CCA: Talk at Rishi Valley

Shared my meagre understanding on CCAs at Rishi Valley during a recent trip. The setting was amazing (entire school in the evening at the assembly hall) and am absolutely indebted to Rishi Valley for the opportunity. 

Two conversations of the evening stand out. During afternoon tea one student shared that she and her friends were excited not because of the talk but because of the dinner that was to precede the talk; just in case I had any illusions. After the talk (and questions that followed) one student came up and as I bent down he put his hand on my shoulder and said 'shy ok - so talking like this'; his tone was very much like that of one of my closest friends. 

Select slides and accompanying 'bullets' are placed below

Control and management (decision making) rest with community

Community is closely related to ecosystem 

Efforts lead to conservation

Not necessarily strict preservation but multiple (flexible) rules

CCAs are located all over India spanning diverse ecosystem and ownership regimes

Meghalaya : catchment forests and fishery protection spots in rivers

Nagaland : hunting control (season & location) 

Chinchhwali (Madhya Pradesh) : pond housing 1,000+ Indian Flapshell Turtles

Deori (Madhya Pradesh) : located within the Vijaypur Reserve Forest

CCAs range from a few hundred mtrs (temple forest at Agraa - Madhya Pradesh)to a few hundred kms (Thembang Bapu - Arunachal Pradesh)

CCAs along with Protected Areas cover roughly 25% of the land mass

Cultural and economic benefits 

Sustainable access to natural resources 

Conserve Ecosystem 

Corridors (for species genes)

Conserve specific species (Demoisselle cranes at Khichan) 

Unconnected education

Erosion of traditional values

Changes in practices and lifestyles 

Lack of government support

Migration to urban areas

Synergies of 

Traditional (local) knowledge and science of the day

Traditional (flexible) governance and uniform (fix) rules of the state agencies

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All images are from recent trips to Nagaland