Natural Farming in India

By Katherine Rempel, 2nd year MDP student

VIKASA office

My name is Katherine Rempel and this year I completed my international field placement with VIKASA in Visakhapatnam, India.  VIKASA is a Natural Resources Management organization with a focus on agriculture and horticulture-based interventions to sustain and strengthen the livelihoods of tribal farming communities in Andhra Pradesh.  They are working to develop a social order that values the real significance of environment protection, social justice, women empowerment and moves towards sustainable development with offices in Visakhapatnam and Araku Valley.  I had the opportunity to visit both office sites while working in a hybrid environment.  At VIKASA I worked under Dr. Kiran who supervised my placement and guided me for each of the projects I worked on. 

My role at this field placement was to work with the team and independently on two project streams that involved building meaningful relationships, developing a case study on recent success stories, and developing content for updating the organizational website.

The first project is called Graduating Maa Thota farmers into Natural farmers in the Paderu Region - A case study on natural farming. The case study documents the history of the “green revolution” in India and shows how VIKASA’s work has improved productivity of major crops cultivation and processing methods, developed natural pest control alternatives, initiated gravity-based irrigation methods, and provided training and outreach in tribal communities.

Kate with VIKASA team members and farmers from the Araku Valley

Developing content for updating the organizational website had many different components.  I worked on turning productivity and processing methods into infographics, I developed multiple slide shows to showcase the work done and projects completed over the years and turned data sheets into graphics and charts to visually represent the results.  To complete this work, I converted the list of projects over the years into a living excel file that can track impacts, developments, and outcomes.

I am grateful for the experience of conducting my field placement at VIKASA.  I walked away with many skills such as time management, organizational development, and the opportunity of working in tribal communities.  Getting to experience firsthand what it’s like to live and work in a completely different environment and culture was a life changing.  I look forward to being able to apply this knowledge and understanding to my work in the future.

Remediating Environmental Damage through Traditional Knowledge Use and Indigenous Peoples’ Leadership

By Amanda Appasamy, 2nd year MDP student

My host family: Edilma Queta, Lionel Yiyoguaje, Anjeli, & Baker (2 months old)

What drew my attention to the Fundacíon de Sobrevivencia Cofán, is the victory of the Cofán People, one of the oldest surviving Indigenous groups in the north eastern Ecuadorian Amazon, in securing the legal rights to actively manage and protect over one million acres of their ancestral territory.

Co-management and cooperation agreements with the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment have been achieved along with the transfer of federally-protected lands which have now been placed under the official custody of the Cofán; hence, honouring the role of land-based stewardship and conservation by Indigenous Peoples. The protection of these ancestral lands are crucial to maintaining the rich traditional knowledge, culture and traditions of the Cofán which concurrently have critical implications for climate change adaptation. 

Amongst other achievements of the Cofán people are:

• In 1978, they were the first Indigenous People in the world to develop community-based ecotourism projects.

• Between 1991-1994, the Cofán of Zábalo are the first Indigenous People to be victorious over oil company invasion in their territory in Ecuador.

• In 1992, the Cofán are the first Indigenous Nation in Ecuador to negotiate treaties for the recovery of ancestral lands within national protected areas.

• In 1993, the Cofán developed the first community-based conservation management plans without outside intervention.

• The Cofán Bermejo Ecological Reserve is the first national protected area that was lobbied for and administered by an Indigenous People in Ecuador.

• First time, Indigenous park guards and conservation workers have acquired equal recognition as government park guards with same legal powers and jurisdiction across all Cofán territories.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have travelled to the Cofán territory in Zábalo, Amazon to meet the outstanding people and help promote the long-term sustainability of a community-led conservation program of the vulnerable Amazon river turtle (Podocnemis unifilis), a sacred species for the Cofán.

The Amazon river turtle also known as Charapa

The turtle repopulation program began in 1991 by the Cofán in response to overexploitation and illegal commercialization of turtle eggs. Over 25 years later, they have successfully generated a natural over-production of the turtle population without destroying the environment or the species.

However, relying on outside funding for the continuation of this conservation program is not viable. In order to achieve long term sustainability, the Cofán have decided to embark on an eco-tourism project that involves raising donations for the release of baby turtles in Amazon basin rivers. Visitors will have the opportunity to partake in responsible conservation of a vulnerable species led by local guides allowing the Cofán to be economically self-sustainable.

This form of bio-trade establishes possibilities for the responsible use of natural resources. It provides a different perspective on the management of biological diversity, shifting the paradigm of maintaining a protected intact area without it generating its own resources to economically benefitting Indigenous nations.

For more information on these efforts, please visit the Cofán Survival Fund web page here.

The whole community participates as egg guardians including women & children in the process of collecting the eggs from the beach, transferring them to artificial pools & caring for the babies until they are about 6 months old & healthy for release into the wild.

Internship Experience at the United Nations University- Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH)

By Oluwabusola Olaniyan, 1st year MDP student

“Our environment must be protected by all means!” This has been my song since I became aware of the words “climate change” and “sustainability.”  In fact, the dynamic interactions between us, our environment and the earth as a whole are fascinating, but worrisome is the rocketing nature of humankind towards an unrecognisable existence. Therefore, it is imperative to understand and address environmental issues beyond the local, state, and national levels into an international level and this work experience is what I acquired in UNU-INWEH as a research intern.

In fulfilment of my study plan and towards earning an academic credit for the partial fulfilment of my Master’s program, I served as a secondary research intern at the Water and Human Development sector of the UNU-INWEH, an organisation that acts as the “United Nations’ Think Tank on water.”

My research examined global wastewater production and statistically analysed the results of the study. The credible research outcomes are relevant to respond directly to regional and global water crisis that facilitate efforts to meet UN Development goals. To an extent, the research results provide scientifically based evidence and knowledge to help resolve the global pressing water needs and thus, accelerate solutions to world challenges at the interface of water and development practice. The significance of the research is the centrality of water to sustainable development. Basically for the research, data were collected, organized, mined, managed, synthesized and analysed using excel spreadsheets and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). This way, the data analysis and synthesis provided insights, taking the research beyond pure facts. 

One of the most significant aspects of my internship was being surrounded by a network of passionate people whose main mission is to make differences in society by providing effective solutions through research methods. This allowed me to learn more from them, and helped me to understand the necessity to apply research for resolving problems in development matters. 

Finally, I was presented with a distinction award for the successful completion of the research.

UNU-INWEH Director, Dr. Zafar Adeel presenting award to Oluwabusola .