High Degree of Fiscal Self-reliance

TMG’s large general account budget is relatively self-reliant without many subsidies from the national government. This is due to affluent revenue gained through local taxes (or “Metropolitan Tax”). The Metropolitan Tax accounted for 74.3% of the total revenue of TMG in FY2016. This proportion is considerably higher than that of all other local governments (45.1%). In contrast, the percentages of national treasury disbursements and local bonds are much lower than those in other local governments. Additionally, TMG is the only prefectural government that does not receive intergovernmental grants (i.e., local allocation tax) through the national tax redistribution system.

  • Large corporate-related tax revenue from one of the world’s largest business agglomerations.

Fiscal structures of economically powerful cities are by and large self-reliant due mainly to a large amount of corporate-related tax revenue. However, more public spending is expected to overcome social difficulties and create economic opportunities. An aging society will require huge government expenditures on social welfare programs in the coming decades. Policymakers must also consider the urgent issue of disaster prevention, which requires huge capital reinvestment.

Apoyo de instituciones y organizaciones de base con presencia en el territorio

La coordinación del proyecto ha venido conformando una alianza con gobiernos locales, centros de investigación y organizaciones de base con presencia específica en cada una de las cuencas del proyecto para asegurar una comunicación directa con los productores y otros actores del territorio. Gracias a la red de ONGs locales, se ha producido un mayor impacto en los talleres de presentación de información y resultados a los productores y a hacer una traducción eficaz de los diagnósticos a la realidad en campo. Ejemplos de este apoyo en el territorio incluyen: i) el manejo de intereses diferentes y de potenciales conflictos entre actores en el PN Cofre de Perote; ii) creación de sinergias por parte de las instituciones  a nivel de gobierno, a través de sus programas de asistencia social, de subsidios, dirigidos a ciertos lugares que coinciden con el proyecto; iii) establecimiento de líneas de trabajo coordinadas desde nivel gobierno, desde ANP hasta las OSC; iv) coalición entre OSC podían tener más impacto en el territorio, reducir costos; aprovechar las diferentes capacidades de los diferentes actores y potenciar el impacto de las acciones.

  • Una red de ONGs suficientemente experimentadas para poder ofrecer capacitación práctica a los productores;
  • Usar los niveles existentes de organización de las comunidades y productores, y las autoridades locales sobre los cuales construir las iniciativas, p. ej. asambleas ejidales, cooperativas pesqueras, unidades rurales de producción, etc.
  • Fortalecer un sentido compartido de identidad y pertenencia entre productores, comunidades y autoridades locales;
  • Ha sido clave contar con una red de organizaciones de la sociedad civil que colaboran en el proyecto y desarrollan buenas practicas en el territorio, y han ayudado en tener un mayor impacto en los talleres en donde se ha presentado la información a los productores.  
  • Es esencial tener un buen manejo y coordinación de la red de ONGs para el desarrollo de capacidades de los diferentes actores en el territorio;
  • Cada cuenca es diferente, por ello, contar con OSC y ONG como “socios” del proyecto, ha permitido tener una representación directa en los territorios y poder adaptar mejor los talleres y comunidades de aprendizaje de acuerdo a las caracteristicas de cada comunidad o región;
Los elementos clave para la conservación del ecosistema también son antrópicos

Como parte de la planeación territorial integral entre las subunidades dentro de las cuencas, los PAMIC consideran las dinámicas de transformación del paisaje y buscan identificar y conservar los elementos clave del ecosistema, tanto naturales como antrópicos. En la filosofía de los PAMIC, conservar no significa “no tocar” aquellos ecosistemas saludables, sino que interesa fomentar y sembrar la idea de que la conservación no es sólo para los ecosistemas naturales conservados o vegetación secundaria sino también incluye recuperar y usar aquellas prácticas y técnicas que permiten un buen uso del territorio como seria en café de sombra, el manejo forestal sustentables. Estas prácticas son también consideradas como elementos clave del ecosistema y son prácticas que van más allá de conservar sólo por conservar. Por ejemplo, un manejo agrosilvopastoril implica no extender el área de pastoreo sino, concentrar en el territorio un manejo más integrado, en el cual tenemos en un mismo territorio, mejores rendimientos y mayores impactos. Estamos beneficiando a los ecosistemas y a la economía local que hace un buen uso del territorio, suelo, servicios ambientales

  • Confianza hacia los beneficios sociales y ambientales del manejo sustentable y comunitario, y aprendizaje institucional sobre la ineficiencia de la visión de “no tocar” como medio para conservar a los ecosistemas;
  • Red de actores con conocimiento del territorio que apoyan el manejo integrado y el acompñamiento constante de los proeductores;
  • Es de vital importancia hacer uso de las cooperativas existentes para generar, liderar y administrar nuevas técnicas y regulaciones en las actividades productivas existentes
  • La gente, al liderar la toma de decisiones sobre el manejo, se ha apropiado de los PAMIC y eso se ve reflejado en el territorio;
  • Las comunidades y los productores están más dispuestos a involucrarse y practicar iniciativas autoorganizadas para la gestión sostenible de los recursos, entre ellos el agua; cuando no sienten potencialmente amenazadas sus actividades productivas. Así mismo, cuando identifican al proyecto como una ventana de oportunidad para obtener acompañamiento y posible financiamiento para mejorar sus actividades productivas, el compromiso e interés por manejar sustentablemente el ecosistema aumenta;
  • Para que este building block funcione adecuadamente, necesita de las Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil (OSC) y Organizaciones No Gubernamentales (ONG) que trabajen con los productores de manera permanente.
Creando una visión común del territorio a partir del agua

Para promover una conectividad operativa entre las diversas subcuencas, incluyendo ecosistemas y prácticas productivas, se buscó un hilo conductor que vinculara la dinámica de los diversos territorios y actores de la parte alta y de la parte baja de cada cuenca. El modelado de la provisión superficial de agua y del potencial de retención de sedimentos en las diversas subcuencas permitió identificar las relaciones emisor-receptor-acumulación, y de ahí empezar a conectar las dinámicas entre las zonas que demanda los SE (ej, poblaciones, zonas turísticas y hoteleras) y aquellos que los producen (zonas montañosas con cobertura forestal). A partir de ello, se reunió a los diversos actores para enseñarles las características de los territorios donde estos dos servicios estaban presentes y, sobre todo fomentar, a través de la generación de información clave, a nivel productivo y de servicios hidrológicos, que los actores de gobierno y de asociaciones civiles, se vieran en el territorio y se preguntaran qué se hace, cómo se hace, y por qué.

  • Contar con una red de ONGs locales con gran experiencia de trabajo en el territorio para poder proporcionar tutorias y acompañamiento a los productores;
  • Contar con materiales de enseñanza de gran calidad y métodos apropiados para las comunidades
  • Compromiso e interés de los diversos actores e instituciones locales hacia el proceso entero

La conectividad intrínseca en la metodología de los PAMIC ha probado ser un aspecto que atrae el interés de las instancias de gobierno y por los actores del territorio porque ayudan a identificar con quien trabajar en el territorio para trabajar estrategias productivas (ej. café, caña). Este aspecto permite a los actores locales, autoridades y usuarios del territorio ir entendiendo colectivamente los dinamismos entre las diversas subcuencas. Además, los PAMIC han favorecido el diálogo y el reconocimiento entre autoridades municipales de una misma cuenca sobre el tema del agua.

Gobernanza y arreglos inter-instituciones a diferentes niveles

Para la creación y desarrollo de los PAMIC, diversas instancias de gobierno pertenecientes al sector ambiental unieron esfuerzos y diseñaron un proyecto muy vanguardista e innovador que surge de la sincronía de tres instituciones de gobierno federal y de un fondo privado. El INECC coordina la construcción de los planes (PAMIC); la CONANP consolida la gestión y operación en ANPs, y la CONAFOR implementa el esquema de Pago por Servicios Ambientales (PSA) del fondo de biodiversidad. Por su parte, el FMCN contribuye con su experiencia en el manejo de esquemas de financiamiento; mediante dichos arreglos interinstitucionales, se formaron dos fondos más para detonar efectos. Además, el diseño de gobernanza y coordinación interinstitucional incluye un Comité Técnico del Proyecto que supervisa y dirige la operación del C6; una Unidad Coordinadora del Proyecto y dos Unidades Regionales de Proyecto, las cuales tienen la responsabilidad de la coordinación diaria en temas técnicos y logísticos. Este diseño de coordinación interinstitucional es parte esencial para generar mayores alcances en el ordenamiento del territorio buscando impactos colectivos.

  • Trabajo muy coordinado entre las instituciones con una visión clara sobre el uso de los instrumentos de financiamiento y gestión;
  • Interés de las instituciones por participar y contribuir con su experiencia y el apoyo que ellas brindan a través de sus programas de asistencia social, de subsidios, dirigidos a ciertos lugares;
  • Recursos financieros e institucionales suficientes.

Los esfuerzos de coordinación interinstitucional se vieron beneficiados por la creación de un esquema de gobernanza policéntrica, entre niveles y actores.Dicho esquema, respaldado por acuerdos formales entre las instituciones participantes, ha establecido de manera transparente las “reglas del juego” para todos los demás actores involucrados en el proyecto a nivel regional y local.Este aspecto de formalidad institucional ha derivado, en la práctica, en un instrumento de planeación muy dinámico que fortalece la toma de decisiones y que ayuda a cada actor, desde el nivel en donde está trabajando, a aprovechar los diversos elementos de planeación y de manejo del territorio. Así también, se ha visto que incrementa la confianza de las instituciones en los procesos territoriales a escala local. Por ejemplo, al mejorar las decisiones de las instancias gubernamentales para aterrizar recursos de sus programas. CONAFOR inició ya este camino incluyendo en sus criterios de prelación,favoreciendo a aquellas zonas que cuentan un PAMIC. Este criterio es tener capital para esquemas de conservación.

Community and community institutions

At the village level, project planning, implementation and monitoring is driven by a Community Based Institution (CBI). The CSOs sensitize the communities and mobilize them to form CBIs. The CSOs prioritize reviving existing CBIs rather than forming new institutions.

 

Each village CBI comprises representatives/ leaders from the village community. To ensure equitable representation, the community undertakes a village wealth ranking exercise, with help from the CSO partners. This exercise categorizes the village families into four strata – prosperous, semi-prosperous, poor, and poorest. Representatives from all strata are included in the CBI.

 

The wealth ranking also forms the basis of implementing all household level project interventions. A landless family which is categorized ‘poorest’ will be given first preference for livelihood development activities in the village. This structure ensures that the most vulnerable are supported through the project. The CBIs and CSOs also create village level plans or vision documents.

 

These plans are the guiding documents for the villages and are created to address the prevalent issues in each village. These plans also help the project to adopt a bottoms-up approach of implementation and address the most pressing issues of the village

Setting the right expectations with community 

Participatory and transparent approach: bottoms-up mode of planning and implementation

Selection of the most vulnerable communities

Community contribution and ownership in all project interventions

 

Each CBI has a nominated President, secretary and treasurer who carry the joint responsibility to initiate preparation of village level development plans, overlook its implementation and monitoring at the village level. This structure can vary depending on the existing institutions and community preference.

Essential to involve community is all aspects of planning and take their inputs before finalizing activities

Before the project was initiated the proponents undertook a detailed vulnerability assessment. After project initiation, the project team spent a great deal of time in identifying village level issues with each community.

Building rapport with the community takes a lot of time (as much as a year). This has to be considered before initiating implementaiton of activities within a village.

Community institutions need time to be functional. It is worth spending time to build a strong foundation before initiating intensive work on livelihood/ conservation initiatives. Robust institutions were deemed important towards achieving project sustainability. There are instances where CBIs in project villages (without the intervention of the CSO) took a lead to solve village level issues/ conflicts and initiate development conservation measures. 

RBS Foundation India - leading the KPC initiative

RBS FI mission is to build resilience of India’s ecologically critical landscapes and the vulnerable communities which reside within these. With this view, RBS FI has been supporting its partner CSO – FES since 2010 in the KPC landscape.

 

Overtime, RBS FI recognized that KPC is facing threats that hamper its functionality as a wildlife corridor, carbon sink, watershed, and livelihood source. These threats are multi-dimensional and to address these there is a need to get relevant stakeholders together and working towards a common goal. (esp. in absense of a single leading legal framework)

 

Multiiple stakeholders with varying interests and orientations exist and influence a landscape, including the community that resides within. It is thus critical to create a balance within these stakeholders. Getting stakeholders together requires a driving force - it can be an individual/ group /organisation/a set of organisations - they can be a public/private or a civil society.

 

RBS FI took a lead role in getting all the stakeholders together, including Forest Department, CSOs and other government agencies. Contributed self funds of USD 2.12 million and leveraged another USD 2.56 from UN Climate Adaptation Fund. RBS FI continues to contribute with time and resources towards the well being of KPC

- Long term engagement with the landscape, RBS FI has been working in the KPC since 2010. 

- Continuous flow of financing for the project interventions. RBS FI, CSOs and government agencies have ensured that efforts are ongoing in the landscape through provision of sustainable financing

- Having a flexible approach

- Encouraging CSOs and government agencies with strong ideologies to work together requires having a flexible approach and engaging with the agencies involved regularly. 

Continuous engagement, especially with government agencies is required, especially since corridors don’t enjoy a special legal framework. While they do get covered under a combination of them corridors comprise of protected areas, territorial divisions, revenue and private lands where there are multiple legal systems at work including Forest Department, Revenue Department and others.

 

Another challenge is that government officers keep getting transfered to other roles in the system, and we have to start rapport and context building with them from scratch. 

 

Thus, creating institutions like the PSC and ensuring that they become robust is essential in initiatives like these. Such institutions put the onus on the government and its representations to ensure continuity of one streamlined approach in the landscape to address the most pressing issues.

Civil Society Organisations - Thematic experts and driving implementation

 The project is being implemented by four CSOs.

 

FES 

Core expertise/ issues addressed: Commons governance

Institutional Development; Eco Restoration; Invasive species management

7,500 families in 87 villages in Mandla and Balaghat Districts

www.fes.org.in/

 

PRADAN

Core expertise/ issues addressed: Gender issues; Women self-help groups; Women centric livelihoods; Small enterprises – poultry, goat rearing.

10,000 families in 136 villages in Balaghat District.

www.pradan.net/

 

WOTR 

Core expertise/ issues addressed: Watershed treatment; Agricultural development; Agro advisories using local weather stations; disaster risk reduction, Knowledge Management

4,000 families in 132 villages in Seoni District.

www.wotr.org/

 

BAIF

Core expertise/ issues addressed:- Livestock management; Selective breed improvement; Feed and disease management; Dairy value chains

BAIF has livestock expertize, working in all three districts and supporting all 3 partner CSOs on livestock management. 

www.baif.org.in/

 

The CSO partners work in tandem. They undertake regular cross-learning & best practices sharing to ensure that the threats to KPC are addressed holistically. The CSOs form an important building block of the larger "working together" concept.

Enabling factors include - adopting a transparent and participative approach. 

Recognizing and appreciating the efforts and expertise of each CSO working in the landscape.

Identifying their core skills and helping them adopt core skills of other CSOs

 

A catalyst is required - to get the CSOs working together and build relationships/partnerships. This takes a lot of time and effort. Requires the stakeholders involved to be flexible and make joint efforts for the greater good of the landscape.  

Having a set of partners working in the same landscape with a set of diverse core skills made RBS FI recognize the need to help these CSOs in identifying areas of improvement to achieve one common goal. 

With this view cross learning and best practice sharing was established. This helped all the CSOs working together appreciate efforts of one other and incorporate others CORE skills into their project too.

 

PRADAN learnt from FES, started appreciating the important role commons play and started incorporating conservation efforts in their plan of activities. They initiated a dialogue in their villages to conserve and use natural resources sustainably.

 

FES from PRADAN, recognized the role women plan in conservation and started gender focussed activities and started encouraging women partcipation in the village institutions 

 

WOTR learnt from FES, recognized the importance of invasive species eradication and techniques of eradication. FES learnt from WOTR the benefits of watershed development and so on.

 

These CSOs are now regularly adopting best practices from one another  

Project Steering Committee to institutionalise partnerships

The project includes a multi layered - governing and implementing framework. The Project Steering Committee forms the highest level of this framework. The PSC is chaired by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, and co- chaired by the Head, RBS FI. Other members of the PSC include:

Representatives from the Indian Forest Services; ( the Field Director of Kanha Tiger Reserve, the Field Director of Pench Tiger Reserve, and the Chief Conservator of Forests of the Mandla, Balaghat and Seoni Districts);

A representative of the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development, Government of India;

Concerned government agencies from the State Govt. of Madhya Pradesh comprising the Farmer welfare and Agriculture Department, the New and Renewable Energy Department and the Animal Husbandry Department;

The Regional General Manager of the Forest Development Corporation;

The Chief Functionary/ representatives of Implementing CSO partners as well as the Civil Society Organisations (including the ones implementing the project)

 

The PSC meets every 6 months. It provides supervision for the implementation of the project activities. It facilitates collaboration among its diverse membership for intensifying project impacts. It resolves any challenges.

The PSC brings the concerned government agencies, with their respective mandates, manpower and government funding, together with the Civil Society Organizations, who bring specialized technical skills in natural resource management and other fields. This requires the willingness on behalf of the senior government officials to participate in such a forum.  It requires a high level of technical expertise from the participating Civil Society Organizations to provide valuable inputs into the multi-stakeholder forum.

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The multi-stakeholder membership of the PSC provides an important institutional platform for ensuring sustainablity of the interventions. Chairmanship of the PSC is provided by a senior government official (the Chief Wildlife Warden of the State of Madhya Pradesh - a senior Indian Forest Service officer), which ensures excellent coordination among concerned government agencies, and collabration with other stakeholders who are working in the Kanha Pench Corridor. 

The diverse membership, and mix of stakeholders, with different knowledge and perspectives, share lessons learned and experiences with each other. The CSOs can interact directly with the Government agency representatives which ensures that their respective livelihood schemes are implemented effectively. The PSC also allows the project team to have a dialogue with relevant government agencies and ensures that viable on-going government schemes are leveraged for the project area. 

The ecosystem approach into practice

Under an ecosystem approach, efforts seek to improve the livelihoods and resilience of ecosystems in order to reduce the vulnerability of local communities to the challenges of erratic rains, changing pf seasons, storms and consequent loss of crops. The EbA measures promoted are:

  • Restoration of riverbank forests to prevent river bank erosion during extreme storms and flash floods. This is promoted with annual Binational Reforestation Days and guided by a Restoration Opportunities study in river banks. 
  • Agrodiversification was undertaken with local farmers to increase the number and varieties of crop species, fruit and wood trees in their plots, while combining with animals. This aim to improve the resilience of the system against erratic rainfall and changing seasonal patterns. The model is locally named as "integral farms".
  • Learning and exchange through a network of resilient farmers with knowledge on EbA.
  • Organization of agrobiodiversity fairs for the promotion and rescue of endemic seeds.

The model used a "learning by doing" approach and the adoption of iterative decisions that identify short-term strategies in light of long-term uncertainties. Learning and evaluation allows new information to be considered and inform policies at different levels. 

  • Climate change and, in particular, changes in rainfall patterns, are factors that concern many basin stakeholders, which increases their willingness to prioritize actions that favour water and food security. As a result, many farmers agreed to incorporate sustainable agricultural practices in their farms, taking full ownership of them.
  • The integral farms model facilitates understanding of the value of ecosystem services and helps to substantiate governance with an ecosystem approach.
  • When promoting dialogues on EbA, traditional and indigenous knowledge and experiences concerning climate variability and natural resources must be taken into account. This not only favours coherency in the selection of EbA measures, but also allows elements to be captured that can inform the actions of agricultural extension agencies in the basin and enrich national and regional policies.
  • Indigenous knowledge is fundamental when it comes to knowing which seeds and crop varieties are best adapted to the socio-ecological context. Organization of agrobiodiversity fairs for the exchange and preservation of endemic species seeds intended to enhance the planting of native species. Some are more resilient against climate related stressors; a diverse farm enable and agro-ecosystems turns into protecting communities from negative impacts of climate change, providing food security.
  • The reforestation events proved to be highly valuable activities. This type of action leaves an indelible mark on children and youth, and motivates them to replicate the activity in the future.