Balipara Foundation Advisory Council Report

BALIPARA FOUNDATION ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING 4TH NOVEMBER 2018 EASTERN HIMALAYAN BOTANIC ARK IN RESIDENCE AT WILD MAHSEER

NAMES OF PARTICIPANTS: Anindita Phookan

Ranjit Barthakur

Sunayana Sarkar

Prabir Banerjea

Md. Maksudur Rahman

Saurav Malhotra

Yoji Natori

Robin Eastment

Dasho Paljor Dorji

Rhea Hussain

Mark Davies

Darshana Borah

Diana Owen

Gautam Baruah

Kamal Bawa

Sangita Deka

Ann Nowak

Mallika Basumatari

Dietrich Schmidt Vogt

Anup Mehra

Lisa Mills

Hardev Singh

Rolf Von Buren

Eliza Boro

Anil Kumar

Reza Masoom

Shankar Venkateswaran

Dhruba Das

Jackie Leitch

Lesley Sultan

Alistair Morris

Richard Leitch

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AGENDA: The agenda and purpose of the Advisory Council Meeting has been to collectively discuss the most contentious issues that may have been addressed at the Eastern Himalayan NaturenomicsTM Forum and that could possibly bring about partnerships or collaborations regarding the vision of Balipara Foundation by 2050.

POINTS DISCUSSED:

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As the President and Founder of Balipara Tract and Frontier Foundation, Mr. Ranjit Barthakur began with the session, the very first question that was addressed related to the current position of the Foundation and “where are we headed?” As the introductory note flowed, Mr. Barthakur realized that there was a need of streamlining the purpose and way forward of the Foundation. Hence, what are the ways in which we could address this confusion, why should we address it and how do we manage the process of implementation?

The 2050 PROJECTION will therefore largely lie in the idea of balancing and the initiation of natural asset management through habitat restoration (whether it be the rivers, food, agriculture). We are to re-imagine the Balipara County which transcends from Pakke to Bhutan.

The re-imagining of Balipara County shall bring about a BALANCE in our natural habitat which will eventually lead to a positive change in the migratory patterns of the Eastern Himalayas thus allowing the framework of RURAL FUTURES to achieve its goal by using the concept of “restorative curation”.

The Advisory Council Meeting revolved around ‘creating opportunities’ that would lead to a nature bank for the people of the communities. But the type of opportunities must be decided upon keeping in mind the needs of the people and in a sustainable manner. It is important and imperative that the Green Belt which is developing should stretch from Balipara County to Udalguri – which are the two major habitat restoration sites under Balipara Foundation.

But the concern here should be broadened in terms of being able to replicate the framework across other regions of the Eastern Himalayas as well. This in turn will need support. Thus, the Council has understood the need to identify different types of support related to the projects keeping in mind VISION 2050.

To further the purpose of creating a sustainable habitat along with generating livelihoods of the people, the current model that has been developed on agro-forestry needs a varied description which is inclusive in nature. According to Robin Eastment, we must be able to move away from the “nostalgic form of conservation” to create a narrative which will not only engage the civil society, the corporates, the communities but also the Government.

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The role of the Government: According to Mr. Barthakur, there must be ample room for the Government to be involved as well, thus creating a space for open dialogue. The state has always played an omnipresent role in implementing and as facilitators, Balipara Foundation would like to bridge the gap between the commons and the state.

THINKING AT THE LANDSCAPE LEVEL BALIPARA FOUNDATION AS FACILITATORS

WOKRING ON A SMALLER SCALE

INVOLEVEMENT OF GOVERNMENT

DEVELOPMENT OF SCENARIOS ANALYSIS OF PAST TRENDS

DIAGRAM: WORKING STRUCTURE PROPOSED BY DR. KAMAL BAWA •

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It is important to draft the assumptions and amalgamate it with onsite data to create maps.

Furthermore, creating a strong GIS unit for the Foundation. This process must be competed within the next 30 days of the Council meeting to be able to create partnerships at the soonest.

The Council moved onto other pertinent matters like that of incorporating social business, anthropology and geology in landscape planning. As Mr Richard Leitch mentioned at the meeting, the incorporation of various dimensions of research and field work is inevitable to create checks and balances.

Mr. Anil Kumar went on to add to Mr. Leitch’s statement of inter disciplinary underpinnings by stating that social mobility must be backed up with biological ethics in the field of education, livelihoods, healthcare, sanitation, sustainability and so on.

Subsequently, Sunayana Sarkar reiterated the need for mapping of the areas where Balipara Foundation has been working in. This in turn will not only help to understand the dynamic changes that have been taking place in terms of geographical changes, but the impact of the work being done in congruence to the habitat restoration theme.

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Similarly, Anindita Phookan has taken onto her stride to learn more and impart the knowledge that she will acquire based on her research (as a lawyer) on the nature of the community people to take revenge on the elephants. Therefore, she has expressed her desire to align the study based on the Wildlife Protection Act and the concept of ‘revenge as a method of conflict resolution’. The representation shall be done in Guwahati.

Following up on the idea of VISION 2050 by Mr. Barthakur, Shankar Venkateshwaran has stated the following:

MORE FIELD INVOVEMENT

CONTEXT OF THE INVOLVEMENT AND INTERVENTION

ADVOCACY

EMPHASIS ON PILOT PROJECTS THAT MAY BE NEW OR ON-GOING

GOVERNMENT'S ROLE TO SCALE UP •

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Jackie Leitch supported Mr. Venkateshwaran’s advice on concentrating on field engagement, pilot projects, advocacy and Government’s role by saying that it is important to see more of the bottom up approach. It is impossible for a board to plan for community based on assumptive needs. The needs of the community must be taken into consideration based on conversation with them.

Adding on, Mr. Prabir Banerjea revisited the ideas given by PRAXIS at the Eastern Himalayan NaturenomicsTM Forum about Participatory Rural Appraisal and the need to imbibe different types of participatory methods of engagement and knowledge dispersal.

Diana Owen and Shankar Venkateshwaran have visualized the role, the hierarchy and the segmentation of narratives that is to be given to varied kinds of stakeholders.

Dasho Paljor Dorji began by congratulating Balipara Foundation on the commendable work being done, because according to him “NEIGHBOUR DIALOGUE” is extremely important for peace to prevail. Bringing in peace is equivalent to having a positive attitude which would inevitably create an atmosphere of adaptation and adjustments (inclusive of various communities).

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Allister Morris and Mark Davies congratulated the Balipara Foundation on the work being done at the grassroot level in the communities. But at the same time, Mr. Morris said that for the work to have an immense amount of impact in the local and the global level, it is important for the profile of the foundation to be raised to an international level. Thus ‘tackling global problems at a local level’.

It is important for real impact to be seen and heard globally. Therefore, the process should begin as soon as possible – keeping in mind rapport building as the key element through homestays, habitat restoration or for that matter an ‘ELEPHANT SCHOOL’ which will impart and create an essential knowledge base for the facilitators, stakeholders and the community – as stated by Lisa Mills.

As representatives of the communities and from MASK, Dhruba and Eliza mentioned the need for trans-boundary involvement, especially where the Himalayas begin – in terms of the existing culture, migration patterns and the landscape. It is important for the families and communities in rural areas to grow and at the same time empower the women of these households.

HOW DO WE ENVISION THE BROAD SPECTRUM OF SOCIETY VS ECOLOGY VS ECONOMY?

OUTCOMES:

PARTNERSHIPS

•Partnerships are required in all verticals of the Rural Futures program

PROMOTION

•To what extent does Balipara Foundation want to promote/advertise themselves?

MAPPING

•Mapping of regions and communities is of utmost importance to strenghten our knowledge of the landscape that we aim to enrich

VOLUNTEERING

NOT AFFORESTATION

•Creating a large base of volunteering programs

•We must not use the term afforestation but instead use habitat restoration or any other new term that could possibly underpin our holistic goal

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GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS

PERCEPTIONS AND NARRATIVES

•We must aim to build global relationships rather than investing time in 'top-down' donors.

•By 2019, we as Balipara Foundation should be able to change the narrative of conservation and development so as to perceive development from the point of view of the communities

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