SRISTI*  (Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions) is a developmental voluntary organisation, set up to strengthen the Honey Bee Network of grassroots innovators engaged in conserving biodiversity and developing sustainable solutions to local problems. The specific objectives include the following:

* To expand space in society for grassroots initiatives and innovations at grassroots with special focus on women’s indigenous knowledge.

 

* To document, analyze and disseminate technological as well as institutional innovations developed by people themselves.

 

* To validate and add value to local innovations through experiments (on farm and on-station) and laboratory research for generating nature-friendly sustainable technologies/products.

 

* To conserve local biodiversity through in-situ as well as ex-situ gene banks managed by local people.

 

* To protect intellectual property rights of grassroots innovators and to generate incentive models for recognizing, respecting and rewarding grassroots creativity and associated ethical values and norms.

 

* To provide venture support to grassroots innovators to scale up their products and services through commercial or non-commercial channels.

 

* To embed the insights learnt from grassroots innovations in formal educational system in order to expand the conceptual and cognitive space available to these innovations.

 

Honey Bee is a metaphor indicating ethical as well as professional values. Cross-cultural fertilization of ideas and initiatives is one of the fundamental tenets of the Honey Bee Network. Collaborative efforts of Honey Bee Network members during the last ten years in carrying out the documentation of people’s knowledge systems have been pursued on the basis of following principles:

* Whatever is learnt    from people must be shared with them in their own language.

* All practices/innovations must be identified by the names and addresses of the individuals in order to acknowledge their contribution and pursue protection of IPRs of grassroots innovators.

* Whatever gains are made by those who document or add value to the local knowledge, innovations or practices should be shared with the providers of knowledge and others who have contributed to value addition in a fair and equitable manner.

The evolution of Honey Bee philosophy preceded the Earth Summit and Rio convention so far as the ethics of extraction of local knowledge is concerned. It is a different matter that we have not had sufficient impact on the basic tenor of academic discourse on local knowledge as yet. The local innovators and knowledge- rich people still remain anonymous in most writings and references and their knowledge is not considered a resource. Hence, the impact on policy and institutional structures has been better as evident from the setting up of National Innovation Foundation by Central Government.

SRISTI believes that value addition to indigenous knowledge will help local communities co-exist with biodiversity resources by reducing primary extraction and generating long-term benefits. Further this would facilitate income earning opportunities for people and enhance sustainable resource use. The spirit of sustainability is sought to be achieved by blending the secular and the sacred streams of consciousness around basically six E’s (Ethics, Excellence, Equity, Efficiency, Environment and Education)

Most of the activities and projects of SRISTI are being pursued jointly in collaboration with IIM-A and other institutional and individual members of the network. In 1993, Prof. Anil K Gupta got the prestigious international PEW Conservation Scholar Award (1993-96) for his research work in the field of biodiversity conservation and indigenous knowledge systems. This provided financial support to various activities of the network. Later, SRISTI received grants from various international funding agencies viz. IDRC, Canada, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Gothenburg University etc., in the form of action research projects. However, the major contribution has been received from the members and institutions of the network that shouldered the responsibility of various activities voluntarily. The Honey Bee Newsletter remains primarily a self financial activity of SRISTI Innovations.

Knowledge Network (KN) is a multi-media, multi-node and multi-level network of individuals, institutions and social movements engaged in generating solutions for sustainable development through local creativity and innovation.

The conceptual framework (fig. 2) shows how survival strategies of different kinds are guided by prior knowledge systems incorporating differential access to factor and product markets. These are further influenced by policy transfers. Any dynamic knowledge system has to evolve through continuance of traditional knowledge as well as contemporary innovations and these could be pursued by individuals as well as communities. The KN aims to scout, document, disseminate (box-1) creative knowledge and add value to it so that commercializable and diffusible products could be developed (box-2), that evolves benefit sharing mechanism to reward individuals and collective creativity (box-3). It is obvious that to sustain livelihood strategies through combinations of these options, several simultaneous changes (box 4 a & b) will be needed at micro and macro policy and institutional level. Sustainable livelihoods are inconceivable without sustainable Natural Resource Management and associated Knowledge systems.

*  Network-less articulated innovative individuals and communities across the world to establish symbiotic linkages between innovators, scientists, investors, entrepreneurs and green consumers.

 

* Add value to the local ecological and technological knowledge through documentation, characterization and validation with a view to improve sub-optimal livelihood strategies and convert them into optimal ones.

 

* Generate incentives for the grassroots innovators for conserving natural resources; and to generate among the younger generation a curiosity and commitment towards the local creativity
and culture of experimentation, ethics and excellence

 

* Protect intellectual property rights of local innovators by setting up a global and national registry system and using various other means under the provision of international agreements like CBD, GATT, TRIPs and ICCD.

* Develop and operationalize an international and national fund for recognizing, respecting and rewarding creativity and innovations at grassroots level, for protection of basic human rights and gender equality.

 

Real time connectivity through the computerized databases and multi-media technology across language and cultural barriers may increase societal capacity to spawn, stimulate and sustain grassroots innovations. SRISTI has developed a prototype of multi- media database that has been shared very widely in different local as well as national and international fora. The multi-media database was displayed at Global Knowledge Conference Toronto, 1997 and more recently at an international exhibition "Hope to Harvest" held in Rome during 6-13 February, 1998. The exhibition was organized by IFAD. At present the database carries profiles of 30 innovators from all over the country. INFODev division of the World Bank, Washington DC has approved a proposal to set up such a Knowledge Network in Gujarat with nodes in two other states. NISSAT (National Information System for Science & Technology) and DSIR have already in principle agreed to support the development of an electronic multi-language textual database of innovations that include names and addresses of the innovators. The objective of developing this electronic database is to establish a wide area network among four to five rural Gandhian Institutions in Gujarat, that are already member of Honey Bee Network. This would enable farmer innovators from neighbouring regions to have access to a much more rapid means of communication among themselves as well as with scientists, entrepreneurs, green consumers etc. The information will be transmitted through the electronic channels. The multi-media database was also presented to the Prime Minister’s Task force on Information Technology, besides being shown to farmers, tribals and landless workers during the Shodh Yatra (journey of exploration). Multi-media database helps in overcoming barriers of language, literacy and localism, i.e., we can learn even if we know only our mothertongue. We can learn from not just our own village or locality but also from other regions or countries. We can learn even if we are illiterate through audio-visual combinations.

SRISTI has been documenting and disseminating grassroots innovations through Honey Bee, Lok-Sarvani and six other regional language versions. We have evolved several approaches for documentation and validation of innovations. We have surveyed about 4500 villages and documented more than 10, 000 innovations related to agriculture, livestock health and management, farm implements and machinery, poultry keeping, leather tanning, herbal medicine, vegetable dye etc., from within the country and rest of the world. Three-fourth of them have been documented from within Gujarat through students, grassroots functionaries and teachers. The rest are collected from the other parts of India through our regional collaborators. Some of the practices are also contributed by volunteers of Honey Bee Network from countries like Colombia, Mongolia, USA, Nigeria, Tanzania, Srilanka, Mexico, Switzerland, Phillipines, Bangladesh etc. These innovations are catalogued in a computerized database in English as well as in Gujarati.

1.1.1 Honey Bee Newsletter - a sdialogue on creativity of farmers, artisans, pastoralists and other grassroots innovators has been reviewed in many international as well as national publications. Feedback from our readers is very inspiring. Honey Bee Network is now spread over more than 75 countries. We do receive reprimand over delays in publications or some times about little inaccuracies in technical information. Our effort is to rise to the expectations of readers. There are several examples of the way innovations from one region have triggered trials by farmers in other region.

We would like the local language versions to grow akin to Honey Bee as a center of excellence in local knowledge systems in the corresponding region. So far all our regional networks have been supported and sustained through volunteers inspired by HB Network. Most importantly, we need to recognise the editors of local language version of Honey Bee News letter viz. Mr. P Vivekanandan, Dr. T N Prakash, Dr. P Geervani, Dr. Sudhirender Sharma, Mr Arun Chandan, Mr. J S Johl etc. We are always on look out for such like-minded creative people who would volunteer to build up a network in their regions. The network, created at the Honey Bee central node and its regional language centres, receives queries from the farmers regarding some problems they are facing, or comments on the solutions published in the Newsletter. Though the network relies primarily on textual communication, face to face interaction also takes place during workshops, seminars, meetings etc.

HB Network and SRISTI will be very happy to learn from colleagues who would like to initiate local language versions in different parts of India as well as other countries. Given the nature of work and the accountability towards the people with whom we are working, SRISTI would extend its support to the collaborators in becoming self-reliant.

Documentation of grassroots innovations at such a large scale can only be done through building up a network. In the case of Honey Bee, the most successful network has been the collaboration with the Gandhian Institutions, Vidyapiths. Over the past eight years of Honey Bee’s existence, we tried several other strategies too.

(i) Survey of innovations through students (ii) Survey of innovations through innovators (iii) Competition for "innovation scouts" (iv) Biodiversity contest for documentation of (v) Lateral learning workshop innovations (vii) Scanning of old literature (vi) Dissertations by students (ix) Shodh Yatra (viii) Fairs. Some of these approaches are being used by our collaborators in other regions as well.

Students of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in agriculture and rural development are oriented during their summer vacations to enable them to identify innovations. The orientation process is very simple. The students are asked to narrate some of their experiences, which they found interesting, intriguing and inspiring. By underlining the ones that we find counter intuitive or less obvious, we convey what we are looking for. The message about what we are looking for gets across through their own insights. The students then survey different villages of Gujarat. They also collect addresses of a few farmers who either know about the innovator and/or have fields adjoining the fields of innovative farmer. We write letters to these contacts later to have a first round of confirmation. Later, another student/field investigator revisits each practice to avoid any error in the process.

This approach has been used to identify innovative artisans, through a process similar to "snowballing". In some cases, the innovators themselves have travelled to look for others of their kind. This process has been very rewarding in identifying innovations in farm implements and soil and water conservation.

Competitions have been organized in Gujarat and Rajasthan among students of agricultural colleges and grassroots-level government functionaries (DRDA). Workshops were first organized to provide some background about the prior research and to illustrate many of the innovations that had been identified by village level workers. No reference was made to any of the so-called "rapid" methods (RRA) for the simple reason that the ability to scout innovators depended far more on one’s framework of understanding rural creativity than on any particular method. The entries sent in by the participants were evaluated and the winners awarded prizes. The innovators were honoured. One positive impact of such honouring has been the increase in the esteem that such innovators now command in their villages and among peers.

Biodiversity Contests for documentation of innovations

Biodiversity contests are organised among school children, and adults. The aim of these contests is to scout "little genius" among children, and make them aware of their collective ecological knowledge systems. The contest also helps in accelerating the knowledge transfer from older generation to the younger one. Children are asked to bring samples of plants they know about, on an appointed day. They are quizzed about the uses of the plants, and other nature-related aspects. The first contest was organized in Madurai, India by SEVA, collaborating NGO for Tamil version of Honey Bee. Similar contests were organized in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat in India and in Vietnam and Bhutan. What was most remarkable about these contests was the fact that young children from very disadvantaged backgrounds showed an extraordinary ability to inventorize biodiversity and its local uses.

SRISTI has organised about 17 contests in different parts of Gujarat, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Assam. Some readers of Honey Bee from Vietnam and Bhutan also organised biodiversity contests in their regions. In a recent modification, ecological indicators were collected through such contests. More than sixty indicators related to prediction of rainfall and other climatic parameters, disease and pest attacks, fertility of soil, performance of animals and crops, were identified. Many of these indicators would have to be validated through systematic observation, cross-cultural testing and scientific appraisal. These indicators embody wisdom encoded in the form of easy-to-interpret signals. This knowledge can blend very well with scientific knowledge.

At some places, parallel activities like songs, drawing competitions, recipe contests were organised to make the contest more interesting. For instance, women participants in the Gavra village of Palanpur taluka, showed tremendous spirit of culinary creativity in forest conservation and health aspects. They brought various recipe of less known uncultivated plants.

SRISTI provides scope for lateral learning among those who solve problems and not those who merely articulate the problem. In that sense, it experiments with solution augmenting approach rather than just problem solving approach. To strengthen lateral learning among the grassroots innovators SRISTI has initiated the concept of Shodh Sankal - chain of experimenting farmers. Initially the network meetings were organized by SRISTI, now the meetings are held by the farmers themselves at their cost. So far farmers have held six such meetings, which encourages several farmers from the host villages to share their own innovations. It also encourages the farmer to take a major responsibility towards networking and diffusion of ideas.

Dissertations by students

SRISTI has been assisting undergraduate women students of Mahila Gram Vidyapith, Nardipur, Gujarat which is an autonomous educational institution based on Gandhian principles of education. A team of faculty members from Vidyapith, IIM-A and SRISTI have guided the students in accomplishing their thesis as part of their field research. Students were encouraged to focus their study on women’s indigenous knowledge system. Till date, about 140 dissertations have been produced . The subjects of thesis included indigenous veterinary healers, institutions for the maintenance of pastures, breeding bulls, sharing animals and indigenous dairy products.

Scanning of old and vernacular literature

Language constraints have definitely restrained sharing of knowledge universally. There are many visionaries and experts at regional levels who did not get their due credit just because they were not good at English and did not publish in English. As a result many times it so happens that we end up giving credit for ‘reinventing the wheel’. And many more times we miss many insights and wait till we ‘reinvent’ them. One of the purposes of scanning the old vernacular literature is to bring these unaccredited knowledge systems into the light.

For example, an old Gujarati book by Gangaben (1894) of Mansa village in Gujarat, provides an excellent example of what woman’s creativity can accomplish. She was a young widow when she wrote a book in 1893 that included 2080 recipes for self-employment for rural youth. Many herbal pesticides, vegetable dyes, ways of storing grains are among the various ideas she wrote about. It is said that 1000 copies of this book were sold in just the first three days after publication. A reference to this book in our various meetings generates tremendous enthusiasm among field workers and farmers and communicates the need for documentation and dissemination.

There may be similar traditions in other societies and thus the first step in participatory research should be to trace the living traditions that are rooted in local culture and history. Instead of grafting on an alien terminology, concepts grounded in local philosophy, culture and traditions should be used as the initial building blocks.

Agricultural fairs

Agricultural fairs are traditional institutions in rural India where lot of useful information on agricultural eco-friendly products, socio-cultural aspects, local traditions, etc., is spread across regions and communities. Loksarvani organises stalls in these fairs for sharing information with farmers. Thousands of farmers visit the stalls for accessing information, and they also share their own innovations in turn with SRISTI members. SRISTI has participated in twenty-nine such fairs. Experience gathered during these has been extremely useful. For instance, we learnt that placing working models of innovations was extremely effective in attracting large number of visitors to the stall. Convinced about the cost effectiveness and utility of this medium, SRISTI plans to divert more time and resources to this method of documentation and exchange of knowledge. We have also kept computerized local language textual as well as multi-media databases at these stalls for sharing with them what we have learned from other farmers.

SRISTI has organised four Shodh Yatras (journey of exploration) in Saurashtra and North Gujarat in 1998 and 1999 with the objective of participatory learning and dissemination of experimental and inventive ethics among communities. The idea is to walk through the villages for 8-10 days during extreme summer and winter covering maximum distance of about 250 km, to learn from local experts, honour them and also share the experiences of innovators travelling with us. The first journey of about two hundred and fifty km was undertaken on foot on 15th May (from Gir to Gadhada), the second one of one hundred and fifty km on 31st December, 1998( from Amirgarh to Tundia). The third journey took place at Bharuch on 15th May, 1999 (Bholagamri to Ningadh) and the fourth one in Kutch on 26th December (from Nilpar to Nani-khakar). SRISTI honoured the most knowledgeable men and women in almost every village during the journey. In one of the villages a small competition was organised and elderly women were requested to identify the women who could cook the best using uncultivated foods/vegetables. Biodiversity competitions were organised among children, prizes and certificates were distributed to the outstanding children. Farmers showed tremendous interest in the computerised multi-media and the Gujarati textual database, which in fact added a new approach to augment curiosity about innovations. The gesture of honouring the knowledgeable people in their village overwhelmed the villagers. The innovations dealing with non-chemical agriculture, emerging issues about loss of wild as well as domesticated agro-biodiversity, declining water table and the non sustainable practices and need for stemming erosion of local ecological and technological knowledge were also discussed. SRISTI is also trying to uncover the potential of women innovators during Shodh Yatra for documenting women’s knowledge system.

Honey Bee database contains the innovations documented through Honey Bee Network and its regional collaborators.

Literature database has collection of about 20,000 reprints, documents, and reports on subjects related to natural sciences, indigenous knowledge systems, economics, environment, sustainable development etc. In addition SRISTI receives more than 300 newsletters and journals on related subjects in exchange with Honey Bee or otherwise.

Database of Indigenous Institutions contains more than 80 case studies of indigenous institutions based on literature review from all over the world.

NAARM database has been developed from the information collected by the young scientists on local knowledge and innovations and has more than 700 records. This has been developed in collaboration with Dr. Gopalam at NAARM (National Academy of Agricultural Research Management), Hyderabad, for a given period.

Medicinal Plant database contains medicinal properties of 256 plants. This is also being made into a multi-media database.

NAPRALERT (Natural Product Alert) database is developed by Dr. Farnsworth & his colleagues at University of Chicago. The database provides state-of-the-art information on the research, primarily pharmaceutical, done on natural products derived from plants. SRISTI has access to this database through e-mail. For various plant based innovations, we scan the information from this database so as to identify unique uses and properties of plant identified by local experts. This has obvious implication for the IPRs.

Wealth of India database has 822 records on plants that have potential for use as insecticide or pesticide

TAPP database developed by Dr. Thurston at Cornell University on alternative ways of controlling plant diseases.

Patents CD Rom database from the US Patent and Trademark office on genetically engineered micro-organisms till 1995. Now that all the patents are available on web, all such information is widely accessible.

People from the various sectors of the society who have confidence in grassroots creativity and see the possibility of strengthening bridge between formal as well as informal sciences are the members of the HB network. During the first phase of 10 years, it has worked extensively in mutual collaboration with many institutions and individuals. The support from IIM-A, various Gram Vidyapeeths, Gujarat Agricultural University and other educational institutions has been very crucial for achieving spectacular impact on the society. We have been announcing competitions for documentation of innovations among students, farmers and grassroots functionaries for the last five years. The best entries are awarded prizes and certificates in such meetings of the network. SRISTI SAMMAN –an honour given to ten or more best innovators every year is also given during the annual meeting of the network.

Mere documentation and dissemination of local knowledge and creativity may not help in keeping various streams of indigenous knowledge systems alive. Incorporation of new ideas and initiatives becomes necessary for generating contemporary innovations. Exchange of information also becomes meaningful and debatable when new value is added to it at every stage of the process through research.

Specific goals of SRISTI towards value addition:

1. To strengthen on-farm, on-station and laboratory research for developing sustainable technologies and natural products and to pursue participatory breeding through farmer breeders.

2. Set up simple cost effective system for certification of organic products of drylands

3. To experiment with models of small-scale grassroots eco-preneurs for scaling-up technologies and commercialization of value added products.

4. Share the benefits from the commercialization of new products and technology with local innovators and communities and generate self-reliance for SRISTI and local communities.

 

Converting local innovations into marketable products needs refinement of innovations through on-farm, on-station and laboratory research. SRISTI has an intensive research programme in collaboration with several public as well as private institutions viz., M.S University, Baroda; Jai Research Foundation, Vapi; Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand; Gujarat University, Ahmedabad and L.M College of Pharmacy, Ahmedabad. Previously SRISTI also collaborated with IISc, Bangalore and NCL, Pune. We found several leads in various sectors like veterinary medicine, herbal pesticide, growth regulators, etc. The outcome of the pilot phase research program in various laboratories has affirmed the need of a dedicated laboratory for value addition research. Knowledge Network will facilitate the process of value addition and commercialization by building bridges between formal and informal knowledge systems based on their respective strengths to generate sustainable technologies for agriculture, veterinary and animal husbandry, poultry management, leather tanning, fishing, vegetable dye and other rural crafts and enterprises.

1.2.1 We are setting up SHASVAT (Strategy for Harnessing and Sharing benefits of Value Added local Technologies) -a laboratory with the following objectives:

a. To develop sustainable green technologies and natural products based on grassroots innovations.

b. To convert local innovations into nature friendly products and services so that benefits from the commercialization of such products and technology can be shared with local innovators.

c. To develop simple cost effective standards for certifying organic farm products from dry and hilly regions.

d. To conserve endemic and endangered medicinal plants and rare forest trees; assess, inventorise and design conservation methods of threatened and rare plants, develop tissue culture facilities etc.

e. To develop protocols for sustainable extraction of natural resources.

f. To monitor soil microbial diversity, to assess ecosystem health, screen microbes for developing new products and services and to develop a method for organic certification.

g. Establish satellite units of the main laboratory at project sites.

 

SRISTI has screened thirteen plants on two different insects for insecticidal, ovicidal, antifeedant and growth retardant activities. Same plants were also screened for bacteriostatic and bactericidal and mutagenic activity in collaboration with Jai Research Foundation, Vapi.

A herbal veterinary kit has been prepared for some of the common diseases for small farmers. Four new formulations have been developed against Diarrhoea, Flatulence, Wound and Placenta retention based on the practices of 35 farmers and local healers. The practices are exclusively selected from the Honey Bee database. Preliminary clinical trials of the formulations have taken place at Mehsana Dairy Chilling Centre, in Vihar village, dist. Mehsana. The result obtained for Wound healing and Diarrhoea is very encouraging and positive without any side-effects/toxic effects on the animal. Expert veterinary scientists have suggested proportions of the ingredients used in each product. The wound healing formulation has been prepared by BAIF, a country-wide NGO as one of the most effective remedies better than any allopathic drug in the market.

Formulation for three other animal diseases intestinal worms, mastitis and anoestrus are under preparation. SRISTI has extended support to a young entrepreneur from Gujarat to develop an indigenous animal feed by using different parts of local herbs. The preliminary research trial shows that this animal feed stimulates lactation and improves the health of cattle in general.

Based on these products, proposal on screening and product development of herbal formulation by SRISTI have been routed through GIAN to Technopreneurial Promotion Program (TePP) of DSIR on behalf of local innovators to develop herbal products. The main aims of this projects are:

· To develop these formulations further as effective, low cost, easily available alternatives to other costly systems of medicine.

· To generate income resource for the local healers through the commercialization of the products.

· To protect intellectual property rights of the innovators through patenting.

 

The basic implementation of the project will be done through SRISTI. Other agencies that will help in coordinating the activities and conducting tests are: SHASVAT (Strategy for Harnessing and Sharing benefits of Value Added Local Technologies, SRISTI, Ahmedabad); PERD (B.V Patel Institute, Pharmaceutical Education Research and Development Centre, Thaltej, Ahmedabad); L.M Pharmacy College, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad ; GAU (Veterinary Science College, Gujarat Agriculture University, Anand) ; BAIF (Bharat Agro Industries Foundation, Baroda) etc.

Research on human medicine : An antidiabetic herbal formulation developed by Shri Karimbhai is undergoing pharmacological testing by PERD (Pharmaceutical Education Research and Development). The initial pilot experiment of this formulation has revealed the glucose reducing capacity of the formulation in diabetic animals.

Erosion of people’s knowledge associated with natural resources is perhaps under a greater threat than the erosion of natural resources itself. Efforts to build upon knowledge systems of people who have maintained their natural resources so far are quite inadequate. Indigenous veterinary experts, human herbalists and pastoralists know a lot about the habitats, life cycle, various aspects of plants and other resources. They have been maintaining and using these resources for different purposes.

To operationalize the concept of conservation of knowledge and species together, SRISTI has set up a Gyan Van (forest of knowledge) in collaboration with Karimbhai -a herbalist from village Virampur and the Forest Department, Palanpur. More such Gyan Vans are proposed under GEF/UNDP project

2.1 SRISTI is executing an UNDP/GEF Dryland Biodiversity Conservation Project sanctioned by Global Environment Facility (GEF)-a fund set up by United Nations for Conservation of Biological Diversity and supporting climatic change convention to the Ministry of Environment & Forestry, Govt. of India with the following objectives:

a. To protect and conserve biodiversity in and around Jessore Sloth Bear sanctuary, Balaram-Ambaji and Wild Ass sanctuaries of North Gujarat.

b. To conserve biodiversity in community managed areas like pastures grasslands and sacred forest sites which provide habitat/ corridors for endangered species.

c. To develop and implement sustainable alternative livelihood options, and to ensure the conservation of domesticated and agricultural biodiversity through value addition to indigenous knowledge.

d. To carry out upstream activities to incorporate biodiversity conservation into existing land-use and development plans and environmental legislation.

 

The PDF-B phase of the GEF Project initiated in November 1998, was successfully conducted during the entire year of 1999. The project began with a rapid assessment of the status of biodiversity, identification and ranking of major threats in the study areas with the help of several collaborating institutions. A series of meetings, consultations and workshops were held at local and national level. The initially selected sites were JSBS (Jessore Sloth Bear Sanctuary), BAS (Balaram Ambaji Wild life Sanctuary) and WAS (Wild Ass Sanctuary). However due to various constraints, the latter was dropped. In-depth studies were conducted on the flora, fauna, range-land ecology, anthropology and sociological aspects of JSBS and BAS. Threats to and root causes of the existing biodiversity along with sacred elements and indigenous institutions could be identified which reflects indepth knowledge and respect towards nature among the local inhabitants and forest dwellers. Detailed objectives and strategies have been planned for the future protection, conservation and development of these two sanctuaries.

Based on biodiversity zone maps 80 belt transects and 52 point transects were laid down covering an area of about 40-sq km in both the sanctuaries. Total 149 bird species, 30 species of mammals were spotted. Diet spectrum, scat, and food web architecture of globally significant species such as, Sloth Bear has been studied in detail. (A total of 28 species of amphibians and reptiles has also been spotted, 14 species in Jessore Sloth Bear and 14 in Balaram-Ambaji sanctuary).

Ecological studies conducted in both the sanctuaries elucidates a floral diversity in Jessore Sloth Bear Sanctuary recording 406 species of plant (90 trees, 47 shrubs, 33 climbers, 194 herbs, 31 grasses, 6 pteridophytes, 2 bryophytes, 1 epiphyte, and 2 fungi), while 483 species of plants with 107 trees, 58 shrubs, 49 climbers, 219 herbs, 40 grasses, 4 pteridophytes, 3 bryophytes, 1 epiphyte, and 2 fungi have been recorded in Balaram-Ambaji Wildlife Sanctuary. About 89 medicinally important plant species were recorded from both the sanctuaries.

Enterprise based resource conservation was proposed to be one of the strategies to reduce threat to the Biodiversity for the protected area. The four major enterprises suggested based on non forest biodiversity are (1) Non-edible oilseed milling (2) Cassia tora beverage making (3) Herbal medicine (Churna) preparation, and (4) Fabric manufacturing from Eri silk.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) has been used to create a database of the existing data of the study area - i.e., Balaram Ambaji and Jessore sanctuaries. The data content of the GIS consists both primary and secondary data sources have been integrated in the maps in the form of charts, attribute tables, queries etc. So far the floral, faunal and some socio-economic data of the zones or villages has been integrated in the system.

Preliminary survey of 72 villages has been made to understand socio-economic and ecological contexts of indigenous knowledge system. Consultations with forest officials (Range forest officers and beat guards) were organised in all eight forest ranges in both the sanctuaries. The major threats1  identified by local community and forest departments are as follows: a). Habitat destruction, b). Demographic and social pressures and c). Lack of institutional support (Indigenous knowledge system/institution, forest department and other formal institutions)

About 40 sacred groves have been identified within and around sanctuary. Threats to the cultural and ecological integrity of the studied sacred groves arise from several factors such as reduced or modified access of people to the grove, reduced reverence in some places, increased pilgrim visit; grazing pressure in a few cases etc. The natural sacred element ranges to from stones, trees, plants, river, landscape waterbed, etc, which are supplemented by man made temple, clay horses, flags, etc. These sacred groves are expected to keep us people, own watch dog institute for conservation of santuaries.

SRISTI extended administrative support to the Steering committee on Using Diversity supported by IDRC, Canada for administering the USING Diversity Awards – a small grant of approximately Rs 3 lacs, each given to individuals and institutions for conservation of agricultural biodiversity in South Asia. About Rs. 40 lacs were disbursed to twenty innovators from nine different states, viz., Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar and from other countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. The grantees were selected by an independent Steering Committee.

The main objectives of Using Agricultural Diversity Project were:

1. Documentation of the varied uses (e.g. pest control, drought tolerance, taste preferences, etc) of on-farm biodiversity in high biodiversity areas.

 

2. Understanding of perceptions and value of the biodiversity among men and women

 

3. Identification of socio-cultural factors influencing the use of diversity; Application of participatory approaches to plant breeding, management and use of biodiversity; Informing policy of the role of farmer participation in on-farm conservation and enhancement of agricultural diversity.

 

Further details of this project can be found at: http://csf.colorado.edu/sristi/diversity.html. A discussion board has also been started on the subject at the web site at http://csf.colorado.edu/sristi/discuss.html. Colleagues can leave their comments and suggestions at this site. SRISTI is no more conducting this activity. Those interested should communicate with DBuckles@idrc.ca or UBINIG@citechco.net

SRISTI conducted a comprehensive phytosociological study of the flora of IIM campus. Random sampling method of vegetation study was used to assess the diversity of natural and planted vegetation of the study area. The total ratio of family, genus and species was found to be 1.0 : 2.7 : 3.1. A report of this study was presented to the Director and Dean of the Institute at the Annual Meeting of Honey Bee Network on March 14th, 1999.

A herbal garden with 27 medicinal plants has been set up in the IIMA campus called as Gyan Vana. Plates have been put up there with names and uses of plants in Gujarati and English so that visitors can learn about these and also possibly share their knowledge with us.

SRISTI has been focussing primarily on disadvantaged dry and hilly regions where intensive external input oriented technologies of so called highly successful green revolution have failed to influence the farmers. The transition towards organic agriculture in high growth regions has not yet begun on any significant scale. The reasons may be due to lack of: (i)awareness, (ii) non-chemical efficient alternative for soil nutrition, (iii) stable demand and market channels for organic products in the country and (iv) absence of a credible system of certification standards.

Much of the production in drought areas, hill areas and tribal regions is organic due to heterogeneous ecological conditions, poor demand for chemical inputs and weak market forces. These regions represent a tremendous opportunity for generating a supply of organic produce through appropriate market intervention. SRISTI has taken the following research initiatives towards creating capability for organic certification:

A study to map the pesticide residues in soils of different agro-climatic zones of Gujarat was initiated five years ago. The purpose is to have a benchmark of the ecosystem health, particularly through soil based indicators and also to develop a framework for certifying non-pesticidal organic cultivation.

The soil samples were collected from eight selected agro-climatic zones of Gujarat. Two talukas were selected from each zone and from each of these talukas five villages were selected. From each of these villages two cultivated plots were selected: one with a history of intensive pesticide use and another with a history of low or zero pesticide usage. From each of these cultivated plots three samples were selected. The samples collected from three independent plots were mixed to obtain a fourth sample. Yet another sample was collected from a nearby-uncultivated plot. Therefore, nine samples were collected from each village. The total number of samples collected initially was 720. Information collected from the farmers alongwith the soil samples included the list of chemical pesticides used during the last five years, irrigation facility and crop rotation.

Status of the initiative and preliminary findings:

The samples are being tested for residues of the following insecticides: phosphamidon, DDVP, Methyl Parathion, Malathion, Chlorpyriphos and three different pyrethroids. Other pesticides could not be included due to absence of standards. These will be included in due course, when the standards are available. So far seventy samples have been analyzed. Out of these, forty-one samples were found to contain insecticidal residue. This work has been primarily pursued at Jai Research Foundation, Vapi as a part of collaborative research arrangement.

Microbial population of soils is an indicator of soil ecosystem health and physio-chemical and biological properties of soil. Till date, very little research has been carried out to examine microflora of soil and study their correlation with different agricultural management practices. Extremely varied topography of Gujarat and unexplored agro-ecological niches make it ideal to study the diversity of microorganisms. The work on soil microbial diversity of Gujarat was initiated by SRISTI in 1995. A total of 720 samples were collected from eight agro-climatic regions of Gujarat. Samples were screened at different collaborative institutions like IISc, Bangalore ; M S University, Baroda; JRF, Vapi; GAU, Anand and Gujarat University, Ahmedabad.

At a later stage, a follow up study was conducted using soil samples collected from four districts of Gujarat viz., Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Mehsana and Banaskantha and around 38 samples were studied. The study of soil micro-organisms was done using plate count of the three major groups of micro-organisms as well as specific physiological groups of micro-organisms using highly selective media. These were total viable count, fungal count, symbiotic (e.g. Rhizobium), non-symbiotic nitrogen fixers(e.g. Azospirillum and Azotobacter), mesophilic and thermotolerant actinomycetes.

The negative correlation between viable count and thermotolerant actinomycetes was found in dryland regions. It may be due to absence of fertilizer and irrigation. The negative correlation is nullified in irrigated soil due to presence of water. It is a usual trend that dry condition increases the ratio of actinomycetes to bacteria. In virgin soil, the negative correlation between fungal count and Rhizobium, Azotobacter and Azospirillum may be attributed to the soil pH as Azotobacter and Azospirillum proliferate in neutral to alkaline soils whereas fungus prevails in acidic soils. Also certain cultures of Azotobacter produce antibiotics which inhibit fungi. Azotobacter can inhibit spp. of Fusarium, Helminthosporium, Aspergillus, Alternaria, Curvularia pellescens, Colletotrichum gloeosporides, Rhizoctonia solanii, Sclerotium, rolfsii, Macrophomina Phaseolina, Pyricularia oryzae, Diplodia macrospora, Botrytis spp. and Cephalosporium maydis. The above negative correlation is nullified in presence of chemical fertilizer or pesticides.

Recently the third round of the study is being focussed to assess the diversity of agroecological zones of few villages in Tharad taluka - a semi-arid region of Banaskantha district. The aim is to check the effects of different management practices as well as seasonal effects on the microbial diversity. It has been decided that samples will be collected from the same place and fields in different seasons. This work is under progress, and the findings can be confirmed with the repeated sampling of the same place and some new changes may be expected due to seasonal variations.

In order to extend the soil microbial study to the forest regions, soil samples were collected in the sanctuary areas from some degraded patches and well-conserved patches. Total 69 samples from 23 different sites were collected in triplicates. A brief report of the study is given below:

Report on Microbial Diversity Study of Soil Sample Collected from Balaram and Jessore Sanctuary:

 

[ The soil sample having the minimum pH was collected from Machkoda village, while the soil sample collected from brick site activity-Balundra village showed pH as high as 8.84.

[ All the soil samples showed alkaline pH except two soil samples.

[ The bacterial count showed the variation of 100 fold between minimum and maximum

[ The observed higher bacterial count was due to the obvious reason of the river bank location where excreta of grazing animals was seen.

[ Actinomycetes count showed the variation of nearly 21 fold. The minimum count was observed from the soil sample collected from Chickanavas village, where soil texture was sandy and no plantation was observed.

[ The sample showing the highest count was typically of a semi-dense forest having lot of humus in the soil which could be the reason of higher actinomycetes count.

[ Fungal count showed the variation of 3.3 fold. Minimum count was observed from Machkoda village soil and maximum count was obtained from inside Jessore (River bank areas).

[ Some of the soil samples showed considerable number of pigmented colonies.

[ The second lowest ratio of non-pigmented to pigmented colonies was found in soil contaminated with marble factory waste.

[ Some of the soil samples were analyzed for carbohydrate fermentation ability. The overall phosphate utilizers from these samples are low and whatever isolated obtained are fungi only.

[ Good amount of Cellulose and Starch degraders were recorded from some selected soil samples.

[ Eighteen samples from six different sites were analyzed for nitrogen source as substrate.

[ Except Ammonium oxalate other inorganic nitrogen source were not utilized, where all the organic nitrogen source except Urea and Thiourea were utilized by microflora of the soil samples studied.

 

3.1.3 Green-Market Survey

Growing consumer awareness in India as well as abroad about the chemical residues in the food and their ill effects on human health has generated a reasonably large potential market for green products. Large numbers of small and medium farmers of the disadvantaged regions are producing crops through alternative technologies. But unfortunately they do not have access to such niche market. Generation of niche market for organic agriculture will greatly benefit these poor people by generating higher incomes that in turn would provide incentives for conservation of biodiversity, land races etc. SRISTI proposes to create awareness among the growers and consumers about the availability of organically grown food. In order to promote such products to the consumers, a small-scale research study has been conducted over last three years by students of IIMA and members of Honey Bee Network which showed that a sizeable segment of the consumers were ready to pay a premium of 10-15 per cent over the market price. There were primarily four kinds of consumers that could be discerned from this survey (refer fig 3). Using this result SRISTI along with SEWA and some other NGOs have come up with a brand of organic products "SHASVAT". For the time being the products are being procured from the villages of Banaskantha and Kutch. The ultimate objective is to ensure that the benefits of the extra premium flow to the poor farmers and improve their livelihoods.

SRISTI is also trying to certify the organic products of these farmers so that they can get access to domestic as well as international organic market. It is trying to establish linkages with various international as well as national organizations for studying their standards for certifying organic products.

To help protect IPRs of grassroots innovators, SRISTI documents all the innovations along with the name and addresses of innovators as well as the providers of information. SRISTI has got support from several patent attorneys within the country and abroad to get patent on farmers’ innovations. The contribution of SRISTI has been recognized by several international organizations like CBD (Convention Biological Diversity), GATT, ICCD, UNEP, UNESCO, etc. SRISTI has been advising Govt of India for drafting of new bill on ratification of CBD and redesigning patent laws in the country. In collaboration with IIMA, SRISTI has organized several consultations with private sectors, scientists, activists and development workers for discussing various issues related to access to biodiversity.

SRISTI has proposed to set up INSTAR (International Network for Sustainable Technology Applications and Registrations)- a registry system for inventions and innovations to help secure IPR protection for small innovators who cannot afford costly IPR system as it exists at present. Currently the problem of IPR of grassroots innovators is being tackled with the help of a grant from the IDRC project.

Following a request from the World Intellectual Property Rights Organization, SRISTI and IIMA organized a workshop on Farmers’ IPR on 3rd October 1998 at IIM, Ahmedabad. Few issues of concern that were discussed during the workshop were erosion of traditional knowledge, contemporary innovations that need IPR protection and appropriate mechanisms for ensuring them, role of NGOs and scientists in the development and value addition in innovations with appropriate benefit sharing system.

4.1 Policy Impact : National Innovation Foundation

The Union budget of 1999 announced by the finance minister has a very interesting provision dealing with Creation of a National Innovation Foundation to develop national register of innovations, support the scientists and innovators at grassroots level, setting up incubators to convert innovations into products for eventual commercialization, provide intellectual property support etc., with an initial corpus of Rs 20 crores. SRISTI and Honey Bee network feel considerable satisfaction on these developments entirely in line with what we have been pleading for last ten years. Subsequently SRISTI has followed up the matter and the foundation is being setup in Ahmedabad under the chairpersonship of Dr. R A Mashelkar, Director General of CSIR.

SRISTI’s research progamme gives special attention to the study of innovations in soil and water conservation, forest and tree based innovations and common property resource management.

Recently, SRISTI supported a study on Watershed Management taken up by the CMA. The study was done for the PWMTA (Participatory Watershed Management Training in Asia) of FAO. Under the study, more than 30 new innovations from dry and mountain regions of India have been documented. The innovations cover the whole gamut of areas like soil and water management, agronomy, pest management and forest management. Further, several successful experiences of watershed management, where sustainable outcomes have been achieved by building upon local knowledge systems, have been documented. A draft version of this study was presented at a workshop held at Beijing, in November 1997. The final version of the study is expected to be published as a monograph by CMA, IIMA and widely disseminated.

5.2 Action Research on Institution building

Action research on institution building is being pursued with NGOs, farmers groups in the form of Shodh Sankal (club of experimenting farmers) and Gyan Van. SRISTI extends its support to its network members and institutions in various activities and conducts many workshops in related disciplines. SRISTI extends support to the summer school on CPR management for University teachers, being conducted for last five years by the Centre for Management in Agriculture, IIMA.

Conserving biodiversity and the knowledge associated with it can be made feasible by generating curiosity, respect and commitment towards this issue among children. Some initiatives taken by SRISTI in the field of education are :

· Organising Biodiversity contests among the students of primary schools in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh etc., and awarding outstanding children. The aim is to generate respect for the alternative ecological knowledge systems of children of economically-backward, but ecologically-rich, areas. The contests were useful in documentation of biodiversity knowledge systems and ecological indicators. Children of less than 12 years age have been found to know about as many as 300 plants and uses of most of them. We honoured seven such outstanding students at the annual meeting of SRISTI held on March 14th, 1999.

 

· Assisting undergraduate women students of a rural Gandhian vidyapeeth ( Mahila Gram vidyapeeth, Nardipur) college to study the local animal husbandry practices. The aim of the exercise was to enable the students to learn from the practices of people through a critical process of enquiry.

 

· Building informal network of primary teachers at state and district level. SRISTI is also preparing a multimedia database based on the innovations of the primary school teachers.

 

SRISTI’s initiatives in enterprise based conservation involve linking national and international outlets. It will act as facilitator through which farmers’ groups/co-operatives will supply NTFPs and agricultural products to global agencies. This will drastically reduce the transaction cost for both parties. The profits will be partially utilised as conservation funds at the village level.

6.1 Rewarding and Compensating Innovators:

Honey Bee Network has taken up the enormous task of experimenting with various models of rewarding and compensating innovative individuals, groups and communities. Prof Anil K Gupta was requested to participate in preparing an approach paper for operationalising the article 8(j) of CBD dealing with rewards for individual and collective, contemporary and traditional knowledge. SRISTI actively participates in various forums to sensitize the academia and policy makers towards such issues.

We have conceived four different models for compensating and rewarding innovators:

Material-individual: includes awards, fellowships, patent rights, license fees and other forms of remuneration

viz., SRISTI has filed a patent application for Aaruni bullock cart with the help of D P Ahuja & Company on behalf of the innovator Mr Amrutbhai Agrawat with the help of GIAN. Apart from this, four other patent applications have been filed for three wheeler tractor, cotton stripper, herbal drug for diabetes and other ailments etc.

Material-collective: includes trust funds, risk funds, venture capital support and revolving funds under the direct control of the stakeholders. The compensation would flow to a group through different funds to encourage inventive communities to experiment more and more on the path of entrepreneurship.

Non-material-individual : includes honouring the innovators for their unique contributions to society by conferring titles, public felicitation, invitation to lecture in centres of learning, conferences, meetings etc viz., SRISTI invited five farmer breeders at the International Crop Science Congress held in Nov 1996, at Delhi. Institutionalized SRISTI SAMMAN-a series of awards for the outstanding innovators for last six years.

Non-material-collective : includes changes in educational curriculum, favourable policy environment for conservation practices, eco-friendly products, capacity building through transfer of technology etc

viz., The experiment to stabilise the process of rearing Eri-silk worm in Gujarat has been a major success. A dialogue has been initiated with KRIBHCO and DST (Department of Science and Technology) to mobilize resource for taking the technology to the grassroots.

The inception of GIAN – a green venture promotion fund was one of the major outcomes of the International Conference on Creativity and Innovation at the Grassroots (ICCIG) held during Jan 11-14, 1997, co-sponsored by SRISTI, set up on initiative of Govt. of Gujarat to support grassroots innovations. It has an independent board of directors including the Addl. Chief Secretary of Agriculture, Industry and Rural Development, Gujarat Govt., Managing Directors of three State Corporation, three Professors from IIM-A and three NGO and CEO of Gujarat Venture Fund Ltd.

GIAN came into formal existence on 1st March 1997, with the following objectives:

* To scale up products and services based on grassroots innovations through commercial or non-commercial channels.

 

* To scout, support and sustain the innovations developed by farmers, artisans, pastoralists and others at grassroots level.

 

* To augment innovations by networking the innovators themselves, and by linking them with the formal institutions of science and technology, public policy, infrastructure development, community organizations, farmers’ co-operatives and other potential consumers or facilitators of innovative products and services.

 

*To pursue training, research, education and other activities that can generate demand for innovations, augment them, and help in scaling up, increase their environment friendliness, energy efficiency, and social effectiveness in overcoming poverty and generating employment.

 

* To assist in developing a mechanism for organic certification so that compulsively organic production of small farmers in dry and backward regions can be marketed at premium.

 

* To protect the intellectual property rights of grassroots innovators by providing support for filing patents on behalf of innovators.

GIAN has taken up various projects based on potential innovations from the Honey Bee database for possible scaling-up through commercial and non-commercial channels for instance tilting bullock cart, 10HP three wheel tractor, cotton stripper, Kittanal, innovative pulley, ericulture, marketing of organic products, herbal kits for animals and humans etc.

SRISTI also provides support for publications of newsletters, monograph, books etc., in English and several other languages based on indigenous knowledge, natural products and natural resource management.

The latest publications are:

· Nature Heals: A Glossary of Selected Indigenous Medicinal Plants of India (English, Gujarati and Hindi)

· Spirit of Sustainability: An Anthology of Honey Bee Cover Stories (English)

· Madhubindu: (Gujarati )

· Groundswell of Ingenuity: Profiles of Grassroot Innovators (English, Hindi forthcoming)

· Samvad Sansodhan Sudhi Paramparagat Pashu Chikitsa: ( Gujarati)

 

For a small organization supported by volunteers and a small group of core staff, what we have achieved in last five years is quite satisfying. Undoubtedly we should have done much more and much better. This report will serve its purpose if it can make the reader pick up his/her pen and write to us as how he/she can link up with SRISTI’s activities and help them grow. Our purpose ultimately is that we shouldn’t be needed any more. Just as GIAN took over the major responsibility of scaling up, NIF (National Innovation Foundation) may take up the major responsibility for scouting and disseminating innovations. SRISTI will in long run serve only as a small nucleus to trigger and troubleshoot new opportunities for knowledge rich economically poor people. We will consider our job well done if green technologies developed by innovators and augmented by modern science, supported by ethical values and institutions, become the fundamental building block of future development. SRISTI, is in that sense, a new paradigm of power in the hands of creative, innovative and nature respecting and responsive communities and individuals. Hoping to become redundant soon, with your helps !!

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