P&I/2009/006

Press Release

European Commission Co-Funded Pilot Project under the 'Haryana Community Forestry Project' is the First Small Scale CDM Certified Afforestation Project in the World

New Delhi, 07 April 2009- The CDM pilot project, a part of the larger Haryana Community Forestry Project (HCFP), co-funded by the European Commission, is the first small scale afforestation project in the world to get certified by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Projects with such certifications can earn saleable Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets by developed countries.

In this project an afforestation area of 370 hectares of sand dune land belonging to 227 farmers in eight villages of Sirsa district, Haryana, has been selected for a carbon trading project within the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). A number of participatory appraisal exercises with stakeholder farmers were carried out, by-laws for a farmers' society to implement the project were framed and the society was registered. Validation of the proposed project activity by a company accredited by UNFCCC was carried out through site inspection in April 2008 and the proposed CDM project was approved by the UNFCCC CDM Executive Board on the 23rd of March 2009.

Commenting on this, H E Daniele Smadja, European Commission's Ambassador to India said, "Our endeavour is to work with India, hand in hand, to deliver Sustainable Development. We are very happy to see that one of our projects in India is recognised under the Clean Development Mechanism in the World. We hope that this would serve as a model for others. "

Background- Haryana Community Forestry Project

The State of Haryana is bounded by severely eroded Shivalik and Aravalli hill ranges in the north and south respectively. The western part of the state bordering the Rajasthan desert is semi-arid with prevalent sand dunes. In the central plains the soils are affected by salinity, alkalinity and water logging. A significant portion of community land in the entire state is degraded due to population pressure, over-cutting and over-grazing of vegetation. To restore such degraded lands a World Bank funded Social Forestry Project was implemented in 1982-1990. With the experience gained in this project, and given the potential of raising plantations on village common lands, a new project was proposed to the Government of India for international funding. A Project Identification Mission fielded by the European Commission in May 1995 appraised the project proposal and prepared a proposal for a new nine-year long community based 'Haryana Community Forestry Project'.

The European Commission allocated a grant of 23.3 million Euros for the implementation of the overall HCFP project, with a matching contribution by the Government of Haryana of 6.8 million Euros. The main objective of the Haryana project is to improve the natural environment of the State through sustainable management of natural resources and through active participation of the village communities in eleven districts of the state.

The HCFP builds upon the experiences of working with village level institutions in the development of forest resource management, and is aimed at improving the standard of living of rural communities through community-based forestry. A greater involvement and empowerment of women, scheduled castes, landless and other disadvantaged groups in village decision making is being pursued through Village Resources Committees.

The project has greatly benefited the villages and the villagers. It reaches out to 337 villages with a total population of around 700,000 - more than 110,000 households. Village Resource Management Committees (VRMCs) have been constituted and trained in all these villages, as a sub-committee of the village Panchayat with the responsibility to manage natural common property resources of the village.

Key Highlights/Achievements

- Tree cover on common land has increased from 9% to 30-34%. Survival of common land plantations is very high, at levels of around 80% and above.

- The number of trees per household - on private land - has increased 5½ times

- The number of severe environment problems in project villages has been reduced by 50%. Stabilisation of shifting sand dunes through tree plantation has substantially reduced the occurrence of dust storms and loss of crop land.

- 19 earthen water harvesting dams have been constructed. The dams have dramatically increased the potential for sustainable agriculture by providing year-round irrigation and allowing a shift to more profitable off-season crops.

- 28 derelict village ponds have been rehabilitated. 4½ million paid workdays, financed out of the European Commission funds, have been generated through labour to raise and maintain project plantations, to construct water harvesting dams and rehabilitate village ponds.

- 294 Chetna Kendras (Awareness Centres) have been constructed in as many villages. Though the main purpose of the Chetna Kendras is to serve as a meeting place for the Village Resource Management Committee and a venue for project training, surveys indicate that above 80% of them are also used for other purposes like a health or veterinary clinic or an extra school classroom.

- 670 'Link Workers' have been deployed for a period of up to 8 years, half of them women and most of them unemployed village youth.

- 180 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have been formed and trained in 101 villages.

- Poor women have substantially increased their income through microenterprises financed from inter-lending of group savings in SHGs, which has also helped them clear all indebtedness to moneylenders.

- 33 women from SHGs and VRMCs have been elected Sarpanch or Panch after they gained competence and confidence through the village institutions developed.

- 8,400 energy-efficient smokeless cooking stoves have been provided by the project, two thirds of them being used daily as verified by surveys undertaken every year.






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EUROPEAN UNION
Delegation of the European Commission to India, Bhutan and Nepal
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