: Fighting Climate Change, Rajasthan Villagers Turn Barren Land To Dense Forest #IndiaNEWS #Environment Karech, a village around 75 km from Udaipur, is probably the last village in western Rajasthan.

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Fighting Climate Change, Rajasthan Villagers Turn Barren Land To Dense Forest #IndiaNEWS #Environment
Karech, a village around 75 km from Udaipur, is probably the last village in western Rajasthan. The residents belong to tribal communities and their subsistence depends on agriculture, livestock rearing and the sale of firewood from forests. However, in recent years, they have observed increasing desertification threaten their village.
It was in early 2000 that residents like Hansa Ram, former village head, noticed degrading common forest lands. The phenomena indicated that the village was moving towards desertification. Factors responsible for this included soil erosion, loss of vegetation, depleting surface water and groundwater resources, and other anthropological aspects such as deforestation. The deteriorating conditions had forced the residents to seek opportunities outside, leading to migration.
In fact, according to a report published by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India is losing 30% of its land to desertification and Rajasthan is among the six states facing acute degradation.
However, in 2021, the villagers in Karech have a different story to tell. They no longer face the threat of losing their forests to desertification, as they have managed to restore 339 hectares of common land owned by the village community for collective use.
By the community, for the community
Hansa Ram in red shawl in conversation with villagers.
Hansa Ram says, “The village is located in the foothills of the Aravalli hill ranges, which prevent the harsh weather of the desert from entering the neighbouring Mewar region as well as eastern Rajasthan. Due to the loss of green cover, our village did not have a barrier, and we lay exposed. �
He adds that overgrazing, exploitation of forest resources, and deforestation led to the rapid disappearance of land, and that the area could have been encroached by the desert. “We wanted to address the problem but found it difficult to bring 600 villagers together due to the social hierarchy,� he says.
In 2002, the villagers took help from the Foundation of Ecological Security (FES), an organisation that works for the regeneration of degraded natural resources, including village commons such as forests, pastures, wastelands and water resources.
Punaram Gadasiya, then sarpanch (head of the village) of Chitrawas (of which Karech village was a part), met FES members who were coincidently surveying common lands to explore opportunities of facilitating restoration of degraded lands through community action in the region.
“The discussions led the sarpanch to share these problems, and the village decided to seek FEP &ÈÜÚÝ[˜ÙH›ÜˆÛZ[Z[™È[™™ÝÜš[™ÈZˆ›Ü™ÝÛÛ[[ÛœË8 È[œØH˜[HØ^ˈ

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