Seventh Annual Report 1996 - 97

, -- Front Cover Left Cosciniurn !ennes/fa/urn (Gaertner) Caleb .• an endangered medicinal plant collected from the forests of Wayanad, Kerala Right Commemorative sculpture associated with the 1996 Blue Planet Prize awarded to MSSRF Back Cover Top Left Water harvesting in 'the Pulse Village' (Kavadipatti, located in a dry zone of Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu) Top Right Hybrid rice demonstration in a farmer's field (Kizhur village, Biovillage Project) Bottom Residents of Pichavaram (located near the mangrove forest) preparing a resource map during a Participatory Rural Appraisal interaction. --~-l Seventh Annual Report 1996 - 97 M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundatien Centre for Research on Sustainable. Agricultural and Rural Development Chennai, India M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation Centre for Research on Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development 3rd Cross Road, Institutional Area, Taramani, Chennai 600 113 Telephone : +91 (44) 2351229 +91 (44) 2351698 Fax: +91 (44) 2351319 E-mail : [email protected] Visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.mssrf.org Cover Design: The Frontline, Chennai Printed at : Reliance Printers, Chennai Citation : Seventh Annual Report, 1996-97, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, 1997. Table of Contents I ntrod uc tion ii Programme Area 100 Coastal Systems Research 1 Programme Area 200 Biodiversity and Biotechnology 20 Programme Area 300 Ecotechnology and Sustainable Agriculture 63 Programme Area 400 Reaching the Unreached 98 Programme Area 500 Education, Communication, Training and Capacity Building 115 , Publications 140 About the Foundation 148 The Foundation Staff : 155 List of Donors.................................................................................................. 163 Sources of Project Support 164 r Introduction 1997 marks the 5th anniversary of the • between resource extraction and ec- UN Conference on Environment and ological sustainability Development held at Rio de Janeiro in • between market economy and "mar- 1992 and the 25th anniversary of the UN ketization" of society Conference on The Human Environ- •. between greed and need ment held at Stockholm in 1972. A report prepared by the United Nations Only that kind of development which for consideration at a special session can help to resolve such tensions, will of the UN General Assembly convened be sustainable in the long run. Many in New York in June 1997, to review non-governmental organisations aro- the progress made since 1992 in giving und the world are successfully oppos- operational content to the concept of ing un-sustainable development. What sustainable development, warns, "the however is equally important is propos- state of the global environment has con- ing sustainable development options. tinued to deteriorate. Reversing the This is particularly true of population- trend is more urgent than ever." rich but land-hungry countries like In- dia where millions suffer from extreme Also: according to UNDP's 1997 Human poverty and deprivation. We therefore Development Report, the human devel- need an ecology of hope and action, opment index declined during 1996 in since inaction is the greatest enemy of 30 countries, more than in any year sustainable development. since the first report was issued in 1990. The major focus of the work of MSSRF is the testing and standardisation of The world is thus still in search of sustainable options in the areas of ag- methods of giving practical shape to riculture and rural livelihoods. The the concept of sustainable and equita- strategy involves making the conserva- ble development. To achieve this, sev- tion and sustainable use of natural re- eral forms of tensions such as the fol- sources the pathway for sustainable lowing need to be resolved : food and livelihood security. In other words, the aim is the creation of an eco- • between individual gain and common nomic and social stake in conservation. good Since the integration of gender dimen- • between short-term opportunism sions in such work is vital for achiev- and long-term stability ing this goal, the following two major steps were initiated during the year:- • between job-less economic growth and the livelihood security of the • Organisation of a Resource Centre poor for Gender and Development l Introduction • A detailed analysis of the gender di- strategy built into the design and im- mensions of biodiversity manage- plementation of all of the Foundation's ment in India. programmes. Simultaneously, efforts to build a corpus fund to insulate core It was a source of encouragement to the activities from the vagaries of project scientists, scholars and staff of the support were redoubled. The funds Foundation when their work on link- associated with the Blue Planet Prize ing the ecological security of an area helped to accelerate the process of with the livelihood security of the com- building a corpus. munities living in that area received recognition through the award of the The financial sustainability of a volun- 1996 Blue Planet Prize. The text of the tary R&D organisation is vital for both acceptance speech delivered at Tokyo staff morale and programme continui- on November 1, 1996 sets out the strat- ty. Without a critical mass of financial egies. followed to reach the goal of pro- stability, an institution will be tempt- moting job-led economic growth in ru- ed to chase funds and in that process ral areas, rooted in the principles become a donor-driven organisation. It of ecology and gender and social equi- is the firm conviction of MSSRF that ty. money should not be allowed to define its' mission. Rather, money should be During 1996-97, the Trustees and staff sought to achieve the fulfilment of its of the Foundation initiated a process mission from those who share the vision of consolidation and concentration of of a more equitable and hunger-free their efforts in the areas of participa- world. tory, policy and action research, capacity building, networking and advocacy. Fostering an ecology of hope is the mis- Such a step became timely, since two sion of MSSRF. Such a mission can be major projects supported by the Swed- achieved only by enlarging the concept ish International Development Co-op- of sustain ability from a purely econom- eration Agency (SIDA) and the Govern- ic perspective to an inclusive one mentof Italy through the Internation- which embraces the environmental, al Plant Genetic Resources Research gender and poverty dimensions.. It Institute came to an end. SIDA's gen- would be useful to review briefly the erous support played an important part work done during 1996-97 from this in helping the Foundation not only in angle. Since the details of the results organising its community Biodiversity achieved are described later, attention Programme, but also in developing its is drawn in this Introduction only to a research and training infrastructure. few highlights. The conclusion of these projects was managed without disrupting the im- In Programme Area 100, dealing with pact of the work started under their coastal systems research, all on-going auspIces, because of the withdrawal programmes were unified under a r Annual Report 1996-97 project on Coastal Mangrove Wetlands • Empowering local communities to Conservation sponsored by the India- deal with issues like "prior informed Canada Environment Facility. A co-or- consent" by training youth from such dinated programme for the conserva- communities and organising them in tion and sustainable management of the form of an Agrobiodiversity con- mangrove forests along the East Coast servation corps. of India, covering the States of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and • Developing multimedia databases West Bengal, was initiated. The pro- for taking up with the designated au- gramme aims to understand the pre- thorities the question of recognising the contributions of tribal and rural cise causes for the degradation of mangrove wetlands, identify and test suit- families and compensating them for able remedies for the identified mala- their efforts in genetic resources con- dies and develop a system of Joint Man- servation and enhancement from the grove Forest Management involving proposed National Biodiversity and Community Gene Funds. the coming together of the Forest De- partments and the mangrove forest de- • Operating a Community Gene Bank pendent communities into a symbiotic and Community Herbarium for serv- partnership. ing as authentic reference sources. • Linking conservation and commer- Programme Area 200, dealing with Bi- cialisation in a mutually reinforcing odiversity and Biotechnology, was also manner so that an. economic stake in reorganised during the year. All the conservation replaces the prevailing ongoing work on biodiversity was economic interest in unsustainable brought together in the form of'a Tech- exploitation. nical Resource Centre for the imple- mentation of the equity provisions of • Organisation of Trainers' Training the Convention on Biological Diversi- programmes for representatives of ty (TRC-CBD). This TRC-CBD, dedi- non-governmental organisations and cated to tribal a.nd rural women and servicing a NGO-community Biodi- men and inaugurated by Mrs. Elizabeth versity Conservation Alliance. Dowdswell, Executive Director, Unit- ed Nations Environment Programme The TRC-CBD undertook the following in July 1996 has the following compo- four major studies during the year and submitted detailed reports to the spon- nents: soring agencies: • Working with tribal and rural fami- • Priorities

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