Pepper to Timber Queen

Pandurang Hegde

The forest of Gersoppa is on the banks of Sharavati River in Western Ghats, in Karnataka. The lush forest along the river valley is home to a rich biodiversity. Historically, Arab traders came to these regions to buy pepper and transport it through the ports for trade in Europe. The abundance of wild pepper in the forest surprised the traders from overseas and European travelogues, such as those of Francis Buchanan (1801), mention this valuable resource of these forests. For the past two thousand years this region has been the trading hub of (uncultivated) wild pepper, collected from the forests. The sustained supply of pepper from this region over centuries has earned it the reputation of “Pepper Queen”.

The colonial rulers saw a potential other than pepper in these forests. The valuable teak wood proved more important to fuel the growth of their economies back in London and provided raw material for building ships. The timber potential of the Western Ghats made the colonial rulers appropriate the people’s rights over their forests. Taking control of these areas they declared these forests as Reserve Forests, to be used only by the government for extracting timber. They also sowed the seeds of commercial forestry by decimating large tracts of natural forests and replacing them with commercial teak plantations. Thus, an area that was home to diverse forest produce, especially pepper that was known to the entire world, was converted into “Timber Queen” in just half a century.

The history of Western Ghats is full of these real stories of commercialization of forests, in which large tracts of bio diverse natural forests were sacrificed at the altar of development. The first plantations of tea were introduced in the high mountain regions of Western Ghats by destroying the high land “shola” ecosystems; coffee was introduced in the lower mountain ranges.

Unfortunately, the era of post independence has caused more damage to the natural forests in Western Ghats. The forestry policies adopted inthese regions followed the legacy of conversion of forests into monoculture plantations on a large scale. Forest based industries were given free timber concessions to harvest the raw materials. Large scale infrastructure projects like hydropower dams were built in the midst of natural forests, submerging large areas.

The high rate of deforestation in Uttar Kannada district has had an adverse impact on the local people as their resources were exploited to serve the interests of industries and the commerce. Resisting this exploitation, the people launched a movement – called “Appiko” or hug the trees – to protect the remaining forest resources. Launched in 1983, the movement spread to numerous forest regions of Western Ghats in Karnataka and Waynad in Kerala and was able to bring pressure on the state government to change the forest policy. The large-scale conversion of natural forests into mono cultural commercial plantation was halted. The government introduced the moratorium on felling of green trees in the natural forests of Western Ghats in Karnataka.

WHY WORK ON NTFPs?

During our work of organizing the people’s movement, we had to interact closely with the forest dwelling communities who earn their livelihood by collection of non timber forest produce (NTFPs). Some of these indigenous communities are Gowlis, Siddis, Kunbi, Marathi, Jenu and Kadu Kurubas and Soligas. They live in small hamlets and cultivate small patches of staple cropsthe collection and sale of NTFPs provided them their cash incomes.

The destruction of forests reduced the availability of the forest produce. Bamboo was harvested at low prices for the paper mill whereas the forest dwellers had to pay higher prices. Similarly, cane was given to contractors at throwaway prices, while even access to forests was denied to local people. In many places the local people lived like thieves in their forests and denied access to resources such as honey, gums and resins as they were tendered to the contractors by the Forest Department. In effect, the Forest Department changed the role of the people from “custodians” to that of “laborers”.

At this juncture in the movement, it was important to look into matters related to forest resources and forest dwellers. The dehumanizing conditions they lived in, despite the abundance of resources, made us focus on the issue of NTFPs as a means to better livelihood opportunities. We realized that the best way for implementing sustainable development model was possible not by harvesting timber but NTFPs. It has the potential to provide employment and to help people earn their livelihood.

It is the deep knowledge of the local forest dwellers that opened our eyes to the impact of the forest destruction on local ecosystems and people. They were able to provide insights into the damage tothe ecosystem caused due to disappearance of species; and the impact on cultivated crops due to change in micro climate. Simultaneously, they had the knowledge to heal the wounds already inflicted. With their support and encouragement we launched our second struggle to rescue the livelihood of forest dwellers by working on NTFPs.

WORKING WITH FOREST DWELLERS:

Over the years we have been working closely with numerous forest dwelling communities on the issue of forest produce. We started with value addition, enabling them to enhance their skills either in mat weaving, weaving natural fiber or harvesting and processing of honey. To our surprise, they were fast in learning these skills; the exposure to wider issues and practical models added to their confidence. We expect that with these skills and motivation, they can add value to NTFPs and produce quality materials that have an assured market.

Our experience has shown that apart from adding value to NTFPs it is also necessary to gradually gain confidence to deal with real life situations. They feel more at ease to deal with the junior Forest Department officials who used to frighten them earlier. They are taking the lead in getting their due share in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and are able to deal with the market, learning the skills of financial management.

Another area of work that has provided opportunities for shared learning is the sustainable harvest of NTFPs The people know the limits of extraction and, with their experience, they have halted over extraction of cinnamon leaves; they have observed dead and dying trees due to extensive lopping and expressed their concern.

Our activism was able to influence macro policies that imposed a ban on the felling of green trees  and the establishment of monoculture plantations. Furthermore, the Forest Department had never bothered to plant NTFP-related trees. With the forest dwelling communities, we have established tree nurseries raising those species which were on the verge of extinction (see Box on Canarium). For the first time in the history of this region the planting of the NTFP saplings occurred. Despite some initial opposition from the Forest Department, the initiative is now appreciated. Thus, the healing of forests through encouraging diversity is a sincere attempt on the part of the forest dwellers to perform their duty as custodians of the forest that provides them their livelihood. This process has given us more strength and built our reputation in the eyes of common people and especially with the Forest Department.

PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES

A major challenge in our work is the limited impact of our activities, be it value addition or policy change. Though build a working model has been built for enhancing skills that help NTFP collectors increase their incomes, the impact is restricted to only few villages where we work. The scaling up or ripple effect needs more funds and continuing efforts with communities. It is essential that these models that have evolved be adopted into government programmes to have a larger impact on people’s livelihoods.

In our experience we found that it takes a lot of time and effort to change policies or the attitude of the officials of the Forest Department. Most times a change in government policy is applicable to the particular forest division or forest circle; this has limited utility, as at the larger level the same destructive policy continues damaging the resource base.

[tooltip content=”OF CANARIUM AND CINNAMON The genus Canarium belongs to the family Burseraceae and comprises of about 75 species. Most of them are timber trees with resiniferous wood; the fruit is a drupe and an important food for frugivorous birds. In the Western ghats we have Canarium strictum, a large, handsome and deciduous tree, endemic to the Konkan region southwards through Canara, Malabar, Coorg, Mysore and Cochin, up to about 1600 m. The tree yields the Black Dammar of commerce, also known as Raldoop or Dhup is an endemic tree of Western Ghats. The aromatic resin tapped from the tree is used in making incense sticks and in the manufacture of varnishes. Though local collection of resin is banned because of decimation of trees, it is still collected illegally. Resin collectors get Rs 40 per kg, though in Bangalore the price may be as high as Rs 400 per kg! Due to over extraction, with methods that cause deep wounds on bark of the tree, a large number of trees in the forest have died. As natural regeneration is not adequate, leading to a dwindling of the species, the forest department has banned the collection of resin. After about two years of trial and error Prakruti, with the help of local communities, has developed nursery techniques to raise Cannarium saplings. These saplings are being planted by the people in the natural forests and, for the first time in history of Western Ghats, people are re-establishing an endemic species that is on the verge of extinction. The Forest Department has purchased saplings form the people’s nursery. The genus Cinnamomum belongs to the family Lauraceae and consists of about 270 species of shrubs and trees, of which most are aromatic. About 20 species occur in India. The Cinnamomum of commerce is C.zeylanicum, also known as Cinnamon; local names are dalchini and lavangpattai. Cinnamon trees are evergreen and attain a height of up to 20 m and are found in the of Western Ghats. The leaves as well as the tender buds are harvested for use as spice and condiment. The collectors get Rs 16 per kg for the leaves; however, in north India it is sold at a retail price of Rs 300 per kg! The increased demand for the spice has put pressure on the cinnamon trees and continuous unsustainable harvesting by contractors over three decades has had negative impact on the resource. Extensive lopping of branches for collection of leaves and buds has resulted in many of the trees dying. Alarmed by the dwindling resource, and due to pressure from activist groups, the Forest Department banned the extraction of cinnamon leaves in Canara forest circle in 2009; however, in rest of the forest areas in State extraction continues. Now it is extracted illegally in the banned areas and transported to adjacent zones where it is not banned, and acquires a “legally approved status. The ban thus serves no purpose. If this continues the cinnamontrees will not get the rest they need and may eventually disappear from the wild.” url=”” ](see box on pg. 85)[/tooltip]

No models exist to help work with NTFPs. New models and methods need to be discovered from scratch. It is therefore essential for those working on NTFPs to come together as a network in order to avoid the pitfalls of failed examples and begin with already established skills and proven track record on the ground.

RELEVANCE OF WORK

The work with NTFPs and forest dwellers is of practical use to both the people as well as the forests. At a wider level, government forest policies as well as several Acts claim that the rights of indigenous communities to collect forest produce should be respected. However, at the level of state governments, the commercial objectives of forest policies still play a dominant role in decision-making. Large forestry projects funded by international financial institutions have negatively impacted NTFP resources and collectors.

NTFPs play a major role in securing the livelihoods of millions of adivasi communities in the country; though this is recognized at the policy level it has not been implemented by the concerned government departments. The Forest Department perceives the adivasi people as solely destroyers of the forests.

The so called “joint forestry programmes” is a rhetoric to secure international funding with the communities not having any rights over the common land and forests they use. A change is required in this perspective of the Forest Department and the government.

There is an urgent need to show case and present our success in the Non-timber Forest Products- Exchange Programme as a viable alternate to the timber based commercial forestry programmes propagated by governments. The only way for sustainable forestry to succeed in the present context is to give impetus to NTFP collectors, and giving them access over the community managed forests.

Though we may not be able to go backwards to the era of ‘pepper queen’ we can stop the process that would make the Western Ghats a ‘timber queen’. This is possible only if we work with the forest dwellers and take them into confidence to heal the wounds created by the commercial forestry over decades. The NTFP-EP has to perform an effective role in building this alternate model through its work in different parts of the country.