The Bundelkhand region has remained neglected for quite some time from both political as well as development perspectives. Deforestation due to continuous neglect and exploitation of this one time rich resource in the region is becoming more and more widespread. The loss of forest cover, low soil depth, rocky substrata, encroachment on water bodies, increased population and biotic pressure, has even further degraded the environmental parameters in the region. This rapid change during the last few decades has changed the entire context of the main sources of livelihood i.e. agriculture and livestock rearing. Lack of political willingness to mitigate the core issues and indifferent attitudes of local communities towards adopting new practices in these new contexts, has resulted in a significant reduction in profits and outcomes through these livelihood options.

This reduction in profit through the livelihood options available, combined with further dependency of agricultural adjustment to climate variability and higher impacts of climate change in this region as a result of poor forest cover, makes the farming communities too vulnerable to climate change. Different stakeholders, agencies and organisations are working in the region to mitigate the different issues related to agriculture, e.g. regarding resources of water and energy. These resources are directly and indirectly related to the enhancement of the profits of agricultural and other livelihood practices.

Stakeholder Consultation

Despite the working experience of several agencies in the region, growth and development is slow and not sustainable since the knowledge achieved is not being shared or put to use properly. In addition, several stakeholders are facing similar kinds of constraints. The concept of the Bundelkhand Knowledge Platform (BKP) is to provide all current and future stakeholders, involved in the processes of development in this region, a forum to interact with each other, share experiences, knowledge and lessons learnt with the community members and others.

The vision behind this initiative is to build and strengthen a combined knowledgebase network of all the stakeholders, which will focus not only on planning and schemes recently accredited to this region, but also positively influence policy, which will support the sustainable development of this region in the long run.

In this context, it is certain that BKP will primarily focus on Climate Change related issues. This will help consolidate the efforts of the government and non-governmental agencies, to enhance the resilience of farmers towards climate change and other related challenges. Extensive and intensive efforts made on technical issues include water availability, water conservation, reliable energy sources and fertilizer doses, while efforts on institutional mechanisms involve crop insurance, weather linked insurance policies, credit cards etc.

Considering the time and financial constrains of different stakeholders, various modes of interaction have been identified to reinforce discussions, knowledge-sharing, and dialogues in addition to the regular physical meetings at different geographical locations. These modes are in the form of email groups, websites and facebook accounts. Email discussions can be initiated by members through B_K_P@googlegroups.com. Those who wish to become a member of the group, may do so by sending a mail to B_K_P+subscribe@google groups.com. Members who like to add or comment on the thread may respond to the mail using the “reply” button of their mailbox. The website of the Platform http://www.bundelkhand-vikasmanch. net, will soon be launched.

Though the initiative is at its nascent stage, it has attracted widespread attention from different agencies, therefore it is now time to contribute to this initiative and work towards the growth of the Bundelkhand region by all who are committed hereto. Sharing experiences, lessons, knowledge, and case studies etc. will strengthen us all and will be a step towards achieving our goals of common interests.

As the first step a perspective paper has been prepared by the BKP on water and energy issues. This document has been the outcome of over a year of consultative processes with Civil society Organisations (CSOs), academic and research organisations, governments (districts, state and national) and the private sectors. The perspective paper aims at providing the point of view of the stakeholders on the aspects of the existing policies and the manner in which the policies are being implemented.  q

Sonal Kulshreshtha
skulshreshtha@devalt.org

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