livestock’s bed during winter season but the collection as an economic activity is a new thing for them and they are unaware from the idea of protecting forest by clearing the pine needles from the forest before they catch fire. They are eager to protect their forest from fire but other responsibilities do not leave any time to them to think about this. Pine needle collection as an economic activity gives them a choice where they can earn as well as protect their forest. It proved to be successful as per the first meeting as they were very interested and asked a lot of questions regarding how to do it?; what is the economic benefits as well as environmental and other social benefits?; they also told us about other problems in the pine forest like sometimes their cattle slipped down due to slippery nature of dry pine needles and very steep slope in their area which shows their large interest and eagerness for a solution and it makes us to believe of an active participation from them if the momentum will be maintained before the activity started next year.

The women of the village shows more interest in the matter than the men folks. They are believed to be hard worker in the community and more inclined towards environmental cause and forests. All of them asked us for more number of interactive sessions throughout the year

for a better coordination between the village and Avani organisation so that they can involve themselves more in these kinds of activity for greater interest of community and forests.

Rai Gadshyari Village Van Panchayat: Sarpanch: Mr. Chandra Prakash (Since 1995, 9 member panchayat) Introduction: The village has largely open pine forest and some patches of land with other trees. The pine forest is very hot during summer due to its natural behaviour and sheds a lot of pine needles which becomes the main reasons for spreading of forest fire throughout the forest. There are almost 100 to 110 households. The main occupation is agriculture and livestock (milk selling) although many villagers migrated to cities as a migrant labour in bakery, small industries near Haldwani, Rudrapur, Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat etc. There are four women self help groups working together to fulfil their economic needs. The villagers has a satisfactory attachment with forests but not much that’s why, the forest did not seems to be in a very good condition whereas some villagers are very much concerned about their forests and thus they maintained greenery surrounding their houses.

Economic activities: Agriculture and livestock, wage labour, Government services.

Migration status: Both push and pull migration for educational and economic activities.

Micro Plan: Not available at that time but it is there with other official working with the Van Panchayat externally.

Van Panchayat’s work: 1) Making or maintenance of boundary pillars which determines the territorial access of that panchayat; 2) Enclosing the way to forest before rainy season to prevent people from entering forest for the fodder mistakenly; 3) Cutting grass in a group after the monsoon season is over for livestock; 4) Equitable distribution of fodder among the villagers; 5) Plantations to increase the forest cover and also for economic purposes sometimes; 6) Checkdams to prevent soil erosion if necessary; 7) Appointing a guard for saving forest from illegal wood logging or other banned activities;

People’s participation: The participation level is active but only limited to women, as most of the men did not take interest in the idea of pine needle collection and its benefits. I think it will take some more time to break the ice amongst men folks to think more on this idea and ponder them to ask questions as they were very much resistant to ask questions or answer anything. The faith and belief in leadership is only satisfactory in the community and it can be acknowledged by the fact that when the leader called everyone for making boundary, they came very late even after they signed and assured to come at specified time. Women asked a lot of questions about how to start the activity? and when? And this signifies their interest and willingness to do.

Feedback from the Sarpanch and Community people about the idea of pine needle collection as a livelihood opportunity for economic as well as environmental cause: Pine Needle collection is not a new thing for them as they do it for the agricultural activity like clearing the land by putting fire before the monsoon season arrives and as their livestock’s bed during winter season but the collection as an economic activity is a new thing for them and they are unaware from the idea of protecting forest by clearing the pine needles from the forest before they catch fire. Pine needle collection as an economic activity can give them a choice where they can earn as well as protect their forest. It proved to be satisfactory as most of women folks were very interested and asked questions regarding how to do it? What are the economic benefits as well as environmental and other social benefits? They also told us about the high vulnerability of their forest to forest fire. They were seems very interested but they are also very sceptical due to the fact of forest fire in their forest area. Although it can be solved through the perspective of pine needle collection as pine needles are the main reason for spreading of fire throughout the forest. Pine needle collection will ultimately solve this problem but we need to start at the right time so that the forest can be well protected from the beginning.

The women of the village only show interest in the idea of pine needle collection. They are believed to be hard worker in the community and more inclined towards environmental cause and forests. Most of them asked us for more number of interactive sessions before the collection starts so that they can involve themselves more in a right way to be benefited more economically.

5. ESTIMATION OF BIOMASS OF PINE NEEDLES IN RITHA RITHOLI FOREST STRETCH INTRODUCTION The Himalayan forest vegetation ranges from tropical dry deciduous forests in the foothills to alpine meadows above timberline (Kumar and Thakur, 2008). It is a home of biodiversity and major river stream of India. It contributes to a larger share of forest cover of India with various types of forest. Subtropical pine forest is one of the classifications of forest which is dominated

by Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) forest showing presence in 11 states of India, i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Harayana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Uttarakhand. 2.63% of forest cover in India has a spread of subtropical pine forest and distributed in these states based on the elevation (India State of Forest Report, 2011).

Subtropical Pine Forest in India Assam Arunachal Pradesh 0.44% 2.26%

Harayana 0.03% Himachal Pradesh 12.87%

Jammu and Kashmir 15.86% Uttarakhand 52.36%

Manipur 7.50% Meghalaya 4.11%

Punjab 0.68%

Mizoram 0.52% Nagaland 3.38%

Figure 3: India State of Forest Report 2011

Subtropical Pine Forest in India (All Area in '000 ha) Arunachal Pradesh Assam 43.29 8.34

Harayana 0.54

Himachal Pradesh 246.07

Jammu and Kashmir 303.25 Uttarakhand 1,001.18

Manipur 143.40

Meghalaya 78.59

Punjab 13.04

Mizoram 9.88 Nagaland 64.64

Figure 4: India State of Forest Report 2011 Uttarakhand alone shares more than half of the total subtropical pine forest area. Over 10 lakhs ha of forest is under this classification with dominant spread of Chir Pine forest. The pine needles are highly flammable and causing forest fire to a large area of forests every year (Forest fire info, 2014), leading to biodiversity loss and carbon dioxide emissions. This gave the inspiration to the founder of Avani Bio Energy pvt. Ltd to convert the energy potential trapped in dry fallen pine needles into electricity. The organisation is working in the Kumaon Hills of Uttarakhand in different regions to involve the community to save their forests, biodiversity along with generation of electricity.

The forest is having a large distribution of Chir Pine tree (Pinus roxburghii Sarg.) over the area.

The dominance of pine trees is very much present there due to long history of forest fire, which resulted in survival of those species only, which are resistant to fire and rest of the species got vanished slowly. Although the seeds of those species remain in the soil and it can regenerate if the forest will be protected from the forest fire and pine needle cover be cleared periodically from the forest floor.

Avani Bio Energy is working on electricity generation from dry pine needles and thus it requires collection of pine needles from forest floor, the innovation is motivated from the idea of

stopping the forest fire and promoting biodiversity along with livelihood generation for the community living in that area or nearby the forest.

The Pine Needle Gassifier plant requires almost 1200 tonnes of pine needles as a feedstock to run a power plant of 120 KW electricity generation capacities throughout the year. The plant is based on the idea of collecting fallen dry pine needles from the forest floor which makes sure the protection of forests from fire and increase in biodiversity. For meeting the requirement of supply of pine needles, it is necessary to estimate the available biomass of pine needles on the forest floor in nearby forest. The biomass estimation will be based on different parameters and thus requires a proper study of structure of different Chir pine forest.

STUDY SITE The study site is located near the Ritha – Ritholi village. The forest has a large natural distribution of Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii Sarg.) forest all around the study site. The study was distributed with longitudinal and latitudinal range centred at 29o45’18.29” N and 80o05’24.98” E at an elevation of 1260 metres. The forest is varying from moderately dense to open, depending on canopy density covering the forest.

OBJECTIVE 1) To estimate biomass of dried pine needles fallen on forest floor per hectare in Ritha forest stretch.

2) To determine the structure of Ritha Ritholi forest stretch and biomass estimation dependency on it.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS For the estimation of biomass of dry pine needles on the forest floor, quadrate method was used.

In quadrate method, 10*10 sq. metre of area is laid down on the forest floor to record data. The data were recorded for all the quadrates on different parameters like tree density, status of pine trees, wood logging, girth analysis, and weight of pine needles. The methods are used to find out the weight percentage of biomass under different categories, analysis of CBH and CGH, Girth analysis separately under different category to find out what number of tree falls in which class of tree in a category and then compare the availability of different tree at different maturity level in a category. Girth analysis is a tool to record and analyse CBH of trees to determine structure

and maturity of forest. In United States, it is measured at breast height, or at 4.5 ft above ground level (Blozan, Will. 2004, 2008).

On the basis of observation during the reki in the forest, the quadrates are laid down on the basis of three categories: Category 1: Firstly, the area, having bigger trees; Category 2: Secondly, the area, having much younger trees than considered in first category; Category 3: Thirdly, the area, having no tree or very less number of trees.

Formulae used: W1 + W2 + W3 Arithmetic Mean = 3 Total number of Chir pine tree occurred in all quadrates Density (/ha) =

X 100 Total number of quadrates

C = 2Ď€r, [Where C is Circumference and, r is radius]

W1, W2, W3 stands for weight of biomass in category 1, 2 and 3.

RESULT AND DISSCUSIONS The study is done on total eight quadrates, in which three of them were selected under first Category; two of them were under second Category; and rest of three were under third Category discussed in the research design and methods. The results are very much dependent on structure of forest.

Analysis of Pine Needles collected in different quadrates under different Category: On the basis of different Category mentioned above, the weight percentage of total weight calculated from all the quadrates falling under different category are shown in Fig. 1.

Average Weight % of Pine Needles

28% 39%

Category 1 Category 2

33%

Category 3

Figure 5: The Weight percentage of total weight measured from all quadrates falling under different criteria.

In first category, the trees were bigger than that of the quadrates belongs to second category, and thus results in more pine needles. In second category, the weight came in between the first and third category. In third category, the weight of pine needles resulted is due to the surrounding trees more than the tree present in that area as there was very less number of tree or none was present. The weight percentage, i.e. 39%, 33%, and 28% is 82.67 kg, 70.50 kg, and 58.67 kg for category 1, 2, and 3, respectively, which is the average weight calculated for different quadrates studied under different category. The results can be generalised for a hectare of forest by using arithmetic mean as the forest can be divided in above mentioned three categories. After

calculation, the estimation of biomass of pine needles came out 70.614 kg per quadrate area, i.e.

100 sq. metres, which will be 7.06 tonnes per ha of forest area.

Tree density under different category:

Tree Density per hectare 1200

Av. Number of trees per hectare 1000

Number of Tree

800

600

1050 867 400

683

200

133 0

Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Overall

Figure 6: Tree density under different categories and overall tree density.

According to the study, it is evident that the biomass availability is largely dependent on the structure of forest in that area. As you can see that although the tree density is more in category 2 but the weight of collected pine needles is more in category 1, thus it is very important to look at the structure of forest, which will include tree density, maturity of trees present there to estimate the pine needles available in that forest.

The tree logging is not much significant in the studied forest, but felling of tree either naturally or illegal wood logging by human being cannot be ruled out, as it can be the reason behind less tree density in category 1 than in category 2. Some of the villagers responded that big pine tree can be used as a source of wood for making houses, furniture and other purposes. So, it may be the reason behind less tree density in category 1. Although, the scale of tree logging found, was very less or insignificant.

Girth Analysis: The girth analysis focused on the determining circumference at breast height or at 4.5 ft above the ground level (Blozan, Will. 2004, 2008). The data were collected for each and every tree present in the quadrats and then, it was analysed that what percentage of tree under different category belongs to which class of CBH. It was then observed that under category 1, the trees having more CBH are having more occurrence than the trees under category 2. This is why; the weight percentage of biomass under category 1 is more than all the others even when the tree density is more in category 2. The obvious reason behind this can be understood by the below graph stating classification of tree under different CBH class in different category.

Girth Analysis Percentage of tree under different class of CBH in a category

45.00%

40.00%

Category 1 35.00%

Category 2 30.00%

Category 3 25.00%

20.00%

15.00%

10.00%

5.00%

0.00% 51 - 60

61 - 70

71 - 80

81- 90

91 - 100

101 - 110

111 - 120

121 - 130

131 - 140

141 - 150

Circumference at Breast Height (in Cms.) Figure 7: Girth Analysis

Analysis in terms of CBH and CGH of pine tree under category 1 and 2: The average CBH (i.e. Circumference of a tree stem at breast height) and CGH (i.e.

Circumference of a tree stem at ground height) is 92.58 cm and 116.04 cm for quadrates studied under category 1 and, 81.86 cm and 101.62 cm for quadrates studied under category 2.

The collection of pine needles is more in the quadrates falling under category 1 than that from the quadrates falling under category 2. It can be easily seen collectively due to availability of tree

having higher CBH and CGH in category and thus despite having less tree density, the biomass available is more in category 1.

Av. CBH and Av. CGH of tree 140.00

120.00

116.04

Measurements (in cm.)

100.00

101.62 92.58

80.00

81.86

60.00

40.00

Category 1 Category 2 20.00

0.00

Av. CBH

Av. CGH

Average CBH and CGH of tree in all quadrats Figure 8: Average CBH and CGH of tree in all Quadrates under criteria 1 and 2.

CONCLUSION The forest has a large Chir Pine tree distribution only, over the forest varying from open to moderately dense forest classification. The forest is having large patches under different structure based on girth analysis, tree density and availability of tree. It was found that there are patches which have very less or no tree. There were patches in which the trees were having less CBH but almost homogenous distribution over patches and there were patches where trees having more CBH were present with a mixture of other trees having intermediate and low CBH. This leads to different categorisation of patches on the basis of which quadrats were laid down and the quantity of biomass calculated after taking an average of biomass obtained from each category.

The estimation of biomass of fallen dry pine needles comes 7.06 tonnes per hectare. The result is dependent on structure of forest and human dependent factor like wood logging in the forest, which is not much evident now but it will have an impact if occurs. The availability of large, mature tree in the forest makes more biomass collection as evident from the girth analysis. The circumference of tree stem at breast height in this forest comes in a range of 50 cm to 150 cm with an overall average of 87.22 cm and the circumference at ground height comes in a range

from 50 cm to 180 cm with an overall average of 108.83 cm. The forest has suffered from long history of forest fire and it was happen this year also i.e. year 2014. If the forest will be well protected from forest fire, then on an average at least 7 tonnes per hectare of biomass of pine needles can be collected from the forest floor every year with an increase in quantity due to natural change in structure of forest in terms of density, maturity, and regeneration.

6. COMMUNITY PERCEPTION ON USE OF PINE NEEDLE The idea of electricity generation from pine needles born out to protect forest from fire and creating livelihood opportunities along with meeting energy demands sufficient a village needs.

The initiative will have other likely impacts also like biodiversity restoration, increase in underground water table recharge, and decrease in soil erosion. The community is very much hoping on AVANI and the idea of electricity generation from pine needles for stopping forest fire and livelihood generation.

6.1.

Perception among top collectors of pine needles during the year 2014

In total 5 top pine needle collectors from Tunera and Morari villages were interviewed for the study. In which one woman pine needle collector was assisted by her husband while collecting pine needles. The study was done on one man, three women and two girls. It was tried to get the answers of following questions; 1) What they think about pine needle collection and about the whole idea of electricity generation from pine needles?

2) What is the change in their life now?

3) How they want to improve it further or how can Avani help them to improve?

Most of the respondents think that it is good for stopping forest fire and at the same time generating income source for villagers. The interest is increasing towards forest among villagers which was declining as there were very less opportunities for income generation linked with forests, thus even they wanted to protect their forests they were not able to do anything as they were unable to find time due to their family responsibility. At the same time, one of the women shared her experience regarding social stigma barring upper caste people to join even though they wanted to do so, as taking her case, she collected pine needles during this season but was hesitating to talk more about her experience and how she find it is helping environment and people, in front of her son, who is working in Delhi in a garment shop as a salesman, and other community members. The respondents believe that the idea will regenerate the biodiversity in their forest and will make it more green and dense.

The people are not feeling much change in their lifestyle but they are very optimistic as they think that if they do start collection in the beginning of season and in a more structured manner then they can earn more and can fulfil the needs of family like healthcare services, more

emphasis on education and other basic needs. This year also in the middle of season of pine needle collection, fire broke out in the forest which denies their opportunities of more income generation as pine needle collection occur only for three months during summer season and at the same time these forests are highly vulnerable to forest fire. There were small achievements for different respondents as they shared about fulfilment of their needs through the money they earn by pine needle collection. One of the most unique responses was like as she wanted to buy one fan, so she collected pine needles. Two of the respondents working together were very happy to earn sufficient amount for themselves so that they can invest more in their agriculture.

One family was also satisfied as they think that they can save some money for the crisis time in future.

Out of five respondents, three of them are asking about any help regarding carrying pine needles heap from distant areas to the chachret power plant and also making the collection process easier by suitable intervention. Whereas one of the respondents was very much disheartened by forest fire and was asking for immediate intervention through proper planning. He shared one of the experiences and talked about less unity and interest in the villages towards forest, as one evening he was fighting alone with the forest fire to stop that to extend further to nearby forest of his villages but at last he had to come back after reckless fight for more than 5-6 hours. He was suggesting of appointing one person from each village so that whenever fire broke out in one village, he will communicate immediately with other representative from other village and will gather villagers and put out the fire at the originating place.

7. CONCLUSION The pine needle collection for the generation of electricity and charcoal as a by product can be success for solving the energy crisis in these villages apart from ecological benefits, which is the core idea of this project. There are a lot of pine needles in the forest which is approximately 7 tonnes per hectare in an young forest like Ritha Ritholi forest area and the community support for collection of pine needles can be crucial for the project, whereas the presence of community conservation and management group like Van panchayats can be also involved to solve environmental problems as well as promoting rural livelihoods for villagers.

Van panchayats are known for their struggle and fights against the system for their forest rights and ownership issues. They can become the link to involve more and more people to collect pine needles as they also promote conservation and management of forest resources for the benefits of villagers and meeting with Sarpanch and other village members of Bhandari village and Rai Gadshyari village shows new way of connecting with communities which can speed up the collection process with mass involvement.

The community involved with organisation in pine needle collection are satisfied with the present system but also thinks of better connectivity and support for the process. During interviewing them, they came across with different ideas like, setting up of different collection points mobile or stationary to reach far in the forests so that large patch of forest will not be excluded, employ one representative from each village so that they can spread the information in all the surrounding villages at the time of forest fire, advanced tools for collection and bags for taking pine to the storage points. The community involvement needs certain things to consider after the support from them, this will be the needs of the community which lies in the purview of project implementation, their rights, expectation from the organisation for better implementation for pine needle collection, their views for stopping forest fire.

8. RECOMMENDATIONS The community is a major stakeholder of this project in terms of collection of pine needles and benefit from the project and thus a lot of things depend on community like acceptance, sustenance and, participation. Poverty, unemployment, lack of health facilities and education are some basic problems of the villagers and project are providing employment and energy apart from forest resources saved from forest fire. Thus, community feelings need to be taken care of while involving with them as they are known to be very sensitive. Now, above 90% of pine needle collectors are women and thus the representation from the organisation must be up to the level so that they can spread more positive vibes rather than creating problems. The rights and needs to be taken care of within the prospects of the projects as it highly depends the forest and community and as well as for the community.

References: Bishnoi, Aditi, 2013: Forest Connections; The Hindu newspaper; dated October 27, 2013; available at http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/forestconnections/article5277005.ece Blozan, Will. 2004, 2008. The Tree Measuring Guidelines of the Eastern Native Tree Society. http://www.nativetreesociety.org/measure/Tree_Measuring_Guidelines-revised1.pdf Accessed June 2014.

Forest

Fire

Info,

(2014).

Maps.

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Forest

Department,

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http://forest.uk.gov.in/contents/listing/6/75 Accessed June, 2014.

Forest Survey of India, (2011). India State of Forest Report 2011. Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, Dehra Dun. Kumar, Ranjeet and Thakur, Vidya, (2008). Effect of forest fire on trees, shrubs and regeneration behaviour in chir pine forest in northern aspects under Solan forst division, Himachal Pradesh. Indian Journal of Forestry, 2008.

Mukherjee, Pampa, 2003: Community Forest Management in India: The Van Panchayats of Uttranchal; XII World Forestry Congress, 2003, Quebec city, Canada.

Negi, B.S., Chauhan, D.S., and Todaria, N.P., 2012: Administrative and Policy Bottlenecks in Effective Management of Van Panchayats in Uttarakhand, India, Law Environment and Development Journal (LEAD); Volume 8/1; p.141, available at http://www.leadjournal.org/content/12141.pdf Uttranchal Panchayati Van Niyamavali 2005, Forest Department, Uttaranchal

Annexure: 1 Questionnaire 1) Tell me about yourself and your family.

2) How are you associated with Avani or Avani Bio Energy or Pine Needle collection?

3) How was your life before? What is your life like now?

4) What are your views about the works of Avani or Pine Needle collection?

5) What is your expenditure? a.

Daily or monthly

b.

Different expenses like education, food, health and others

6) Can you describe the forest near your village? What is it like to work there?

7) What do you use the forest for? What do you use that land for?

8) Did you work before colleting pine needles? Are you still doing that job?

9) If yes, how do you manage to do both?

10) Why did you start collecting pine needle collection?

11) What were your expectations with the pine needle collection in the beginning?

12) Did you meet your expectations?

13) If not, what might be the reasons?

14) [Did you come late for pine needle collection?] What were the reasons for that?

15) What do you think about pine needle collection? Would you suggest it to your relatives

or someone else?

16) Is there any question for me?