Gestion de la biodiversité dans les paysages de montagne

Objectives

In India, millions of farmers secure their agricultural production in agroforestry and mountain landscapes, and lakhs of forest-dwellers depend on forest for their day-to-day subsistence. Despite that, demographic pressure and economic imperatives are leading to a constant loss of forest cover associated to the fading of traditional ecological knowledge.

From innovative institutional schemes to ecolabelling and payment for environmental services, India is applying a wide array of strategies in order to foster biodiversity conservation by establishing links with local development. In doing so, India is keeping on par with the international community, whose focus has been shifting from biodiversity conservation to poverty alleviation and rationale use of natural resources between Rio (1992) and Johannesburg (2002).

The general objective of the project is to answer this question : What will be the impacts of those new public policies in terms of biodiversity, livelihoods, management practices and landscape dynamics ?

To answer it, we will take the example of the coffee based agroforestry system of the Western Ghats. We will evaluate the environmental services it provides and devise strategies to reward planters that maintain those services. We will focus on the impacts of two specific institutional schemes : geographical indications and tree ownership rights. Considering this, the research programme will adress three specific objectives :

1. Coffee and Environmental Services : How to reward farmers that provide global and local environmental services ?

2. Geographical Indications and Biodiversity : How can a market tool help maintain cultural and biological diversity ?

3. Biodiversity and Governance : How can public policies (e.g. tree ownership rights) and local practices interact in a virtuous way ?

Each of the components of the project is part of a broader, international research project backed up by the European Union (CAFNET programme) and the French "Agence Nationale de la Recherche" (BIODIVALLOC and POPULAR).

Materials and methods

Research hypothesis :

This project is based on the following hypothesis built in collaboration with the Research Unit "Public Policies and Forest Resources" of CIRAD.

1. Conserving and restoring structural and functional diversity within a forest/agroforest landscape will enhance the production of goods and services, sustain the livelihoods of local populations and maintain a high degree of biological diversity.

2. Social and ecological resilience of forest/agroforest landscapes can be maintained through the diversification of forest resources and their management regimes. Economically rewarding the environmental services (water, carbon sequestration, pollination...) also contributes to the stability of the system.

3. Integrating local perceptions and knowledge within the management regimes implemented in public institutions fosters durability of the forest/agroforest landscapes.

The programme, conducted with an integrated approach in order to generate synergies, will give us the opportunity to test them in field situations.

Study Site :

Kodagu District (Karnataka State) is a major coffee-growing region in the Western Ghats of India. It produces one third of Indian coffee, mostly in agroforestry systems under native tree cover. In the last 30 years, in response to external market driven dynamics, intensification of coffee cultivation has led to the loss of 30% of the total forest cover, essentially in the species rich wet evergreen belt of the district. Furthermore, the native species of shade trees in coffee plantations are being replaced by exotic species thus increasing landscape fragmentation and blocking biological corridors.

The resulting dynamics are leading to a massive landscape fragmentation, habitat loss and biodiversity depletion. The loss of tree cover will also have an impact on the global environmental services produced by the forests of the district, including atmospheric carbon release and dismantlement of the Kavery river catchment basin that feeds the major urban centre of Bangalore and the agricultural plains of Tamil Nadu downstream.

Methods :

The first step will be a spatial analysis of the landscape dynamics over the last 30 years. This will be based on previous results (climate, vegetation and land-use maps) available at the French Institute.

We will branch off from that, exploring the agronomical, ecological, economical and sociological aspects of the system and gathering scientists from disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, political and legal sciences, geography, agronomy and ecology. A more detailed methodology can be found in the description of each project component.

Partners

Academic Institutions :

• Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai
• College of Forestry, UAS Bangalore
• Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
• National Law School of India University, Bangalore
• Research Unit “Public policies and forest resources”, CIRAD
• Research Unit "UMR Innovation," CIRAD/INRA/AgroM/CNEARC

Governmental institutions :

• Central Coffee Board Research Institute, Bangalore

Non governmental institutions :

• Kodagu Model Forest Trust, Ponampet (part of the International Model Forest Network)

Team

Programme Leader

• Dr. Claude Garcia, Ecology (Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD)/ French Institute of Pondicherry).
  Linking biodiversity and livelihoods in coffee based agroforestry systems in the Western Ghats.

Affiliated Researchers

• Dr. Sylvie Guillerme, Geography (Unité Mixte de Recherche Géographie de l’Environnement, (GEODE) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Toulouse).
  Public policies and peasant tree and forest management in the Western Ghats.
• Dr. Christelle Hinnewinkel, Geography (Unité Mixte de Recherche Aménagement, Développement, Environnement, Santé et Sociétés (ADES) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Lille).
• Dr. Eric Maire, Remote Sensing (Laboratoire des Mécanismes et Transferts en Géologie, Toulouse).
• Dr. Delphine Marie-Vivien, Legal studies (CIRAD)
  Geographical Indications in comparative law.
• Dr. Victoria Reyes-Garcia, ICREA Researcher, Institut de Ciencia i ecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona)
  Ecological knowledge, its transmission and role in participatory forest management in the Western Ghats.

Associated Researchers

• Prof. P.G. Chengappa, Economy (University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore).
  Supply chain analysis and Value addition of GI.
• Dr. Devagiri, Agroforestry (College of Forestry, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore).
  The production system of coffee, orange, spices and honey in Kodagu District (Karnataka)
• Prof. N.S. Gopalakrisha, Legal studies (University of Cochin).
  Geographical indications and traditional ecological knowledge.
• Dr. C.G. Kushalappa, Ecology (College of Forestry, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore).
  Biodiversity conservation in coffee based agroforestry systems in the Western Ghats.
• Dr. Y. Raghuramulu, Agronomy (Central Coffee Board Research Institute).
  Participatory Development of Ecofriendly management packages for local farmers.
• Prof. T. Ramakrisha, Legal studies (National Law School of India University, Bangalore).
  Conflicts and synergies between trademarks and geographical indications.

Post-doctorates

• Dr. Cheryl D. Nath, Forest Ecology.
  Tree Growth and Biodiversity in Coffee Plantations

Ph.D candidates

• Virginie Boreux, (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ), Switzerland).
  Bees, Pollination and Landscape Dynamics in Coffee Plantations in the Western Ghats

• Katie Demps, (University of California at Davis, USA).
  Transmission of local ecological knowledge in South India

• Vandana Nagaraj, (University of California at Davis, USA).
  Tree rights and porous borders, the case of timber smuggling in the Western Ghats

Research Assistants

• Nanaya, K.M., GIS Engineer.
  Spatial Dynamics of Coffee Plantations
• Aravajy S., Research Assistant
• Ramalingam S., Research Assistant
• Mr. Jennu Kalla M.G., Field Assistant
• Prathap A., Field Assistant
• Barathan N., Technical Assistant

Trainees

• Payal Bal, Pondicherry University.
  Ecology of the Elephants in the Coffee Estates

Past Fellows and Students

• Pierre Damien Bascou, Centre National d’Etudes Agronomiques des Régions Chaudes (CNEARC), France.
  Biodiversity assessment in Coffee Plantations
• Fanny Chrétien, Centre National d’Etudes Agronomiques des Régions chaudes (CNEARC), France.
  Characterization of production sytems integrating coffee plantations in the Western Ghats
• Margaux Decroix, Centre National d’Etudes Agronomiques des Régions chaudes (CNEARC), France.
  Characterization of production sytems integrating coffee plantations in the Western Ghats
• Marie Laval, AgroParisTech-ENGREF, France.
  Community Forest Management
• Lucie Cheynier, Agronomy (Msc Student, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie de Toulouse), spv : Claude Garcia.
  Emergence of a private forestry sector in the Western Ghats (India) (2006).

Funding

• European Union (Programme on Environment in Developing Countries) – Connecting, enhanhing and sustaining environmental services and market values of coffee agroforestry in Central america, East Africa and India (CAFNET)
• Agence Nationale de la Recherche, France : « Biodiversité 2005 - Biodiversity and Valuation Tools for Localised Productions (BIODIVALLOC) » - and « Agriculture et Développement Durable 2006 - Public Policies and Traditional Management of Trees and Forests (POPULAR) »
• CIRAD
• French Institute of Pondicherry

Main Outputs

Articles

GARCIA, C., LESCUYER G., 2008. Monitoring, indicators and community based forest management in the tropics : pretexts or red herrings ? Biodiversity and Conservation, online doi : 10.1007/s10531-008-9347-y. (read the article).

GARCIA, C., MARIE-VIVIEN, D., KUSHALAPPA, C.G., CHENGAPPA, P.G. & NANAYA K.M. 2007. Geographical Indications and Biodiversity in the Western Ghats, India. Can Labeling Benefit Producers and the Environment in a Mountain Agroforestry Landscape ? Mountain Research and Development, 27(3) 206-210 p. doi : 10.1659/mrd.0922. (read the article).