"The Burning Issue"

The Schumacher Centre team are in a completative mood as we look back across the year 2009. The last 12 months have seen an expansion of our work with UN organisations such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), along with a host of other successes.

For those who have not yet read it, please check out our Annual Report 08-09

Focusing on 2009 itself, it’s fair to say that this year’s place in history will be decided by the success or failure of the current Copenhagen conference on climate change.

Crooked moneylenders are exploiting rural poverty and perpetuating a new form of slavery. As farmers struggle to maintain their crops amidst climate change and other forms of pollution, many are left no recourse but to borrow from loan sharks.

Insurmountable interest rates exceeding 50% lead to exploitation and the destruction of lives. Rape, suicide, indentured servitude and murder are propagated by this throwback to medieval feudalism.

A Los Angeles Time article tells the story of a young woman repeatedly raped over months by a moneylender in response to her father’s unpaid debts.

This is only one among many money-lending related horror stories of a sexual nature. Farmers frequently sell their wives and daughters to moneylenders to settle outstanding debts.

This detailed and engrossing article also highlights the estimate of 200,000 farmer suicides since 1997. The main cause of these suicides is loss of land, and thus livelihood, to creditors. The article can be read here.

An often-neglected subject is the link between money-lending and local government. Most of the biggest money-lending families in the region have ties to the public sector. Some even have family in the government. It is easy for these moneylenders to ignore the law and evade persecution.

Despite popular outrage against these injustices, reports indicate money-lending isn’t going away any time soon. The Invest India Savings and Income 2007 survey reported that rural India relies on moneylenders nearly twice as much as banks. This is a sign of the disparity between urban and rural India.

Author: Patrick Koohafkan

Most of society’s problems hit women hardest – that is the nature of patriarchy. Still, it was thought-provoking when, this week, a UN report claimed women are hit hardest by climate change.

The United Nations Population Fund 2009 report stated that: “women are among the most vulnerable to climate change, partly because in many countries they make up the larger share of the agricultural work force and partly because they tend to have access to fewer income-earning opportunities.”

It added: “Women manage households and care for family members, which often limits their mobility and increases their vulnerability to sudden weather-related natural disasters. Drought and erratic rainfall force women to work harder to secure food, water and energy for their homes.”

Rural Indians have been 'failed' by government for 60 years, says Keshava Rao

Keshava Rao, a leading Congress party figure, has thrown his weight behind a fresh rural development concept introduced to India by Schumacher Centre.

Declaring that 60 years of government-led poverty initiatives had “failed” rural India, Rao hailed “Tri-Sector Partnership” as a potentail breakthrough concept.

The Tri-Sector Partnership (TSP) concept aims to tear down the barriers that divide NGOs, business and government, allowing them to unite on poverty issues.

The One World South Asia website carried an exclusive report of Keshava Rao’s declaration at an international Schumacher Centre conference last week.  The report, which includes an explanation of TSP, can be read here.

Many Asian nations have been taking a verbal beating for seeming disinterest in combating climate chaos, but that might be changing.

Xinhua reports that the Association of the Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) is finally taking climate chaos seriously. ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan spoke of Asia as “an agent of change,” citing examples of Asian nations’ recent efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

Pitswan reportedly said, “South Korea has been using green energy for transportation while China is starting to improve energy efficient and curb the rise of CO2 emission. India has provided 5 million U.S. dollars for green fund in an agreement with ASEAN.”

India may yet take the lead in combating climate among developing nations. The Indian Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh,  has been pushing for India to commit more forcefully . According to the Center for American Progress, Ramesh is “urging the Indian government to commit to action without the promise of financial and technological assistance, and subject its domestic efforts to international scrutiny.” He has also said developing nations must guarantee “nationally accountable mitigation outcomes.”

Given that the developing world stands to be hit the hardest by climate change, it would make sense for Asian countries to take the lead in its mitigation. Experts argue, however, that not all countries can be held to the same standard. In regards to the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen, Ramesh told the Hindustan Times “if all countries are treated alike the proposal is dead.”

Nick Pyatt helped to introduce carbon credit schemes to impoverished Orissa farmers

It’s not easy for anyone at first to grasp the concept of earning cash from catching carbon particles. Nick Pyatt, an expert on carbon credit schemes, laughs when he recalls the initial reaction of farmers to a pilot scheme that he helped launch in rural Orissa (eastern India). He said: “They couldn’t believe at first that anybody would be stupid enough to pay for something that you can’t see. You know you’ll always get a real answer from a farmer. In the beginning they looked upon it with admirable scepticism.”

Mr Pyatt’s carbon credit investigation formed part of a planned wider development project which hopes to create a different economic, social and environmental future for 8,000 impoverished farmers. The Orissa farmers, who own small individual plots of degraded land, lack collective power. But Mr Pyatt’s pilot project worked to create a system in which they could collectively grow trees and collectively profit by selling the resulting timber, paper pulp, fruit – and carbon credits – to big industries.

The farmers also lack the experience to run a competitive business. But with the money that they could potentially collectively generate, they would be able to buy in the management skills that they were missing.

The pilot project proved that the business model could succeed – and could generate Rs 20-30 crore over 20 years. Mr Pyatt is now working to secure funding and allow it to be launched in full. He said: “The business was viable, and the carbon credits aspect was a bonus.” He hopes his efforts will provide a benchmark for future forestry carbon credit schemes across India. The website carboncatalog.org lists just over 50 carbon credit schemes based in India – but only three on the list are forestry-related.

The Orissa scheme reflects Mr Pyatt’s strong belief that carbon trading can benefit the poor as well as big business. His thinking is in key with the UN Environment Programme, which in May 2009 launched a $12 million study into ways of enabling the world’s poorest farmers to benefit from carbon trading. The study, named the Carbon Benefits Project, is to examine rural sites in Kenya, Niger, Nigeria and China to see how much carbon is stored in trees and soil when land is managed in sustainable ways. A Reuters report on the initiative said: “Putting a price on living trees and storing carbon in the soil could give developing countries an incentive to save forests and adopt more climate-friendly farming practices.”

Some in the global environmental movement are, however, still questioning the validity and even the ethics of carbon credit schemes. Environmental protesters have even appeared outside the offices of carbon offset companies dressed in fish costumes – because they believe the issue to be a ‘red herring.’ One British journalist memorably compared the buying of carbon credits to papal indulgences, allowing the guilty to simply pay for absolution rather than having to change their polluting behaviour.

Mr Pyatt said in response: “I think that if you were saying carbon offsetting means we don’t have to do anything else to save the planet, then that argument would be true.  But if we accept that we have to change our behaviour, and if certain things can’t immediately be changed, then carbon offsetting is very useful.”

He added: “If I have a big factory and I can’t afford £50 million to re-equip it, I’m not going to just put myself out of business for the environment. Carbon offsetting schemes are necessary in such situations. Climate change is the biggest single issue for mankind. But we’re unable to just change everything overnight.” Mr Pyatt believes that “to make sustainable change” in human activity and behaviour, “there needs to be flexibility in the system.” He said: “Carbon credits provide that flexibility.”

For the uninitiated, carbon trading schemes can be either validated by the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) system, or they can exist independently of this. Questions have been posed over the reliability of some independent schemes. But CDM has also faced criticism, with some blaming its super-strict criteria for slowing the growth of carbon trading.

Mr Pyatt’s Orissa scheme was non-CDM. He said: “We weren’t going to be forced to commit to anything – that was our guiding principle. CDM has some question marks, particularly around the forest sector. It’s so stringent and complicated. There is currently only one forestry project in the world that is CDM approved, and that is in China.”

It is the difficulties in implementing CDM approved forest carbon schemes which partially explain why growing trees for carbon credits in India is yet to widely take off. Independent carbon trading projects such as Mr Pyatt’s now have the potential to unleash a new era of reforestation – for the benefit of both business and the poor.

Nick Pyatt runs Flow International, which is a UK-based firm that provides coaching for organisations to strengthen performance and responsibility. He can be contacted at n.pyatt@flowinternational.co.uk.

The pilot carbon credit project in Orissa was carried out by Flow International, Schumacher Centre, Amity Institute of Global Warming and Ecological Studies and Dialogue Associates.

See www.schumachercentre.org for more details on Schumacher Centre.

Dr D.K Giri - Director of Schumacher Centre

Dr DK Giri, Director of Schumacher Centre, last week attended the World Forestry Congress in Buenos Aires. He gave an account of the event to The Burning Issue.

I was in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 20th to 24th October to attend the World Forestry Congress, an event that is held once every six years by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. This was by far the biggest Congress with over 7000 people from all over the world attending. The exhibition ground La Rural of Buenos Aires wore festive colours with several stalls and side meetings. I was invited to one side meeting of the Second International Forum on Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). This is a programme invented by the Director, Land and Water Division of FAO, an innovative scheme to maintain livelihoods of several small and marginal farmers and climate change adaptation for many.

Recent researches have shown that the traditional systems often reflect rich and globally unique agricultural biodiversity. Also traditional agricultural systems are providing food for some 2 billion people today. These Heritage Systems need to be recognized and supported through dynamic conservation so that they continue to provide for future generations. GIAHS practioners and supporters came from 12 countries with their unique discoveries and stories of development of GIAHS sites in their respective countries. I presented 7 potential sites from India as Schumacher Centre had been asked to analyse them and suggest their national and global recognition.

One of the sites in Chhattisgarh state was decided to be a priority site for FAO recognition. This site is about the Baga tribes of Vilaspur district numbering 0.2 million known as “jungle doctors”. They deal with 400 medicinal plants and produce upto 150 medicines marketed as capsules and sachets in the Sanjivani Kendras of the state. These tribes can beat any forest officer in their knowledge of medicinal plants. The Forest Secretary of Chhattisgarh state endorsed the research findings of Schumacher Centre. In addition to this tribe, other sites in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa Sikkim, Meghalaya are also under consideration. Schumacher Centre will be dedicating much of its energy and efforts to GIAHS programmes. It is planning the launch of at least one site by February next year with a view to putting India firmly in GIAHS map.

India has been told that it must now adapt to the inevitable ravaging effects of climate change. Should we accept this, and invest resources into this - or should we insist that cutting emissions should be the only focus?

The Indian government has already started climate change adaptation efforts. But some prominent environmentalists view the adaptation philosophy as a  road to global ruin. Dr DK Giri, Director of Schumacher Centre, has featured this week on the OneWorld South Asia website discussing the positives and the pitfalls of climate change adaptation.

The article can be read here.

Women have been prosecuted as witches throughout history

The Asian Age newspaper reports today that five women were “paraded naked and forced to consume human excreta” in a village in eastern India.

The women in Jharkhand were reportedly attacked on Sunday and stripped before being beaten in front of hundreds of villagers, many apparently having arrived from nearby villages.

The newspaper claims the women were tortured and asked to confess they were witches. It also states that “most such attacks are reportedly propelled by influential people in the region eyeing the land of these women.”

Schumacher Centre condemns the reported attacks. In a time when New Delhi is further developing flagship causes such as the Space Programme, it is a reminder of the forgotten India.

The UK government has sensationally blasted the UK-based corporation Vedanta over its proposed mine in Orissa, eastern India.

The planned mine will, according to pressure group Survival International, heavily impact the local Dongria Kondh people – who consider the site chosen for the mine to be sacred land.

Critics of the project have added that the mine could cause ecological catastrophe.

A UK government agency said: “Vedanta did not respect the rights and freedoms of the Dongria Kondh consistent with India’s commitments under various international human rights instruments.” A Reuters account of the story can be read here.

Vedanta has responded by saying: “We condemn the findings of the UK-based agency. Our bauxite mining project at Niyamgiri hills has been cleared by the Supreme Court, the highest judicial authority in India. It is inappropriate for the agency of any other country to comment on a project being developed in India.”

Schumacher Centre works to defend the rights of India’s 80 million tribal peoples such as the Dongria Kondh. The country’s tribal population have consistently suffered disproportionately from corporate development and environmental degredation.

There is hope for India’s tribal peoples. Among many positive projects, Schumacher Centre has assisted the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a United Nations agency, in protecting the traditional farming techniques of these peoples.

This Vedanta case is a rare and special example of Western governments speaking out on the ethical actions of corporations from their own nations.

Author: Schumacher Centre staff.