Materials and Methods

  1. Achieving sustainable development through cluster approaches

The original concept of sustainable development articulated in Our Common Future is of “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Some of the highlights of Principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development enunciated by Justice Brian Preston of Australia are: (link ):

  • Effective integration of economic and environmental considerations in the decision-making process.
  • Ecologically harmful cycle caused by economic development without regard to and at the cost of the environment could only be broken by integrating environmental concerns with economic goals. The Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, 2002, noted the need to “promote the integration of the three components of sustainable development—economic development, social development and environmental protection—as interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars”.
  • The Precautionary Principle suggests that if there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation.

4.1 Application of sustainability principles for Uttara Kannada: The ecological studies in Uttara Kannada during the course of last two and a half decades have created a sound database for the central Western Ghats-west coast region as a whole, enabling us to formulate an outline plan for decentralized, ecology-inclusive, low-risk sustainable development for bulk common good. The plan is in consonance with global trends in eco-friendly development for humid tropics. The highlights are stated below:

  1. Protection of the pristine environment wherever possible, demarcating areas involving biodiversity rich centres associated with forests, hydrologically significant areas such as Myristica swamps and high endemism forests, sacred groves, highly productive estuaries etc.
  2. The development plans are inclusive, aimed at better livelihood opportunities for the locals, promote entrepreneurship at the grassroots involving even the most underdeveloped areas and marginalized people; at the same time, these plans are in spirit not to harm the fragile ecology of the district any further. Though there are no claims of zero ecological damage, simultaneous ecosystem enrichment is envisaged through apiculture, restoration of mangrove ecosystems, beach vegetation and bio-shielding, protection of Myristica swamps and relic climax forests, eco-friendly redesigning of village peripheral forests etc.
  3. In the field of agriculture, the thrust is on organic farming, in situ conservation of indigenous crop varieties, cultivation of medicinal plants and their primary processing, marketing of organic products, crop insurance against damages from wildlife, agro-processing, value addition, use of locally produced bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers etc.
  4. A variety of low risk and low investment, and least polluting cottage and small-scale industries, mostly based on locally available or locally produced raw materials, and locally trained human-power are proposed. These are visualized taking into account global trends and sustainability. For instance, production of handmade goods or using low cost machinery and locally fostered human resources are going to reduce energy and transportation costs, and at the same time preventing mass migration of youth from impoverished villages into the cities, where burgeoning population and associated crises are turning out to be unsolvable for the Government. The fillip to growing of medicinal plants, apiculture, sericulture, preparation of vegetable dyes, scientifically prepared plant products like kokum (Garcinia indica) butter, coconut products, canned fruits, nutraceuticals, participatory ecotourism etc. are meant to capture the global market in the near future.
  5. In the energy sector, having researched on the silent but serious repercussions within the ecosystems of hydro-electric projects, (Sharavathi and Kali estuaries—for instance), adoption of widespread harnessing of solar energy will lead to integrated eco-development, apart from biogas, energy efficient stoves, biofuel etc.
  6. The high importance given to fodder farms at panchayat levels is based on the finding of fodder scarcity and prohibitive price of other cattle feeds. The tendency of the people to do away with cattle is primarily because of increased expenses on maintaining them. The reduced availability of cattle manure will tell upon soil fertility and soil structure badly and undermine agricultural systems. Fodder farm is a simple low cost solution for livestock maintenance, achieving prosperity through dairying and for greater soil fertility and protection.
  7. Alternate sustainable use of crop residues for bioethanol, etc. would minimize the greenhouse gas hazards associated with the crop residue, and more importantly, gives an opportunity to the local youth to setup biofuel manufacturing units.

Clustering approaches for ecology integrated sustainable development of Uttara Kannada has been suggested after due consultations with the stakeholders covering all sections of the society.

    Ecology-integrated clustering for development of local bodies

The geographical clustering approach for integrated, ecologically-sound development seems to be the only solution for sustainability in rural India, a country which is still a fair mix of advanced state of biotechnology, IT industry and global leaders in textile production, iron and steel, and transportation co-existing with slash and burn cultivation in the North-East, handmade clothes, village blacksmiths, bullock carts and stone-age canoes. The integrated eco-cluster approach, recommended here for Uttara Kannada district, is meant to protect ecology, biodiversity, water resources, culture and traditions while paving way for locality-specific economic development, primarily aimed at elevating the levels of livelihood security. Such development is meant to counter the adverse impacts of globalization on environment and human life in this fragile, humid, tropical zone rich in biodiversity, both cultivated and wild, and to arrest the recent trends in mass migration of youth deserting their villages, seeking better livelihoods in big cities. The clustering of gram panchayats, including small towns, for carrying out a proposed set of economic activities per cluster, envisaged here, is the best alternative to mega-projects and macro-economic development for a fragile tropical zone, a part of the Western Ghats, one among 36 Global Biodiversity Hotspots (https://www.conservation.org/priorities/biodiversity-hotspots). As cities like Bangalore are becoming unliveable due to unplanned urbanization (1028 per cent increase in paved surfaces with 88 per cent decline in vegetation cover and 79 per cent reduction in local water bodies, leading to severe scarcity of water and oxygen) with the burgeoning population and chaotic development, with water and power crisis looming large, rising pollution and scanty living spaces, the strains are felt in the Western Ghats for siphoning of water, producing hydro-power and even thermal and nuclear power, and extracting diverse kinds of natural raw materials, endangering ecology and impoverishing rural life, making the youth migrate in large numbers deserting their rural homes and leaving behind their traditional livelihoods.