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Uttarakhand Environmental Education Centre (UEEC) |
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Uttarakhand is a fragile ecological zone where human activities can cause extensive land degradation (deforestation and soil erosion) if not carried out in an environmentally-sound manner. Our programmes focus on rural communities and the livelihood issues that arise out of village land degradation, i.e., water scarcity, falling crop yields, scarcity of fuelwood and fodder, the heavy work burden for women and children, poor nutrition, and the forced migration of men and boys to urban areas for employment. A village forest comprises a major part of the total village land area, and is shared by the entire community. This forest land is seen as the crucial area in which a beginning may be made to halt and then reverse land degradation. This work can only be done by community effort. As a result of colonial forest policy and now, after independence, modernisation and development in general, the village community has been weakened and its capacity to undertake such tasks seriously impaired. Our primary aim, therefore, is to help village communities, and particularly women, organise to tackle land degradation and the problems that arise from it. Our work with children in schools and pre-school centres emphasises the importance of community and provides the concepts, knowledge, and skills they will need to tackle the job of land restoration and sustainable management. There are considerable overlaps between our areas of work. |