Progress & Impact Report January to December 2018 Plans 2019 Nature Communities Weaving Rural Futures BALIPARA FOUNDATION Assam India Acknowledgement Foreword As we continue to embrace and learn on our journey towards building Rural Futures in the Eastern Himalayas, we are privileged to have received unstinting support from the vibrant The Journey of local communities of the Eastern Himalayas and our partners. Some of our supporters have worked with us for many years and believed in our vision and mission of creating prosperous communities and preserving the biodiverse rich Eastern Himalayas through our concept of NaturenomicsTM. Naturenomics™ Balipara Foundation greatly acknowledges the contribution made by Asomiya Pratidin, Atlanta Botanical Garden, ATREE, Conservation International, Cotton University, Current Conservation, Club of Rome, Dakshin Foundation, Devex, Diageo, Eastern Himalayan Botanic Ark in residence at Wild The journey since 2007 has been an and to make conservation efforts Mahseer, Elephant Reintroduction Foundation, Globally Managed A tremendous year intensive one. The very objective that more human centric from Snowline to Services, Green Guard Nature Organization, Hemendra Kothari making a meaningful we set for ourselves since inception Sealine. Foundation, H. T. Parekh Foundation, Japan Environmental difference in the was to make a difference and Education Forum, Jio, IUCN, Kunming Institute of Botany, lives of the people, facilitate our vision of Conserving & 2018 has been a step ahead towards The Lily Hotel, Missouri Botanical Garden, MASK, Myanmar Preserving the Natural Heritage of the the 11th year of Balipara Foundation. A Matters, Mountain Futures, NE Focus, News Live, Niyomiya the communities Eastern Himalayas through a series tremendous year making a meaningful Barta, Pratidin Times, Rajiv Gandhi University, Sanctuary Nature that we serve and our of experiments. We have strived to difference in the lives of the people, Foundation, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motor Finance, Tata majestic biodiversity, securitize assets around land, water, the communities that we serve and our Steel, Tata Trusts, Tezpur University, Teikyo University, WUYA, which remains as energy and biodiversity resources. We majestic biodiversity, which remains Wildlife Conservation Trust, Wildlife Trust of India, WWF, etc. the cornerstone of have promoted organic agriculture and as the cornerstone of the Foundation’s We are indebted and grateful to all the Nine Communities the Foundation’s renewable energy, implemented water enduring commitment towards the Rural -Adivasi, Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Garo, Mishing, Nepali, Nyishi harvesting and animal husbandry; Futures in the Eastern Himalayas. We and Rajbanshi Communities and our Earth Heroes for their enduring initiated elephant conservation projects, have taken a human-centric view of constant guidance and inspiration. commitment towards set up a native plant conservation conservation and are firm believers of We are very grateful to the participants and Panelists of the the Rural Futures centre, instituted an Asian Elephant the fact that without social mobility of events held since 2013. in the Eastern Conservation Conference and the the forest fringe communities, no forests Balipara Foundation Awards. and wildlife can be saved. And that the Our sincere appreciation to the team, who has worked hard to Himalayas responsibility for conserving our rich make this joint report possible and for their invaluable help, We have had more downs in this journey natural heritage lies in the hands of the guidance, and feedback throughout the review process. and in doing this we found that the people that live alongside it. short gun approach and keeping a wide angled approach was not impactful Through NaturenomicsTM we have sought Registered Office enough. to emphasise the interdependence Balipara Foundation between humans and their ecosystems Navin Enclave, A1, 1st Floor, Mother Teresa Road Over the last two years, we have re- by creating ecologically compliant Zoo Narengi, 781021, Assam, India directed our focus. The very focus on community assets and promoting www.baliparafoundation.com community, conservation & botany and re-ruralization. This catalyses social focusing doubly in rural areas and the mobility through sustainable economic nine communities – Assamese, Adivasi, and ecological development and Editorial Team Nyshi, Garo, Mishing, Bodo, Nepali, extensive learning initiatives, by Karishma Ahmed Bengali and Rajbongshi which we have. unlocking the Nature Capital in food, Varsha Wadhwani We have understood the need of the water, energy, and biodiversity while hour - the need for rural communities giving the communities the stewardship benefiting from conservation efforts of these assets. BALIPARA FOUNDATION Assam India Progress & Impact Report 2018 BALIPARA FOUNDATION Assam India Progress & Impact Report 2018 Because of this human-centric view to conservation, we community asset that provides direct economic, social In the Balipara County, our team has successfully completed the ethnobotany study with five communities from the understand the importance of humans in the conservation & ecological benefits to the forest-fringe communities. Sonitpur district of Assam. The study explored the importance of plants in the livelihood of our communities and helped paradigm and our success will depend on this. We The re-imagining of Balipara County will largely lie in us document their knowledge about the plants and the seeds and its uses. have already seen a huge increase in the tolerance of the idea of balancing and the initiation of natural asset Few other milestones of the year have been our partnership with Indo-China Climate Change Centre with an objective to people towards wildlife and a change in attitude towards management through habitat restoration (whether it be measure, monitor and implement adaptive methodologies towards climate change resiliency in the Eastern Himalayas. afforestation measures. The idea of ‘protecting’ forests the rivers, food, agriculture, etc.) and bringing about a And another Bioresources and Sustainable Livelihoods in North East India program in coordination with the Ashoka has touched base with the local communities and we see balance in our natural habitat which will eventually lead Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development a lot of enthusiastic participation. to a positive change in the migratory patterns of the (IBSD) under the sponsorship of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in partnership with a range of institutions in Eastern Himalayas, thus allowing the framework of Rural the northeast. The largest of its kind in Asia, the program is quantitatively assessing and mapping plant diversity and The decade of learning and experimentation in various Futures to achieve its goal. biological resources in Upper and Lower Assam. aspects of conservation has led to the following in 2018- With a vision to ‘create opportunities’ in Balipara 2018 has also been a step ahead with our volunteering programs where students from 11 countries from world renowned • Increase in community participation County that would lead to a nature bank for the people institutions like Wharton Global School, Ashoka University engaged in Livelihood, Sustainability and Conservation study in • Employment through ecosystem-based services of the communities, it is important for us to take Balipara County. • Enhancement of Tourism Programmes decisions keeping the needs of the people in mind and • Plantation of 3,62,327 saplings in a sustainable manner. As such, the role of school • Propagating indigenous knowledge is important in building Rural Futures that will allow • Securitization of natural assets communities and community development to seize OUR EFFORTS RATINGS • Livelihoods generation opportunities and act as a mediator for inter-generational • 2.79L saplings planted in Bhairabkunda Forest Reserve • Volunteering Programs socio-economic mobility. For promoting healthy learning Udalguri • Direct Employment Generated (mandays) – 4924 activities and to create safe spaces for children, we Landscape • Direct income generated for the communities (INR) – 9/10 A great highlight of the year holds in identifying our focus have taken an initiative to establish Baligaon New Bodo Habitat Mission 1146800 in Balipara County and through the Balipara Joint Forest School which will impart formal, informal or vocational Management Reserve Management Programme we aim to restore 9 knowledge and education to the children. Balipara • Initiated Balipara Habitat Restoration Project for the sq km of degraded Asian Elephant habitat and create a Reserve Forest restoration of habitat and nature in Balipara County 3/10 Management • Capsicum sonitpurensis, a new species of Capsicum was discovered at the Eastern Himalayan Botanic Ark • 24 new medicinal plant species were planted (Total – 50 Eastern species) Himalayan • 40 new species of indigenous orchids were planted at the 8/10 Botanic Ark • Orchidarium (Total – 54 varieties) • 27 new bamboo species plantations (Total – 36 species) • 25 varieties of vegetables were planted in the vegetable Mindful nursery Tourism • Three community homestays were launched in Nyishi, Garo and Mishing village in Sonitpur District • Elephant Country Camp was launched in Bhairabkund Reserve Forest: Hosted 547 visitors from 3 countries Homestays • Our social enterprise, the Eastern Himalayan Botanic