Dear Friends,
Greetings
I have gone through this paper. Must appreciate your efforts for preparing such a detailed report of very good quality.
Few points came to my mind and have tried to articulate the same. Do let me know in case you need further information on any. Also find attached a report on forest prepared by Action aid for your reference.
Warm regards
Bratindi Jena|Head - Knowledge Activist Hub Natural Resources
331/A, Saheed Nagar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha,India
www.actionaid.org
Input on HLPE Sustainable Forestry
I have few inputs in this document and have tried to put it page wise so that is becomes easier to check relevance and incorporate if felt appropriate.
Bratindi jena
- Page 24 - Religious and cultural importance of forest and mountain. UNDRP has recognised this right for the indigenous/tribal people. There are many tribal communities who worship the forest and mountain they have been living for generations. One such community is the Dongaria Kondha of Niyamgiri forest located in Odisha of India. They worship the forest and mountain as their living God and are struggling to protect from onslaught by Vedanta Alumina Ltd (VAL). Vedanta is trying to extract bauxite from Niyamgiri. Forest is the cultural base of tribal community, they cannot think of many celebrations without a particular variety of trees, flowers, leaves and fruits. All seasonal celebrations revolve around those.
- Page 27 – Balanced safe and seasonal food basket. Forest provided seasonal variety of food for every season in the form of leaves, flowers, fruits, tubers, barks and shoots. These form a balanced food rich with minerals, vitamins and what the community needs during each season. Being free from pesticide and chemical fertiliser forest food happens to be safe food.
- Page 31 – Medicinal property. Forest food is rich in medicinal property. Most of the traditional or Ayurvedic medicines are drawn from forest. These are prepared from the varieties of non timber forest products. Women are more dependent on such medicines. This is a part of rich indigenous knowledge system
- Page 56 – Healing power. For many communities forest provided the psychological space for healing diseases. Mangroves are protected for this purpose by communities with a belief that the forefathers live there and bless the next generations.
- Page 68 – Forest through plantation. Monoculture of tree plantation is changing rather destroying the original characteristics of forest in many regions. As a result the alien varieties of tress are vulnerable to natural disaster and flash floods/ landslides. Forest fire of Uttarakhand, India in the most recent example. The chir pie forest caught fire and was beyond control of the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force). This fire destroyed thousands of hectares of forest and was spread to Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Bratindi JenaBratindi Jena