Ecological Restoration of Common Pastures through a Community Led Multi-Stakeholder Partnership

Kalyanpura watershed, spread over 5,175 ha area with 16 villages, is situated in the drought prone district of Bhilwara in Rajasthan. Prior to project initiation, only 27% of the area in Kalyanpura was under agriculture and the balance was mainly accounted for by village commons used for livestock grazing and fuel wood collection. Although the area receives an average annual rainfall of 700 mm, the undulating landscape, shallow soil cover and the absence of any soil moisture conservation resulted in high runoff and degraded commons. Recurring droughts and absence of irrigation facilities made farm based livelihood vulnerable to seasonality, especially so to extreme weather episodes. In this context, a collective initiative to revive degraded commons and conserve water was critical to sustain livelihoods and protect the native biodiversity of area. ITC Limited responded to these challenges by launching a unique multi-stakeholder partnership in 2007. It brought together the Government of Rajasthan, ITC Limited, and the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES - an NGO) with the objective of restoring the common pastures in order to increase availability of and access to natural resources, especially for the poor. This initiative gave special focus to strengthen village community based governance of commons through rules, regulation and systems evolved by grassroots institutions. In the project period, 1.55 lakh CMT of in-situ soil moisture conservation work was undertaken, 77 water harvesting structures were constructed, and 1.85 lakh saplings were planted on 1,141 ha in 17 pastures, in addition to the formation of pasture protection committees. This paper presents the impact of these initiatives on biodiversity, soil properties and governance of the common pasture lands in the watershed