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Indigenous tribe that worships tigers helps protect the species
Spirituality isn’t usually considered a factor in conservation efforts. But indigenous peoples who worship wildlife may be helping protect endangered species from extinction.
The Soligas tribe in the Western Ghats of India reveres the Bengal tiger. Their coexistence in India’s Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve has helped the tiger population flourish, says Shadi Atallah, a natural resource economist in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at University of Illinois.
Atallah first learned about the Soligas from a BBC article that discussed how the tiger population doubled from 2010 to 2014, after the tribe obtained property rights to their ancestral land.
“The BBC article stated that the local tribe venerates the tiger and that worshiping relationship makes them the best conservationists,” Atallah says. “We could not find anything in the conservation economics literature that backs that claim. There was nothing that accounted for spirituality ecosystem service values.”
He and co-author Adrian Lopes wanted to investigate how the tribe’s spiritual beliefs might make them effective conservation stewards.
The researchers conducted a case study to assess spiritual value of the Bengal tiger for the Soligas tribe and show how such values can be harnessed as an economic tool for promoting sustainable wildlife conservation.
Atallah and Lopes used bioeconomic modeling to estimate four different management scenarios: Whether or not the Soligas tribe had property rights to the land, and whether or not poaching fines were implemented for illegal harvesting of the tigers.
Their results were clear: Tribal property rights were by far the best policy to protect the tigers.
“We observed that if you remove the property rights and poaching fines, the species goes to extinction in 49 years. Implementing poaching fines alone delays the extinction by nine years but does not prevent it,” Atallah says.
He suggests the tribe’s veneration of the tiger makes them less likely to look for the quick reward of illegal poaching.
There is little precedent for including spiritual values in economic models , Atallah notes.
“Putting a dollar value on spirituality is controversial,” he says. “But by leaving it out of economic calculations, we assume it has a value of zero.”
Bioeconomic models include biological information such as status and growth rate of a species and economic policies such as property rights and fines. They can also account for the values generated from wildlife ecotourism. But so far, they have not included wildlife spiritual values, Atallah states.
“If we can place a value on spiritual ecosystem services the way we do for ecotourism, we would not be under-accounting for those services when governments make policy decisions,” he notes.
Conservation efforts often consist of establishing protected areas by separating humans and wildlife. Such policies may involve expulsing indigenous communities and are controversial on ethical and humanitarian grounds. But Atallah and Lopes’ research also provides an economic argument by showing that local tribes are, indeed, the best conservationists.
The Indian Forest Rights Act grants indigenous tribes property rights to their ancestral lands; however, the tribes need to provide documentation for their claim to the land, and lack of proof has in some cases led to expulsion.
“Our research shows if a government has to decide which policy instrument to use, spending money in courts to secure the property rights of the local tribes is much more effective than spending money on catching and fining poachers,” Atallah says.
“If you care about the survival of the species, securing the property rights of the tribes that venerate them is the best tool you can have,” he concludes.
source: http://www.phys.org / Phys.org / Home> Biology> Plants & Animals / by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign / January 29th, 2021
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Tribal girl who cleared NET has plans for IAS
Srujana of Nagapura is the first Adivasi to clear eligibility test in Karnataka
An advasi girl from Nagapura on the outskirts of Nagarahole has become a source of inspiration for other girls from the tribal community to take up education and pursue an independent career.
Meet V.P. Srujana of Nagarahole Tribal Rehabilitation Centre at Nagapura, who created history of sorts when she became the first primitive tribal in the State to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) for assistant professor conducted by the National Testing Agency on behalf of the University Grants Commission (UGC).
In recognition of her achievement, Ms. Srujana was felicitated at a function at the centre on Wednesday. She had appeared for the UGC-NET in October 2020, the results of which were announced last month.
Belonging to the Pani Yerava community, which is a primitive and vulnerable microscopic tribe, she is also among the handful of Adivasis who have completed their post-graduation. Ms. Srujana, daughter of Veena and M.B. Prabhu, completed her M.Com. from the University of Mysore with a first class in 2019 and appeared for NET and cleared it, qualifying for assistant professor’s post.
She is from Balekovu tribal haadi in Virajpet taluk and did her primary schooling in Nallurupala Government Primary School in Hunsur. She stayed with her grandparents as there is no school at Balekovu. Her grandfather was working in the Forest Department at Hunsur as a Group D employee and hence Ms. Srujana stayed with them and went to school.
She completed her high school and PUC from the Government Junior College for Girls, Hunsur, and graduation from the Government Women’s College, Hunsur, after which she studied M.Com. Incidentally, her mother is the first graduate among the tribes and completed her degree from the University of Mysore in 1988.
Ms. Srujana told The Hindu that she drew inspiration from her parents who were supportive and now wishes to pursue Ph.D for which she is scouting for a guide. As someone conscious of the social backwardness of the community, Ms. Srujana intends to take up a topic relevant to the tribes.
This apart, she is also taking up the civil services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. “Now that I have completed PG and cleared NET, I will prepare for the IAS preliminary examination which will also help in appearing for the KAS examination,” said Ms. Srujana. “It is a proud privilege to say that she is our daughter,” said her elated parents who aver that she will inspire other members of the tribe to take up education.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by R Krishna Kumar / Mysuru – January 28th, 2021
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‘Milking’ opportunities: Karnataka farmers collab with company to produce organic dairy products
Rangegowda and Nagaveni who live in Karnataka’s Tiptur village, were farmers inundated with debt. Making matters worse, the bank wasn’t waiving their agricultural loan.
To stave off hunger, Rangegowda had no option but to think of selling his cows—his primary means of sustenance. Just in time, he met officers from Karnataka-based Akshayakalpa, a rural entrepreneurship initiative, and an organic milk brand. That fortuitous encounter resulted in circumstances reversing for the better.
The farmer collaborated with the company to employ scientific dairy methods such as free-stalling, making soil chemical-free, machine milking, organic fodder cultivation and antibiotic and hormone-free milk production. Together, they share the common vision of empowering smallholder subsistence dairy farmers to become entrepreneurs.
Rangegowda’s activities at the farm start at five in the morning with close observation of all cows. He grows his fodder crops free of chemicals and makes silage, a type of fodder made from green foliage crops, available at all times, that provides balanced minerals and proteins.
Subsequently, the couple opened their own organic fodder production unit that cultivates Napier grass, excellent fodder for cows. The dung is collected in a slurry pool and is used to fertilise fodder crops. Such measures have helped him optimise farm costs. He was able to pay back his loan and expand his farm by investing the profit.
Such kind of exposure has led him and his fellow dairy farmers to use apps like Stellapps, a herd management solution through which he monitors his farm production closely through a component called ‘mooON’ that assists farmers track health records, including records of vaccination, deworming, artificial insemination, pregnancy detection and more.
So far, low farm and cattle productivity and lack of scientific management of farms have led to higher costs and lower profitability for Indian farmers. “Indian dairy farmers are predominantly smallholders with an average herd size of two cattle. Delivering services to a fragmented group of many smallholder farmers is a costly affair for banks, veterinarians, feed providers and others. The lack of access to credit further restrains the farmer from expanding their farm and investing in mechanisation,” says Shashi Kumar, CEO, Akshayakalpa.
Through Stellapps’ mooPay FinTech solutions, farmers can avail loans easily. Easy access to credit helps them invest and start new enterprises. “It helps that funds are directed to the farmer’s bank account. This helps them to buy cattle through partner banks,” says Ranjith Mukundan, CEO and Co-founder, Stellapps. Such wealth-creating initiatives enrich villages, agitations nothwithstanding.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Bindu Gopal Rao, Express News Service / January 24th, 2021