The second half of the session was an audience-participation dialogue focusing on reflection, analysis and distilling key lessons learned, with 36 participants sharing perspectives and questions about community-led transformation. This discussion was supplemented by an online survey ran prior to the conference, using Sli.do an audience interaction software. Responses from participants highlighted the key role of local leadership and innovation (63% of respondents), facing common challenges (46%), participatory engagement (46%) and government support (42%) in achieving successful transformations, in addition to a variety of other elements.

This wordcloud image shows keywords that participants associated with transformation.

Session Abstracts 

How can an introduced species contribute to conservation and sustainable livelihoods? The case of paiche fisheries in the Bolivian Amazon.
Alison Macnaughton, University of Victoria, Canada

The Northern Bolivian Amazon is currently experiencing a variety of human and environmental pressures, including urban development, large infrastructure projects, extreme climate events and species introduction. While indigenous peoples hold rights to extensive territories in the region, the development and implementation of governance structures and processes (including natural resource management) within these territories has been limited to date. Recently there has been interest expressed at a variety of levels (communities, government, NGOs) in developing new commercial fishery opportunities based on the introduced paiche fish (Arapaima gigas), which is increasing in abundance and of high commercial value in regional markets. This paper examines the current and potential future role of fishing in indigenous communities as it relates to broader processes of transition and transformation in livelihoods and governance in the region. It includes the results from a study that was carried out in 4 Indigenous Territories in Beni Department, Bolivia between October – November 2015. Results of the study confirm that while subsistence fishing is extensive, with native species as a central part of local diets, the selling of fish is less common, and generally a secondary source of income. Participation in paiche fisheries is very limited among indigenous communities. Many communities face significant problems of food insecurity, poverty and associated environmental and social vulnerability including a significant lack of access to basic services such as health, clean water, transportation access and more. In this context the demand for local projects and income-generating initiatives is high, but the success of initiatives to date has been limited. If paiche fishery development is to be successful, it must be aligned with strategies to address the multiple dimensions of poverty and vulnerability in a more meaningful way. This paper proposes a preliminary framework to examine some of the dynamics of governance and livelihoods transformations, with a focus on fisheries as part of integrated poverty reduction initiatives.

Can secure tenure act as a measure of conservation and governance success in lagoon-based small-scale fishery social-ecological systems?
Prateep Nayak, Faculty of Environment, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, University of Waterloo, Canada

This paper begins by confirming that issues around tenure within lagoon-based small-scale fishery social-ecological systems have largely been neglected. Despite a growing body of literature on lagoon commons and property rights systems, existing literature on marine and terrestrial tenure tend to subsume tenure issues of coastal lagoons. Lack of specific attention to lagoon tenure can potentially affect their long-term sustainability, undermine ongoing efforts of community-based conservation and further marginalize small-scale fishers that have depended on them for generations. This paper identifies important challenges associated with lagoon tenure in relation to the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication, 2015 (FAO SSF Guidelines), particularly focusing on its provisions for responsible governance of tenure. It highlights that secure tenure rights form the basis of social, economic, ecological and cultural wellbeing of small-scale fishing communities. To this effect, the paper sets forth some of the key conditions for governance of tenure in the context of lagoon small-scale fisheries social ecological systems through an extensive treatment of a broad range of fishers’ rights and multi actor responsibilities. Fisher experiences with the impacts of ongoing rapid social-ecological changes and community responses in Chilika Lagoon, Bay of Bengal, India are used as a case. Additional data comes from a series of workshops, meetings, and consultations with smallscale fishers and other stakeholders in Chilika. Important lessons for governance of lagoon tenure are examined in relation to resource systems, resource sectors, and user-level dynamics to offer insights on the specific characteristics of lagoon small-scale fisheries tenure and possible directions for conservation and governance.

Recognizing that the majority of the one million sea-going fishers of India belong to the small-scale sector (Articles 1, 15 and 25), the new National Policy on Marine Fisheries (2017) commits to implementing the Voluntary Guidelines on Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (Article 54.0). It notes, however, that “the fisheries resources from the near-shore waters are fully utilized”, and points to deep-sea waters, where expansion of fishing effort is expected to be possible. Whether sufficient resources are still available in Indian deep-sea waters, and whether this is going to help small-scale fishers is a moot question.

The Blue Revolution that was launched after India’s Independence in 1947 introduced a new, harbour-based trawl fishery that feeds on the same fishing grounds and resources as the sizeable small-scale fishing sector does. Ignoring the existence of customary law that has defined fishing rights and obligations over the centuries, the post-colonial government bulldozed the small-scale sector into submission, dangling before its nose the promise of development. What it has delivered is severe inequality and marginalization. The trawl sector, which employs a minority of fishers, now lands the highest volumes and values of sea produce, while the small-scale sector, which has been struggling to keep up, for example through the motorization of craft, has seen its catches dwindling. This is a result of the decline of the inshore marine ecology through trawling, pollution and the damming of rivers. The industrialization of the coast is also creating new impediments to fishing – new jetties, ports, and pipelines that interfere with fishing operations and create enormous beach erosion (Lakshmi et al. 2012).

Yes, there are laws in place. The Indian government has, for example, decreed that inshore waters are reserved for small-scale fishing, and that trawl vessels must proceed beyond 5 nautical miles from the shore. But implementation is virtually absent, and it is muscle- and money-power that determines the use of ocean resources. And, yes, there is a Pollution Control Board, but it is known for its lack of backbone. And while the National Policy on Marine Fisheries emphasizes the need for conservation of marine resources, government’s record is hitherto poor indeed.

So where does this leave the small-scale sector and its commendable traditions of resource conservation? Many small-scale fishers are desperately trying to paddle along, investing in outboard engines and in new gears, such as mini-purse seines, that seem to hold promise of returns. Many of them are also investing heavily in the education of their children, hoping that they will find their way into other economic sectors than what they often see as a ‘doomed’ fishery. But, as emerged from research result presented at a workshop at the French Institute of Pondicherry on August 26th, 2017, many of these children, failing in their endeavours to find other employment, return in the end to the conundrum of the fishery.

While customary fisheries management, undertaken by village level organizations called ur panchayat continues, it obviously has been losing force. What can one do against the power of industrial fisheries, that has the blessing of government? At the local level, ur panchayats still have substantial influence, and play an important role in safeguarding the wellbeing of small-scale fishing populations (Bavinck 2017). But in the larger scheme of things, and on their own, their authority is negligible.

It is here that alliances with NGOs and other social movements are helping out. The efforts of the National Coastal Protection Campaign (NCPC), the National Fishworkers Forum (NFF), and the International Collective of in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), all of which possess voice up to level of national government, are publicly raising objections to the usual, biased course of affairs. The Voluntary Guidelines on Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries, adopted by FAO in 2014, provide useful leveraging material for what, in the end, is a long-ddrawn social and political struggle.

The small-scale fishers tucked out of sight along Pondicherry’s avenue are amongst the worst off in India’s marine sector. With only the most simple of craft and gear, and facing the competition of many other small- and large-scale fishers at sea, they lead a basic, hand-to-mouth existence. But they are hanging on, somehow. India’s small-scale fishers are a tough bunch. They are not easily erased.

Author: Maarten Bavinck

References:

Bavinck, M. (2017). Enhancing the wellbeing of Tamil fishing communities: the role of self-governing ur panchayats along the Coromandel Coast, India, In: Johnson, D., T. Acott, N. Stacey and J. Urquhart (eds.), Social wellbeing and the values of small-scale fishing, Dordrecht: Springer.

Lakshmi, A., A. Schiavina, P. Banerjee, A. Reddy, S. Mandeen, S. Rodriguez and D. Apte (2012). The challenged coast of India. A report prepared by PondyCAN in collaboration with BNHS and TISS.

Parthasarathy, D. (2011). Hunters, Gatherers and Foragers in a Metropolis: Commonising the Private and Public in Mumbai, Economic and Political Weekly 46 (50):54-63.

View the complete CCRN’s São Luiz Community Story as a PDF

Camila A. Islas, Alice R. de Moraes, Juliana S. African & Cristiana S. Seixas

Key Messages

• Severe land degradation and environmental disasters can act as triggers to new community conservation and development initiatives and as stimulus to existing ones.
• Bridging organizations can foster community initiatives through projects addressing environmental conservation and restoration in parallel to local capacity building and community development.
• Cultural identity plays a central role in engaging communities in projects of nature conservation.

Community Profile

São Luiz do Paraitinga (hereafter São Luiz) is a municipality with about 10,000 inhabitants, located in Eastern São Paulo State of Brazil, near the Atlantic coast (Figure 1). The municipality is situated within the Paraíba Valley, which links the two largest metropolitan areas in Brazil (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). Out of the ~730 km² of the municipality’s area, 10% are encompassed by Serra do Mar State Park, a protected area, and 13% are in its buffer zone. The main land uses/cover are pasture (53%) and fragmented forests (37%), while cattle breeding for dairy, forestry and agriculture are the main economic activities⁽²⁾. The municipality is also embedded in the Atlantic Forest biome – a hotspot for biodiversity conservation, i.e. one of the highly threatened biomes in the world⁽⁵⁾.

Figure 1. A) The State of São Paulo highlighted in the Brazilian map. B) São Luíz do Paraitinga Municipality highlighted in the State of São Paulo map.

The landscape of São Luiz has been shaped by specific material and immaterial cultural features that were strongly influenced by coffee plantations from the early 20^th century and by the Caipira way of life, a local designation to a rural livelihood which involves typical food, music, tales, dances and festivities (see Figure 2).

The city’s architectural ensemble is the largest historical collection of the State’s architectural heritage, and its population proudly keeps alive several displays of immaterial culture⁽³⁾. The local economy currently depends on public services, and the Human Development Index (HDI = 0.690) is among the lowest of the State’s municipalities. In this context, cultural tourism and eco-tourism are promising alternatives for economic development.

Rural communities in Brazil are important SES, specifically in south-eastern states such as São Paulo, where landscapes are highly fragmented and urbanised. Landscapes there sometimes have patches of native vegetation that are especially important to wild animals, serving as habitat and ‘stepping-stones’, which generate various ecosystem services and are also home to human communities and their livelihoods⁽³⁾. The vast majority of rural properties (96%) in the municipality of São Liuz are owned by smallholders⁽²⁾.

In this context lies Catuçaba, a rural district in São Luiz comprising a village with around 1,000 inhabitants and its surrounding rural neighbourhoods. Most inhabitants make their living from small-scale animal husbandry and other smallholding activities⁽³⁾.

Figure 2: Traditional dance presentation at the central square, in front of the main church, during the festivity of the Holy Spirit in São Luiz do Paraitinga, 2016.

Until a few decades ago, the village was partially isolated from the urban center due to poor road access. However, the road connecting the village to downtown was paved by the year 2000, facilitating outsiders’ access and products transportation, and improving the access of villagers and rural inhabitants to infrastructure, education and health. Tourism-related activities have been modestly flourishing in the territory, supported by its beautiful landscape, pleasant climate and historical farms.

Conservation and Livelihood Challenges

Land degradation is longstanding in the region. Agriculture has been practiced since the settlement of the first colonisers in the late 17^th century, in spite of the hilly landscape and low nutrient availability and permeability of the soil⁽²⁾. Economic cycles (cotton, coffee, agriculture and cattle), along with poor soil management techniques, contributed to land degradation, impoverishing the soil, and most recently covering the land with Brachiaria, an invasive exotic grass that feeds the cattle and worsens soil permeability. As a result, cattle productivity has declined and many landowners fell back on other activities to complete their income.

Meanwhile, due to the promises of better job and education opportunities in urban centres, rural out-migration hampered the availability of rural workers and lowered social cohesion. Currently, land degradation in such social context threaten most of the traditional livelihoods.

On January 1st, 2010, São Luiz suffered from a flood of great magnitude, when the river crossing the downtown area raised over 11 meters above its regular level in a matter of hours, largely damaging the historical buildings and affecting the whole population, both urban and rural. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. Other than the high precipitation registered in end-2009, this flood was caused by factors linked to land degradation in rural areas, such as soil compaction in degraded and poorly managed pastures, fires commonly used to clear land, scarcity of forests near watercourses, and human occupation of floodplains.

Community Initiatives^*

In the face of the disaster’s intensity and tremendous material losses, the population of São Luiz showed a remarkable capacity to self-organize in order to cope with the emergency situation and, later, to rebuild and restore the functioning of the city⁽⁵⁾. Since the floods, the territory as a whole has been targeted by diverse projects focusing on forest restoration, agro-ecological production and capacity building.

The 2010 disaster stimulated new and ongoing community initiatives, mostly with the help of local and regional NGOs and government organizations. During the post-disaster reorganization phase, the community actively participated in decisions regarding the reconstruction of historical buildings and other issues. In addition to engineering work conducted at the government initiative, most post-disaster initiatives focused on keeping the vibrancy of local cultural manifestations⁽⁵⁾.

Figure 3: The scenic landscape around Catuçaba district: degraded pastures and patches of biodiversity-rich Atlantic forest covering its hills and valleys.

The community also showed a remarkable sense of place and attachment to both São Luiz, similarly to Catuçaba and its surrounding area (Figure 3). The tragedy seems to have reinforced this sense of place and local people’s capacities of coping and recovering their community life with their own hands, and at the same time acknowledging and being grateful for all the solidarity and help they received from external people and institutions⁽⁵⁾.

One of these community initiatives working to improve conservation and livelihoods was the Comunidade da Vila (Village Community). In 2012, the Learning Community initiative began in Catuçaba. The main goal of the project was to promote an environment for reflection about nature conservation and local development, and to facilitate the planning of collective actions^(1,3). Together with local people, the initiative planned and organised several cultural events and community actions over three years⁽¹⁾. Although the project ended in 2015, the community continued to meet until 2017, focusing on a street market with local products, tourism-related activities and festivities ^(3).

A local NGO, Akarui, has been developing projects for nature conservation integrated with socio-economic development in the region since 2003. After the 2010 flood, their prominence increased as Akarui members’ attachment to and knowledge about the territory, in addition to their technical expertise, led efforts to sustainable development of rural areas of the municipality. Akarui has carried out projects regarding socio-environmental characterisation, forest restoration, agro-ecological transition, pasture management and improvement of farmers’ income. The NGO is still working in the territory, currently expanding their initiatives to encompass environmental education and food security and sovereignty.

After the extreme events of 2010 (flood) and 2013/2014 (severe drought), more community members got interested in taking part in restoration projects, and a growing number are willing to adopt agro-ecological principles to their production chain. An Agenda 21 plan, built through participatory methods for the watershed, including guidelines for its sustainable development, is a featured product of Akuri. The NGO acknowledges rural communities as their main partners⁽²⁾.

Finally, another initiative named Rede para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável do Alto Paraíba (Upper Paraíba River Sustainable Development Network), or REDESUAPA, began their work after the 2010 floods. The network encompasses diverse stakeholders including local leaders, local and state government, local and regional NGOs and researchers, who met voluntarily in the municipality. In addition to project development, REDESUAPA created synergies among ongoing efforts and aimed at influencing public policy based on a systemic view of the territory, promoting ecological restoration, sustainable farming and community-based tourism. For instance, in 2016, REDESUAPA wrote an open letter addressed to the candidates running for Mayor asking for their commitment to priority guidelines for urban and rural sustainable development in the municipality. The network played a key role in the efforts to bring investments of a big project to the region, which is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Recovery and protection of climate and biodiversity services in the Paraíba do Sul Basin of the Atlantic Forest of Brazil project is based on Payments for Environmental Services (PES) and other incentives for sustainable land management and conservation in private lands. The members of REDESUAPA are still in touch with each other, but the network itself is on ‘standby mode’. However, the synergies created by REDESUAPA are reflected in a number of other initiatives concerning local development, conservation and ecological restoration.

^*The data and analysis on the social-ecological system of São Luiz and Catuçaba refer to the period 2012-2017. The authors acknowledge that changes have occurred in the system since then. Although they are not analysed here, we have added some information about the current situation, based on non-systematic observation.

Practical Outcomes

The development of initiatives is neither easy nor fast, but they have certainly been flourishing and creating arenas for community learning, empowerment, and development in São Luiz do Paraitinga (including Catuçaba). Although the 2010 flood was an important trigger to various initiatives, it is still unclear how successful they will be in terms of self-maintenance and mitigating the risk of floods in the future.

These bottom-up initiatives have valorized rural livelihoods and fostered opportunities for people to remain in rural areas. Inhabitants have been self-organizing to strengthen the Caipira identity, preserve local traditions (e.g., festivities and foods), and promote local development, with an overall understanding that their good quality of life depends on nature conservation⁽³⁾. Small, low-cost initiatives triggered improvements in the community capacity to organize and act collectively for a common goal⁽⁴⁾, although leadership and broader participation of community members in such initiatives remains a challenge.

Bridging organizations, such as NGOs and university teams, play a crucial role in linking local stakeholders with one another and with outside institutions (i.e. State Environmental authorities and funding agencies), facilitating learning opportunities, fundraising and providing access to technical advisory⁽¹⁾. In the course of creating environments where diverse local and outside stakeholders can interact and collaborate (Figure 4), the initiatives have generated a feedback loop, which is attracting more and more initiatives.

Figure 4: Caipira meeting in January 2017, where members of Catuçaba community and their external supporters discussed local development, nature and culture.

Until 2017, several stakeholders were joining efforts to work synergistically, for instance through REDESUAPA, to positively transform the region’s landscape at the watershed level. The efforts were benefitting from both bottom-up and top-down initiatives, taking into account both local knowledge and technical/scientific expertise, and involving stakeholders with different levels of political power. Above all, these efforts involve a diverse array of individuals who believe in a more sustainable and just society, and struggle year after year to accomplish their vision.

In face of socio-ecological change over the last decade, various community initiatives towards conservation and social development have emerged in São Luiz do Paraitinga^{(3, 4)}. Many tourism-related activities have been developing, especially those regarding ecotourism (e.g., farm hotels and rafting) and cultural tourism (e.g., religious, art and local food festivities). More recently, other community initiatives were established as local markets of agro-ecological products and craft fairs. After the 2010 floods, the municipality drew the attention of many governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) favouring the emergence of new environmental and social initiatives. The success of these initiatives has depended on population engagement and participation, as well as aligning to local demands and inherent dynamics of the local SES. The question ahead may be if and how these initiatives will thrive or perish in the long term, and which factors will determine their course.

References

Acknowledgements

We thank the population of São Luiz do Paraitinga and, in particular, of Catuçaba community, the NGO Akarui, and REDESUAPA for their commitment and availability for our projects. We also thank SSHRC/CCRN, CAPES, CNPq, PREAC/UNICAMP and FAPESP for funding. The project also received a strong support from our entire CGCommons Team (The Commons Conservation and Management group at University of Campinas, Brazil).

Paiche fish (Arapaima gigas)

The purpose of the book was to document existing fisheries as well as the expansion of introduced species, highlighting some of the associated challenges and opportunities and providing policy recommendations. While fisheries in the Bolivian Amazon make use of a high diversity of species and are an important aspect of livelihoods for thousands of rural families as well as urban-based commercial fishers, the sector is only recently receiving more attention in the form of developing regulations and institutional support frameworks. In a rapidly changing landscape of growing regional centres and transportation networks, newly recognized indigenous territories, increasing pressures from resource extraction industry, hydroelectric dam development, and extreme climate events such as floods, fisheries may contribute to sustainable development for communities, if appropriately managed. Fishery production overall is increasing and moving towards growing regional and national markets. The focus of commercial fisheries is shifting towards the introduced paiche (Arapaima gigas), a large bony-tongued fish of high commercial value but which is not commonly part of local diets. In Brazil, where it is native, and known as pirarucú, the fish has been the subject of significant overfishing resulting in fishery closures and more recently an impressive story of recovery through innovative community-based management. While paiche is not native to Bolivia, it has become an established fishery with a significant economic value, and there is interest in managing it for sustainable use in a way that is complementary with the conservation of native fish that are traditionally part of Amazon diets.

Alison led a chapter exploring diversified livelihoods in indigenous communities in the region and the role of fishing for native species and paiche. The research, carried out in collaboration with Faunagua, revealed some of the complexities of livelihood strategies in the region, where many communities live in remote rural locations, isolated from regional markets and social support services. Seasonal harvesting of non-timber forest products (mainly Brazil nuts) is the primary economic activity, while hunting, fishing, and smallholder agriculture are carried out mostly for subsistence purposes, with some occasional trade at the level of regional markets; this appears to be shifting towards greater connectivity and increasing participation in regional markets. Fish is a critical part of local diets and fishing is one of the main livelihood activities, but this value is not readily apparent when it is analyzed in terms of relative contribution to household income. Overall incomes are low and there are few established resource management plans. Despite the presence of paiche in the region, it’s not yet clear if the fish will be accessed by local communities to generate additional income and how it will be managed. Alison also contributed to two other chapters including a detailed survey of indigenous fisheries in the region, and together with Tiffanie and others, the formulation of recommendations for developing and improving the sustainability of the new paiche fishery, while conserving native fish resources that are a cornerstone of local food security and livelihoods. 

The book’s launch follows the recent approval (April 2017) of national-level legislation for fisheries and aquaculture in Bolivia. The new law represents the culmination of many years of work, including expert advice and extensive consultation with actors from all levels of fish value chains, facilitated in large part by Faunagua. Moving forward, policy and programs will be developed using a multi-level governance approach, considering regionally and locally appropriate regulation, management and development of fishery and aquaculture resources.  It is a socially and strategically important step, for the participatory nature of the development process, for improving the recognition and valuing of how fish and people involved in fisheries contribute to food security and sovereignty in Bolivia, and for strengthening protection for the country’s rich aquatic biodiversity (follow this link for more information). 

Tiffanie, now with World Fisheries Trust, is responsible for coordinating Canadian contributions with a focus on participatory research and locally appropriate solutions as part of the Peces para la vida project in Bolivia, supported by the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund.

Alison is one of the graduate students associated with the project, working under the joint supervision of Dr. Tony Charles (Saint Mary’s University) and Dr. Mark Flaherty (University of Victoria). Her research focuses on fishing as part of livelihoods, transformation and community development.

Currently in its 6^th year of implementation, Peces para la vida is a collaboration of Canadian and Bolivian organizations working together to support the contributions of fisheries and aquaculture to food security and improving livelihoods, with a focus on the economic empowerment of indigenous women and families in the Bolivian Amazon. Developing multi-stakeholder networks, strengthening local fisheries organizations, providing credit and financial tools, improving fish quality and regional fish value chains and markets, and new technology for sustainable aquaculture with native fish are among the strategies being developed and tested in partnership with local actors.  

View the complete CCRN’s Odisha Community Story as a PDF

Alex Zachariah-Chaligne,University of Manitoba; alexvzach@icloud.com

Key Messages   

• The Samudram Women’s Federation (SWF) monitors and protects the endangered olive ridley turtles through habitat restoration, artificial reef construction and sustainable fishing practices.

• The SWF is reducing the region’s poverty through income diversification, a financial literacy program and distributing low cost infrastructure and fishing equipment.

• The SWF is empowering woman through education, capacity building, training and networking.

Community Introduction

Odisha’s (Orissa) 482 km coastline has been blessed with abundant marine resources which support 38,000 small-scale fishers (Figure 1). The beaches in Odisha are largely sandy and are well known as “Arribada” beaches (Figure 2), where thousands of olive ridley sea turtles come every year to nest(1).

Figure 1: Map showing Odisha and the study area.

Conservation and Livelihood Challenges

Due to a number of factors, Odisha is one of the poorest states in India. The depletion of marine resources, annual cyclones and poverty cycles have forced many fishers to rely on illegal moneylenders and local traders, resulting in further indebtedness.

Figure 2: Mass nesting (arribada) of olive ridley turtles on the Odisha Coast, India.

Fishers are poor, marginalized and exploited by people from so-called “upper castes” who provide credit and charge high interest rates, typically close to 100% per annum(2). An additional challenge faced by the region’s fishers is government imposed fishing bans and restrictions which occur between February and May each year. The purpose of these bans is to protect the endangered olive ridley turtle during the peak nesting season. However, these actions inadvertently limit the earning capacity of small-scale fishing communities.

Community Initiative

The Samudram Women’s Federation (SWF) began in 1993 with 250 female members, as a response to conservation and livelihood challenges faced by the small-scale fishers. The SWF now has more than 5,800 members in 160 groups spread over 50 villages along the coast of Odisha. It is both a state level federation of women fish workers and a social enterprise. A key factor to its success, as recognized by the United Nations (2010 Equator prize), has been its joint focus on biodiversity conservation and community enterprise for poverty reduction. “Conservation is multidimensional and holistic, encompassing species, humans, environment and the whole biosphere” – Samudram’s view on Biodiversity Conservation.

The SWF fosters a holistic approach to conservation that is sensitive to local livelihoods and strives to achieve a balance between ecological conservation and social/economic goals. The presence of many complementary factors – economic, environmental, social and cultural – enables the Odisha fishing community to take up conservation and environmental stewardship.

Income Diversification

The SWF forms beach patrol groups with government conservation guards to monitor and protect olive ridley turtles during peak nesting periods. Since these periods coincide with the fishing restriction, beach patrols offer additional income.

Figure 3: Processed prawn pickle packets ready for the market.

Additionally, the Odisha Forest Department, and other research organizations, provide training in producing value-added marine products (Figure 3), and link the community with wholesale traders and exporters. The SWF provides low cost infrastructure and fishing equipment, and helps distribute relief supplies during cyclones. To address fishers’ dependence on money lenders and the ensuing poverty cycle, the SWF provides a financial literacy programme to encourage households to link up to mainstream banking and credit systems.

Empowering Women

The SWF created a platform for the voice of traditional women fishers to be heard. These women are empowered and made aware of their own rights, gaining improved self-esteem and dignity. Through collaborations, schools and adult education centres have been created. These resources have allowed members to improve their quality of life through education, increased literacy and better health practices. Exposure to mainstream media and institutions has boosted the confidence and pride of many traditionally disadvantaged women, allowing them to counter and question any law or system detrimental to their interests. “Being a Samudram member means being a vehicle of change in my community” – Samudram Member.

Community Conservation

Small-scale fishers have deep-seated beliefs about how to treat other living beings and their food basket, the sea. They see everything as a gift from Mother Ocean and ocean creatures such as turtles are seen as their brothers and sisters. Fishers take pride when thousands of turtles choose to return annually to their beaches to breed and nest and they take special care of these visitors (Figure 4). Beach patrols offer the community an opportunity to give something back to their Mother Ocean. “The health of the ocean is dependent on these turtles, if there are more turtles, the sea is healthy and there will be more fish” – Samudram Member.

Figure 4: Children holding the turtle hatchlings before releasing them into the sea.

The majority of households living on the coast self-identify as followers of the Hindu religion, where turtles are considered as one of the avatars of Lord Vishnu. Since Lord Vishnu is the preserver of life, some members of this community consider protecting turtles to be their responsibility. “Out of all the beaches, these turtles chose mine to lay their eggs. It means they trust us with their future and we are proud that they chose us and we make sure that we keep this trust” – Samudram Member.

Practical Outcomes

The Samudram Woman’s Federation is reducing poverty and protecting biodiversity through a number of different initiatives:

• Promoting the conservation of marine resources, and sustainable fishing practices to protect marine biodiversity.

• Linking economically marginalized fishing communities to wholesale markets and exporters.

• Generating income during fishing restriction periods through beach patrols and by selling value added and processed marine products (e.g. dry fish, pickles, papads).

• Gender empowerment through capacity building, training, knowledge dissemination and
networking.

• Community social development through building schools, health centres and organizing medical camps.

• Developing a community cooperative enterprise by providing social, financial and infrastructural support to local fishers.

References

1. Karnad, D., Isvaran, K., Kar, S.C. & Shankar, K. (2009). Lighting the way: Towards reducing misorientation of Olive ridley hatchlings due to artificial lighting in Rushikulya, India. Biological Conservation, 142(10): 2083-2088.

2. Nayak, P.K. & Berkes, F. (2010). Whose marginalization? Politics around environmental justice in India’s Chilika lagoon. Local Environment, 15(6): 553-567.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the following: The team of Samudram Women’s Federation and United Artist’s Association, Ganjam; Parvathy for her help in conducting and organizing interviews and group discussion, and being a great help as my interpreter; Mangaraj Panda and Govind Panda for their everyday help; The team at CBRM, Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba; Dr. Fikret Berkes for his timely advice and suggestions at every instance of the research; Durdana, Eranga, Ian, Dilbar and Alex for their help and support; and finally to all the fishing community in Nolianuagaon, Purnabandam, Arjyapally and Gokurkudham for allowing me to be a part of your community.

See below for the Odia language abstract for this community story.

View the complete CCRN’s Qeshm Island Community Story as a PDF

Razieh Ghayoumi and Anthony Charles

Key Messages   

• The people and communities of Qeshm Island, a UNESCO Global Geopark, have a strong connection to the land and sea. This connection, and a strong sense of environmental belonging, has encouraged them to actively participate in community conservation, and to develop sustainable livelihoods.

• Qeshm Island is home to sacred sites and species, which can provide a foundation for community-based conservation areas.

• Ecotourism offers economic, ecological and conservation benefits to the residents of Qeshm Island, while being respectful to the local culture and new forms of livelihood.

Community Profile

Figure 1: Map of Iran and Qeshm Island

Qeshm Island is well known due to the region’s historical background, customs, traditional clothes, fishing, festivals, sacred sites and ecotourism attractions – such as mangrove forests, turtle hatcheries, coral reefs, coastal diversity, marine mammals, and attractive geographical phenomena^(9,3). The main sources of income for the people on Qeshm Island are fishing and maritime trade⁽³⁾.

Conservation and Livelihood Challenges

Local communities in Qeshm Island face numerous threats and obstacles to sustainable development, including lack of recognition, inappropriate tourism, climate change, acculturation (influx of non-native people for trade and visiting), inappropriate development, illegitimate jobs (smuggling clothes and foods), overfishing, pollution, capacity for oil/gas/mineral exploration, habitat reduction, hot weather, limited fresh water resources and lack of appropriate infrastructure.

Community Initiatives

Two decades after development increased on Qeshm Island, the local people show resilience to detrimental change and they have increased their efforts to keep their traditions alive, conserve the environment, and build the economy in a way that fits with local values. The local communities reflect a sense of belonging, livelihood needs and spiritual and social values in their involvement with conservation, and in learning how to develop tourism based on their natural attractions and their culture⁽⁹⁾.

Culture

Figure 3: A water reservoir in Laft Historical Port, Qeshm Island

Conservation

Practical outcomes

Figure 4: Setting up a safe place for turtle egg hatching and monitoring in Shibderaz village, Qeshm Island

References

13 For further information, please see: http://qeshmgeopark.ir/en/pages/geopark/unesco-global-geopark

Acknowledgement

See below for the Persian language abstract for this community story, ” جزیره قشم، جنوب ایران , راهبری حفاظت با مشارکت جامعه و اکوتوریسم”

The documentary is part of Cintia Gillam‘s Master’s of Arts in International Development Studies thesis at Saint Mary’s University, and is based on her field research trip between July and August 2014. For additional information, check out the Vila dos Pescadores Community Story.

Directed by Kent Martin, and Produced by CCRN Partner and Researcher, Dr. Trudy Sable, the film celebrates the resilience of the Mi’kmaq, and Indigenous people in general; the rich landscape and resources which were available to them prior to colonization, the medicines and wild food that are still available and the sacredness of the food that sustains human beings spiritually, culturally, and physically.