Download Promoting Sustainable Local Development from Grass

Promoting Sustainable Local Development
from Grassroot Level: A Case Study of
Madhya Pradesh
Dinoj Kumar Upadhyay
Kalki -Society for Social Welfare, Bhopal, India
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination
will take you everywhere
Albert Einstein
Threats of Climate Change
 Climate change is one of the most important global
environmental challenges facing humanity with implications
for food production, natural ecosystems, freshwater supply,
health, etc.
 IPCC projects that the global mean temperature may increase
between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius by 2100. The
unprecedented increase is expected to have severe impacts on
the global hydrological system, ecosystems, ecosystems, sea
level, crops production and related processes. The impact
would be particularly severe in the tropical areas, which mainly
consist of developing countries, including India.
Impacts of Climate Change in India
 At the national level, increase of 0.4 degree Celsius has been
observed in surface temperatures over past century. IIPC
projects an annual mean temperature rise by the end of
century, ranging from 3 to 5 degree Celsius.
 With an economy closely tied to its natural-resources-base and
climate sensitive, sectors such as agriculture, water and
forestry, India faces a major threats because of projected
change in climate. Crucial sectors-like agriculture, water
resources, health, sanitation, and forest are likely to be affected
by climate change.
 Water resources: The hydrological cycle is likely to be
altered and the severity of droughts and intensity of floods
in various parts of India is likely to increase. Further, a
general reduction in the quantity of available run-off is
predicted.
 Agriculture: Simulations using dynamic crop models
indicate a decrease in yield of corps as temperature
increases in different parts of India. However, this is offset
by an increase in CO2 at moderate rise in temperature and
at higher warming, negative impact on crop productivity is
projected due to reduced crop durations.
 Coastal zone: Simulations models show an increase in
frequencies of tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal. Sea level
rise is projected to displace populations in coastal zones,
increase flooding in low-lying coastal areas, loss of crop yields
from inundation and salinization.
 Human health: Malaria and other water-brone diseases are
likely to persist in many states and new regions may become
malaria-prone and the duration of malaria transmission
windows is likely to widen in northern and western states and
shorten in southern states.
 Desertification: Climate change leading to warming and
water stress could further exacerbate land degradation, leading
to desertification. Thus, countries like India with large
population dependent on climate-sensitive sectors (forests,
agriculture and coastal zones) and natural resources (ground
water, soil and biodiversity, etc.) are already under stress due
to socio-economic pressures. Climate change is likely to
exacerbate the degradation of natural resources and socioeconomic pressure .
 Forests: A study carried out by Indian Institute of Science
assessed that between 68 % and 77 % of forest grids are
likely to experience shift in forest types depending upon
projected climate change scenarios by 2085. Biodiversity is
likely to be impacted under such scenario due to the changes
or shifts in forest or vegetation types in 57 % to 68 % of
forest grids.
 Precipitation Patterns: While the observed monsoon
rainfall at the all-India level does not show any significant
trend, regional monsoon variations have been recorded.
The Case of Madhya Pradesh
 Madhya Pradesh (MP) is one of BIMARU provinces of India. It
has around 66 million population, around three fourth people
live in rural areas, and 37 per cent rural population is below
poverty line. Climate change is likely to have a negative impact
on poverty and will almost certainly make the process
eradicating it more difficult.
 Population is major source of environmental degradation
when it exceeds the threshold limits of the support system, i.e.
its carrying capacity. Though population density is below
national average, high growth rate (Decadal Population
Growth Rate-24.34) is cause of concern.
 It has the largest tribal population of India as 15.4 million
people are schedule tribes which works out to 23 per cent of
the total population. The recorded forest area of the state is
around 24 per cent of its total geographical areas and more
than half of tribal population is dependant on forest for their
livelihood. Change in forestation due to the climate change
would adverse impact on their livelihood.
 Since majority of population of the state is unaware of and
poorly equipped to cope effectively with climate change
adversities, they would be more vulnerable to climate induced
disease, particularly malaria.
 Around 44 per cent land is used for agriculture which
provides more than 40 per cent net domestic product of
state, and employment to 76 per cent of the working
population and out of total working population around 14
per cent is marginal workers. A decrease in yield of corps
and corps productivity would make this section of
population more vulnerable to climate change, and it
would be detrimental to food security.
Addressing Climate Change and
Sustainable Development
 The climate change issue is part of the larger challenge
of sustainable development. As a result, climate
policies can be more effective when consistently
embedded within broader strategies designed to make
national, regional and local development paths more
sustainable.
 Sustainable Development as Brundtland Commission
defines, ‘development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs’.
 Sustainable development is a program of action for local and
global economic reform. It implies to develop, test and
disseminate ways to change the process of economic
development so that it does not destroy the ecosystems and
community systems.
 It has become an integrating concept embracing economic,
social and environmental issues.
 Since most of the climate induced vulnerabilities and impacts
are localized and local people are more affected these
problems. So promotion of sustainable would be more effective
from grassroot level.
Sustainable Local Development: Sustainable
Development in Local Context
 At the local level, sustainable development requires that local
economic development supports community life and power,
using the talents and resources of local residents
 To distribute the benefits of development equitably, and to
sustain these benefits for all social groups over the long term
 This can only be achieved by preventing the waste of ecological
wealth and the degradation of ecosystems by economic
activities
 Economic development imperatives favor market expansion,
externalization of costs, and sustained private profit
 Imperatives of community development are to meet basic
human needs, increase economic and social equity, and create
community self-reliance
 Imperatives of ecological development require Humans’
support by limiting the consumption of natural resources to a
rate that allows nature to regenerate resources and by reducing
the production of wastes to levels that can be absorbed by
natural processes
 Sustainable development is a process of bringing these three
development processes into balance with each other
 The implementation of a sustainable development strategy
therefore involves negotiation among the primary interest
groups (stakeholders) involved in these three development
processes.
 Once an Action Plan for balancing these development
processes is established, these stakeholders must each take
responsibility and leadership to implement the plan
In such context, sustainable development is a
program to change the process of economic
development so that it ensures a basic quality of
life for all people, and protects the ecosystems
and community systems that make life possible
and worthwhile
Panchayats and Sustainable Local
Development
 Constitutional & democratically elected grossroot level
organizations
 Prime instrument of decentralization at the grossroot
levels for development
 A mechanism to ensure optimum use of scarce
resources for development
 Primary plate form for people participation in
development work
 An institutional framework for implementation of
developmental programs at village level
How Panchayats Can Facilitate Sustainable
Development
 Managing & utilizing the natural resources
 Maintaining the basic infrastructure for economic activities
 Implementing of government
development
providing housing, sanitation facilities, etc.
programs:
 People participation: reservation for weaker classes in decision
making process
 Collecting information and monitoring the implementation of
developmental plans
 Raising awareness among villagers about global and health
issues
Grassroots Initiatives of Central and
Provincial Governments
 National
Rural
Employment
Guarantee
Act:
Developmental programs are intended to ensure sustainable
local development. Panchayats are given central role in
planning and implementation of development work with
village assembly
 Watershed Management Mission: To create community
level water security and improvement of land resources
through people committee
 Joint Forest Management Mission: Management of forest
through people committee
 Education Guarantee Scheme: Provide school to every
community within one km range. The scheme worked through
tripartite partnership between local community, local
government and State government
 Padhna Badhna Andolan: Adult literacy mission. Works
through partnership of state government and local community
 Rogi Kalyan Samiti: Providing health education in rural
areas, managed by people’s committee and local government
 Energy Efficient Street Lighting: reduced
consumption from street lighting by 30-40 per cent

energy
Conclusions
 Due to diverse and complex nature of problems,
grassroots initiatives are key to deal with local as well
as global challenges
 The successful cases have clearly shown that it has
been possible to identify at the local level the right
kind of activities and suitable technologies for
environmental regeneration and livelihood protection
of the poor
 The achievements in terms of awareness generation,
organization of people, their education etc. have been
considerable
 It has been also possible to involve people in these
activities not only in implementation, but also in
planning, decision making and management of assets.
The successful case studies do suggest that the poor at
the bottom have benefited by micro interventions
 There has been good success in terms of generation of
short-term employment for people while regenerating
environmental resources. Though, the employment
generated has not been enough to meet the needs of the
poor, the case studies do indicate that it is possible to
possible to generate more employment with larger
funds and higher scale of activities
Thanks