Aiming at ensuring involvement of local communities in forest conservation efforts, the Odisha government has decided to take up 500 identified sacred groves for their management during the current fiscal.
According to the State Forest and Environment department, a total 2,100 sacred groves have been identified for their conservation which is targeted to be completed by 2019. Management of 500 of these identified sacred groves would be taken up during 2015-16.
“Main objective behind management of sacred groves is to make bond between local communities and nature stronger. It is an established fact that tree density is higher around sacred groves compared to other areas. Since communities own sacred groves, conserving forest becomes easier,” said a top forest official.
The government’s assessment about presence of 2,100 sacred groves in the State is grossly under-estimated. Most tribal communities and their sub-groups in the State are having centuries-old sacred groves dotted in mountain ranges of southern, western and northern districts.
Odisha has about 9.6 million tribal population comprising 22.8 per cent of the total population and 9.2 per cent of total tribal population of the country. There are 62 tribal communities including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal communities in the State. ST households are about 1.8 million and 94.5 per cent of them are rural based. About 44.7 per cent of the State’s geographical area has been declared as scheduled area which covers 12 districts and is inhabited by about 68 per cent of tribals. These districts include Mayurbhanj, Koraput, Malkanagiri, Nabrangpur, Rayagada, Sundargarh, Kalahandi and Gajapati.
In 2013, Dongria Kondh, a particularly vulnerable tribal group, exhibited one of strongest resistances to protect their sacred groves, which would have been cleared for mining in Odisha’s Kalahandi and Rayagada districts. Their struggle finally thwarted the plan of powerful Vedanta Group to dig out bauxite ore in ecologically-rich Niyamgiri hill ranges.
The Forest department will spend around Rs.1 lakh on each sacred grove during 2015-16. Conservation plan will be chalked out by involving local tribal groups and field level forest officials. “If required, we will take further plantation and explore options of creating water source for sustainable conservation of sacred groves,” he said.
“Since communities own sacred groves, conserving forest becomes easier”
