ISSN 1013-7386 NUMBER 23 December 1995
Looking ahead
While there may be a feeling of satisfaction about the progress made in the past year, in no way should there be a feeling of complacency. The mountains of the world, in particular the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, are facing nearly insurmountable problems of poverty, inaccessibility, and remaining at the peripheries of the development processes taking place elsewhere. Only recently has it been recognised in the development community that the indigenous knowledge of the local people, their cultural diversity, and also the ecological diversity of the mountains provide opportunities for development that the plains do not have. It is these opportunities that ICIMOD wishes to identify, assess, and disseminate in the coming years. This issue of the newsletter shows that ICIMOD tries to do so in both the field of technologies and in the field of institutions and policies. We feel very fortunate that in this region we can do so by working together with eminent
scientists, experienced development specialists, and committed NGOs.
I look forward to a fruitful year of collaboration and productivity and wish you all personal satisfaction in your endeavours to improve the lives of the mountain people and their environment.
Egbert Pelinck
Director General
At the Regional Conference on the Sustainable Development of Fragile Mountain Areas of Asia (SUDEMAA), held in December 1994, it was unanimously emphasised that the efforts made by ICIMOD, in collaboration with other agencies, to bring together the Asian Mountain Community for the first time, should not cease after the conference. It was agreed that continuing dialogue and exchange of information should be maintained, along with other more concrete institutional arrangements for facilitating cooperation among mountain agencies and communities in Asia. ICIMOD was urged to take a leadership role in developing these linkages, while continuing to focus its programmed work on the Hindu Kush-Himalayas.
As a response to this concern, which was also supported by all the countries of the Hindu Kush-Himalayan Region, ICIMOD put together a proposal for establishing a network for the exchange of information related to the sustainable development of mountain and upland areas in Asia among concerned agencies. More specifically, the network has a number of objectives:
Certain activities were proposed to facilitate this dialogue. First, a number of subregional groups representing the different mountain areas of Asia will be established. The number will be determined after discussions with concerned agencies in the region. Second, it is proposed to publish a half-yearly, four-page flier covering activities reported by the different subregional groups. Third, several meetings are planned at both the regional and subregional levels, and these will be determined after consultations with concerned agencies in the region. In this context, the extent to which e-mail can be used will also be explored.
The programme will be called Asian Mountain Network and will be operational at ICIMOD for a period of three years, beginning in January 1996. The funds for this activity have been provided to ICIMOD by the Government of Switzerland. Agencies interested in participating in this network should write to ICIMOD with their suggestions on how to make this activity useful for mountain development agencies and professionals in Asia and the Pacific.
The application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for planning agricultural development in the Gorkha district of Nepal was an effort to address development potentials and constraints in the agricultural sector using GIS technology. GIS case studies were conducted by ICIMOD/ MENRIS, in collaboration with the Gorkha Development Project jointly being implemented by His Majesty's Government of Nepal and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). These case studies as a whole constitute the Gorkha Case Study. Assessment was carried out of agroclimatic zones at the zonal level for planning development interventions in the agricultural sector of mountainous regions. A number of areas were examined.
An appropriate database is critical for the future planning and management of development activities. A GIS orientation workshop was held in Gorkha Bazaar in April 1995 to discuss the use of the GIS database. It was attended by representatives of the District Development Committee (DDC), various line agencies, and NGOs working in the district. Results of the case studies were presented. During discussions it was agreed that the district database should be installed and managed by the local government. It was envisaged that all agencies should contribute to the information system and have access to it. At present, the district bodies do not have the capability of undertaking this task independently. The Gorkha Development Project aims to train staff on the subject and to establish basic computer facilities at the DDC to manage the database. For proper use of the system, data networking with other agencies, updating the databases, and so on, the DDC body needs support to upgrade its institutional skills and knowledge.
Limitations
Geographic Information Systems' technology was originally developed for lowland areas and can be inappropriate for mountain environments if the wide variability of these systems is not addressed. Due to the complexity of mountain areas
and their fast-changing environments, data collection, including the scale of data sources, data quality, data storage, and
the hardware and GIS software used in analysis are the main areas of concern.
Many of the GIS-based case studies do not cover large areas because of several types of data constraint.
However, one of the primary advantages of the GIS is its flexibility. GIS analysis can be carried out by applying different sets of indicators based on adjusted parameters. The system is easy to update, especially the socioeconomic aspects. In general, the database can be used for the assessment of different situations. Once a methodology is developed, it can be adapted and transferred to other regions.
The results of the Gorkha Case Study have been published as MENRIS Case Study Series No 3.
Rangeland ecosystems are estimated to comprise about 40 per cent of the total land area of the HKH region. Rangelands, therefore, are a major resource and are important for a number of reasons. First, rangelands form the headwaters' environment of major river systems in the HKH and what takes place in these grazing land ecosystems has far-reaching effects on downstream areas. Second, products obtained from grazing animals are important as food and secondary products for human consumption, as a source of cash income to producers, and as revenue to governments to assist development. Third, rangeland ecosystems provide habitats for numerous wildlife species and plants of medicinal and economic value; many of the protected areas in the HKH are located in rangeland environments. Fourth, the rangelands of the HKH are home to about 25 million people who have largely been neglected by previous development efforts due to remoteness and as a result of government policies that failed to appreciate the importance and potential of the mountain rangelands.
In recent decades, profound changes, with implications for the future of rangeland resources, the pastoralists, and their production systems, have taken place on the rangelands of the HKH region. These changes include the modernisation process itself which has brought improved access and services to previously remote pastoral areas; the expansion of agriculture into rangelands; the transformation of traditional pastoral production systems; the disruption in traditional trans-Himalayan trade networks; and what appears to be a general desiccation of alpine rangelands due to climatic changes which modify vegetation composition and reduce plant productivity and carrying capacity. These political, social, economic, and ecological transformations have altered the previous, well-established links between the pastoral population and their rangeland environment.
Human activities in the mountain environments of the HKH have caused considerable rangeland degradation, with a consequent reduction in grazing, animal carrying capacity, loss of biodiversity, and growing marginalisation of the human population. Accordingly, rangeland degradation can no longer be regarded solely as a localised problem since the implications are more widespread, affecting national, regional, and international interests.
The Development Challenge
The challenges facing the sustainable development of rangelands in the HKH are considerable. Despite their extent and importance, rangeland ecosystem dynamics and processes are still poorly understood. There is a lack of good, quantitative ecological data on rangelands. The question of how rangeland vegetation functions and the effect of grazing animals on the ecosystem in the HKH remain largely unanswered. This limits the preparation of rational conservation and development planning.
Pastoralists in the HKH have, over centuries, developed animal husbandry skills and grazing practices adapted to the harsh environmental conditions and perturbations in the ecosystem, but the efficacy of these traditional pastoral practices are not sufficiently acknowledged by development planners. There is also a lack of information on traditional pastoral production systems, impeding informed decisions about altering traditional livestock production practices. The "mainstream view" regarding nomadic pastoralism, which maintains that traditional pastoral practices need to be improved, has largely shaped pastoral development in the HKH, as elsewhere in the pastoral world. The result has been that the pastoralists themselves have largely been left out of the development process.
The mountain rangelands of the HKH are comprised of a unique assemblage of flora and fauna. Human activities have resulted in the destruction of wildlife habitat and the loss of biodiversity. Numerous national parks and reserves exist in the HKH, but significant gaps in the protected area system remain, long-term ecological studies are lacking, and management of these valuable resources is ineffective and inadequate. The preservation of mountain wild animals and management of their rangeland habitat are essential for conserving biodiversity.
Sustainable development of rangelands requires appropriate policies. Development policies in the HKH have largely ignored the mountain rangeland areas, and policies that do exist for pastoral areas have generally maintained that traditional pastoral systems need to be "improved" without any consideration of what may be practical or of value in the existing system. Agricultural and forestry development policies have usually neglected the role of livestock in development, and the potential positive contribution that livestock can make to agricultural and economic growth has been overlooked. Rangeland development policies tend to centre on improving livestock production rather than on multiple-use resource management, which considers uses other than livestock.
The lack of concern for rangelands and misconceptions regarding pastoral ecosystems in the HKH have led to a general downward spiral in the productivity of many rangeland areas and increased marginalisation of pastoral peoples. Reversing these trends should be a priority for governments and development agencies. Resolving rangeland degradation and pastoral development issues will require modification in current strategies and approaches which will need to integrate ecological processes of rangeland management and biodiversity conservation with the economic processes of livestock production and integrated mountain development.
The Development Opportunities
In the HKH, rangeland development based on long-term sustainable use of rangeland resources has the potential to increase productivity of rangelands, maintain biodiversity, and improve people's incomes and livelihoods, provided that
the information on ecological and sociocultural constraints is internalised and integrated into development approaches. The poor perception of rangeland environments and pastoralism and the limited support for pastoral development and rangeland resource management in the HKH, in the past, need to be counterbalanced by emerging perspectives and information regarding the assessment of range ecosystem dynamics, pastoral production practices, and biodiversity conservation. These new perceptions suggest new possibilities for and fresh approaches to designing range management
and pastoral development in the future.
Strategies for range management and pastoral development in the HKH should aim to maintain rangeland productivity, rehabilitate degraded areas, protect and enhance biodiversity, promote sustainable livestock production, stimulate economic growth and create employment among the pastoral population, and improve people's living standards. Developing such strategies requires a much better understanding of rangeland ecosystem dynamics, increased knowledge of existing pastoral production practices, more thorough analysis of the issues and opportunities facing pastoralists, and adjustment of existing policies for rangelands and pastoral areas.
Successful implementation of sustainable rangeland development interventions requires that ecological principles regulating rangeland ecosystem functions be linked with the economic principles governing livestock production and general development processes. However, most of the existing institutions and organisations involved with rangeland ecosystems in the HKH lack a suitable system for organising and analysing range resource information relevant to the management of rangelands. Fortunately, there is a growing awareness of the need to address rangeland resource issues in the HKH, which, when coupled with insights from fresh perspectives emerging on rangeland ecosystem processes and pastoral development and new computer-assisted technology available for processing and analysing information on rangelands, provides good prospects for more sustainable development of rangeland areas.
ICIMOD's Role with Respect to Rangeland Development in the HKH
ICIMOD is uniquely positioned to assist countries in the HKH with sustainable development of rangeland ecosystems. As part of ICIMOD's new Regional Collaborative Programme, the development of rangelands will receive high priority in the Centre's Mountain Natural Resources' Programme. ICIMOD's multidisciplinary team of experts plans to work
with rangeland specialists in the HKH to assess rangeland ecosystems, review traditional pastoral production systems, evaluate previous rangeland development experiences, and identify successful interventions for improving rangeland management practices. A major strength of ICIMOD's multidisciplinary approach is the identification of interdependence across spatial, ecological, sectoral, institutional, and disciplinary boundaries as an important requirement for promoting integrated approaches to sustainable mountain development.
By focussing greater attention on rangeland environments, ICIMOD expects to assist governments, local people, NGOs, and the international donor community in
i) promoting the well-being of inhabitants and users of the rangelands of the HKH;
ii) improving the conditions and management techniques for the rangelands; and
iii) strengthening the capabilities of institutions and organisations in the HKH to support sustainable development of the rangeland resources of the HKH.
The avalanche in Gokya Fang, Khumbu region and the landslides in Manang, Nepal, during the November 1995 disaster left 63 dead, 22 other nationals and 41 Nepalis. While some of these hazards have a natural cause, many others have been precipitated by development activities. Nepal is still ecologically fragile, therefore, land use management techniques are very crucial. Reckless development activities account for almost three times the disasters caused by natural hazards.
Moreover, a global study of the occurrence of disasters shows that the incidence in least developed countries (LDCs) is twenty times higher than in industrialised countries. To help mitigate these disasters caused by poor construction in mountain areas, ICIMOD established a programme of Mountain Risk Engineering (MRE) Training activities. The programme's overall objective is to promote, through dissemination and training, the benefits of employing MRE skills in selected countries in the HKH region.
The specific objective of the programme is to promote awareness about MRE among policy-makers, senior officials in government, and development organisations; to support decentralised on-the-job training for junior professionals, including farmers and village labourers; to support the introduction of MRE curricula in academic institutions; and to disseminate programmes and other MRE information generated throughout the HKH region.
In Phase I, the focus was on the preparation of a Training Manual for MRE and the implementation of a Pilot Training Programme. Under Phase II, the training manual was revised and published and another eight-week long MRE training course was conducted for professionals from the Himalayan region. Extensive review and assessment of earlier achievements and impacts of MRE indicated that, whereas MRE concepts and methods were very valuable for mountain areas, new approaches were needed to focus on on-the-job training and to facilitate a wider use of MRE "soft" techniques for instability and mitigation and control.
The third phase funded by the European Commission has been developed and designed to cater to these needs of the HKH countires. It has two main project areas -- China and Nepal, while a third one in India is being discussed. Activities at the regional level are directed towards facilitating the in-country projects and to generating a wider momentum for MRE training activites in the HKH region.
The China focal point is the Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment. The agenda includes on-the-job training for in-service officers and community labourers in four groups of 16 persons each; two awareness seminars for 30 decision-makers; and two workshops for 30 officials from academic institutions.
Tribhuvan University has been designated as the Nepal focal point. Three sets of activities are envisaged. These entail organising three workshops for 25 participants each and a seminar for academic personnel and university officials in order to develop MRE curricula in the university system. It will consist of an exploratory meeting of the institutes and departments of disciplines related to MRE. A scientific committee (4-5 members) will put forth three basic proposals -- one for biological sciences, one for civil engineering, and one for the earth sciences. Apart from this, an MRE training support unit will be operationalised. In the case of the India project, additional feasibility studies will be conducted during the next few months. The project's steering committee, which sat on 13 December 1995, approved the operational plan and the first year's work plan of the project.
Expected impacts and benefits include expansion in MRE knowledge, awareness, skills, and applications with benefits to mountain projects and their environment. Production of MRE materials for a wider audience, regional cooperation,
and, above all, sharing of experiences will be among the benefits.
Today, ethnobotany is widely accepted as a science of human interactions with plants and ecosystems. Recent developments in ethnobotany in China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan have been strongly oriented towards traditional herbal medicine; indigenously managed plant resources; traditional organisations; cultural interpretation of the plant world, ethnobotany of minorities, and ethnobotany for rural development; and biodiversity conservation with strong applied approaches in the field.
Ethnobotany by nature is a multidisciplinary science drawing on botany, ecology, and anthropology. The fundamental focus of ethnobotanical research is to examine the dynamic relationships between human populations, cultural values, and plants; recognising that plants permeate many aspects of culture, materially, symbolically, and metaphorically, and that nature is by no means passive to human action but provides an equal interaction. Thus, ethnobotany is more than simply a study of plants useful to people; it is devoted to understanding the limitations and behavioural consequences of the human population's actions on their plant environment.
At the same time, it is recognised that plants impose limitations on human actions and underlie many aspects of human beliefs and actions. The genetics, phenology, chemistry, and productivity of specific plants and human populations are a few of the factors examined in order to understand botanical restrictions and flexibilities that affect these interactions.
The importance of ethnobotany, however, is not limited to hard science; it has an important role to play in the conservation of nature and culture and of the biological and the traditional cultural diversities of the world. In fact, the conservation of biodiversity and cultural diversity are closely linked to each other. For instance, in traditional medicine and food culture, the use of edible plants differs from one region to another and from one ethnic group to another. Ancient knowledge systems not only involve the knowledge of plants used for medicine and food, but also protection strategies for sustainable use of plant resources. Therefore, ethnobotany has played an important role and will continue to facilitate documentation of traditional knowledge on medicinal and edible plants in different ecological zones and human societies in the world.
Mountain ecosystems in the Himalayas have long been neglected because of their inaccessibility and economic deprivation. Understanding how mountain people conceptualise their ecosystem is particularly useful when combined with studies of resource use patterns, appropriation systems, decision making, and so on. Basically, the mountain economies of the region are characterised by self-sufficient and self-reliant systems that are agroforestry based and have extremely diversified land use, bioresources, and human cultures.
Over the past two decades, environmental and cultural changes and economic development in the mountain region have accelerated, creating a serious impact on mountain natural resources. As the fundamental building blocks for development, biological resources provide the basis of subsistence for mountain people and the potentials for development of mountain economies. As regenerative resources, however, biological resources have been maintained by the indigenous people of the mountain region for agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, forest products, herbal medicine, hunting, rituals, cultural needs, and almost all of their subsistence needs.
Mountain people use a wide variety of species rather than a few species only; mountain communities manage the environment as a whole, an integrated system rather than separate ecosystems. For them, the mountain habitat provides a means of survival and is not just an area to be exploited for short-term benefits. From such perceptions and practices, mountain people have constructed a system of use and maintenance of natural resources which is referred to as an informal knowledge system or indigenous knowledge system. Modern systems of resource utilisation and methods of economic development are often divided into separate disciplines which compete for natural resources from the environment by using formal knowledge and modern technology. Operations under these systems concentrate on exploiting specific biospecies with higher economic value for marketing. Ignorance of the system functions of biological resources in mountain societies has resulted in the degradation of the mountain environment and its resources.
UNESCO, in collaboration with ICIMOD and with funds granted by DANIDA (Government of Denmark), is launching a three-year programme to develop the field of ethnobotany applied in the management and conservation of plant resources through capacity-building, supporting research, and promoting action-oriented field projects. Emphasis will be placed on supporting young ethnobotanists at the interface of conservation and development using a participatory approach.
We expect to establish close linkages with ethnobotanists within the region and create more opportunities to interact
with ethnobotanists from other regions in the near future through implementation of the project in the Hindu Kush-
Himalayan region.
Sericulture is being promoted as an on-farm cash-generating activity for women in Nepal. It is practised in pockets of the eastern district of Ilam. Many farmers, several institutions, and local NGOs involved in silk production have come together to form the Sericulture Association of Nepal (SAN). The organisation is still in its infancy and requires support in terms of technology, research, marketing, and manufacturing.
Finding answers to these problems is very much within ICIMOD's sphere of interests and activities . By playing the role of a facilitator, ICIMOD helps to replicate successful experiences in the countries of the HKH region. As part of its continuing efforts to identify and promote high-value crops in mountain areas, sericulture was identified as a potential mountain crop for farmers in the mid-hills of Nepal.
The recent sericulture study tour by a group from Nepal in October '95 to Ningnan County, Sichuan Province, China, sponsored by ICIMOD, included ten professionals -- manufacturers, scientists, government officials, and seri-farmers. The group members came from varied backgrounds -- from pioneers in the field like the proprietor of Surya Silk, Mrs Maggie Shah, to those who have worked for the development of the silk industry in the interior of Nepal, for example, Dil Kumari Lingdem, a seri-farmer from Ilam who is chairperson of the 'Amar' Sericulture Development Group. Dil Kumari Lingdem has worked for a decade to develop good cocoons from mulberry. Scientists and officials from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Rampur, Chitwan, were also part of the team.
The successful experiences of seri-farmers in Ningnan were discussed with the team. These covered the whole gamut of silk production: the sericulture extension system, mulberry production, egg production, cocoon grading, cocoon drying and storing, marketing system, post-cocoon reeling, and silk yarn production.
Mulberry planting and silkworm rearing have still to become popular amongst farmers in Nepal. Certain pockets where sericulture is carried out in Nepal have experienced constraints. As there is no tradition of sericulture in Nepal, choice of technology has to be made carefully. It is the belief of those in the industry that sericulture should be promoted as a cottage and small industry.
The activity is totally dependent on outside raw materials. Silkworm eggs are not produced in Nepal, but imported from South Korea. Most of the time the supply of eggs does not match the mulberry garden schedule; a management problem to a large extent. Also, the varieties of silk-worm (eggs) imported are not suitable to local conditions. There is no research on appropriate technology nor R & D testing, there is a dearth of trained manpower, and virtually no market for cocoons. The cocoon producers lament the arbitrary government pricing of cocoons, which should ideally be based on the international (prices and demand) market.
The outcome of the study tour to Ningnan County, reveals many technical misconceptions. Cooperatives were found to be strongly viable. The outcome was a follow-up platform. This platform for follow-up action will bring together government officials and NGOs and result in business, technical, and marketing inputs. It will also identify new areas suitable for sericulture.
The group studied the institutional aspects and farmers' activities. Mrs Maggie Shah, the chairperson of SAN, and the other mission members returned with many positive ideas. China provides 85 per cent of the world's silk and they do an excellent job of production, Mrs Shah stated. The exposure to how farm-level service is conducted has been very useful. According to her, the initial stages are most crucial. What kind of eggs do the farmers get? If the egg is weak, there is no way the poor farmer can get it passed. Although the tradition of silk rearing is comparatively new in Ningnan county, their nursery rearing model is very strong. They have some advanced farmers who exclusively rear the egg/worm through its first two delicate stages. This is the most useful experience for Nepal. The land-use pattern for mulberry planting is also very helpful and is acceptable to Nepali farmers.
However, Mrs. Shah does not suggest that Nepal go in for egg production, which involves high, complex biotechnology and is also expensive. "But we can replicate some things. Like the production of temperate climate silk, as in China, which is more suitable to Nepali conditions than the tropical silk of southern India."
The mission members are very grateful for ICIMOD's rapid response to their needs. As a follow-up, Mrs Shah has requested a technical review to identify suitable mulberry and egg varieties to suit local conditions and different levels of training by experts from China. She has also suggested that it would be useful for the government to set up a formal avenue of import for the right kind of raw materials.
Under the institutional strengthening programme of the Mountain Farming Systems at ICIMOD, one of the activities focusses on building the institutional capacities of national research and development (R&D) institutions to replicate successful experiences. The success achieved by using Seabuckthorn (SBT) to regenerate dry areas - notably successes in improving both the ecology and farm economies of otherwise resource poor areas - have been documented and advocated.
Himachal Pradesh (H.P.), a tiny hill state in India, in its efforts to develop Seabuckthorn, has mobilised the state's R & D institutions in the cold and dry Himalayan areas of the state. Subsistence farmers have been using SBT traditionally as a source of fuelwood and fodder and for slope stabilisation. The programme managers in Himachal Pradesh were not aware of the Seabuckthorn revolution in China and were a little hestitant to draw up a large programme on Seabuckthorn.
ICIMOD provided support for a two-week intercountry exchange study tour for 10 persons to the People's Republic of China, giving them first hand acquaintance of Seabuckthorn activities in China.
The team included a provincial leader from Himachal Pradesh who had been instrumental in shaping tribal development plans in his area, the Chief of the Forest Department in the cold and dry areas of the state; the state council staff in-charge of coordinating SBT activites in the state; the scientist in-charge of the UHF(The Y.S. Parmar University of Hortiulture and Forestry, Solan, H.P. India)-ICIMOD Seabuckthorn Research and Demonstraton Centre; and a local NGO representative-cum-progressive farmer from Lahaul. Besides, representatives of two NGOs from Ladakh, who are working on the various ways of using seabuckthorn to improve the farm economies of Ladhakhi highlanders, and a representative of the industry were also included in the delegation. Two persons from Nepal also joined the study tour and they were from the Remote Area Development Committee of the Ministry of Local Development.
The purpose of the study tour was to show how resource poor areas, for example Jian Ping County, used this plant to transform its ecology and economy in a mere decade and a half; what is the state-of-the-art in terms of the agro-industrial use of this plant; and how successful it has been in China. The once poor county of Jian Ping in northern China first used SBT two decades ago to meet the subsistence needs of the farmers, i.e., for fuel and fodder and to control wind erosion. Later, the newly-established Seabuckthorn forests were harvested for by-products (fruit). This led to the development of agro-industries and a change in the farm economy. Today, the people of the county are prosperous and their economic diversification is largely based on SBT.
China has built up a wide variety of wild and domesticated races of SBT from all over the world. An intensive selection and breeding programme is carried out at the Yongshore County experimental station in Shaanxi Province. The plant collections from different agroecological zones being raised on the site also brought to light the fact that seabuckthorn has different plant forms adapted to different agroecological zones.
The visit was a most useful experience. There are half kilometre strips planted on both sides of the Yellow River and even wider areas where the river basin has spread far and wide. Large areas of the river basin were afforested with seabuckthorn through air seeding. It was reported by the local people that, with luxurious forests in place, the river was tamed substantially and had clearer waters. This area has now become the base for seabuckthorn industries.
The group also visited various factories producing seabuckthorn products. Most notable among these were those of SBT oil and oil-based medicines. Samples of SBT products were provided as gifts to the participants.
It clearly emerged that the SBT exchange tour helped strengthen the knowledge of the participants and through them their institutions. The National Seabuckthorn Office of China had established a Research and Training Centre on Seabuckthorn which has been upgraded to the level of an International Centre for Research and Training on Seabuckthorn during the International Workshop on Seabuckthorn (ICRTS) in December 1995.
Established in 1982, the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) is a private non-profit, non-partisan organisation of the Aga Khan Foundation which is working to improve the quality of life of villagers in northern Pakistan.
The AKRSP works in the three rugged and remote mountainous districts of Gilgit, Baltistan, and Chitral. Together these districts cover an area of 66,000sq.km. and approximately 1,030 villages in the Northern Areas (Gilgit and Baltistan) and in the North West Frontier Province (Chitral).
Objectives
AKRSP's specific objectives complement and supplement the activities of government departments and other development agencies. The three principal objectives are:
Organisation
AKRSP has generalised a model for sustainable resource management and outlined operational guidelines. This institutional model of rural development has been widely acclaimed for 11 years. The programme establishes a partnership with the village, based on the establishment by the village of a Village Organisation (VO). As an
organisational incentive, AKRSP provides a grant for village projects called Productive Physical Infrastructure (PPI), and terms of partnership are signed between the VO and AKRSP. The decisions of the VO are made in general body meetings and are binding. Thus the VO enables the implementation of PPI. AKRSP maintains that stagnation in
subsistence farming can be overcome by investing in the individual and jointly-managed stock of the physical capital in villages. The farmers are always urged to upgrade their skills in order to be able to undertake development activities.
VOs nominate members to be trained by AKRSP as village specialists in the skills needed to achieve these development activities.
The concept and philosophy of AKRSP have been widely successful and have spread far and wide. Its programmes are by far the most important non-government development activity in the Northern Areas.
Programme
There are three phases to the programme -- identification, preparation, and appraisal. The AKRSP works at various levels. It demonstrates committment to establishing a VO, using it as a primary vehicle for development. At the social level, the forming of a VO involves field-based social organisers to interact on a regular basis. The methodology of women in development has been weaved into every project successfully, and AKRSP gives full credit to the Women's Organisations (WO) that were in place before the village sought AKRSP assistance. The Productive Physical Infrastructure (PPI) identified by the overwhelming majority of members of a VO is implemented by the villagers, becoming joint property. AKRSP's savings and credit scheme demonstrates the ability of small farmers to accumulate capital through disciplined and regular savings, however small. The natural resources' management programme seeks to optimise the productive capacity of local resources by replacing subsistence agriculture.
ICIMOD and AKRSP
Since its inception ICIMOD has had occasional interaction with AKRSP, particularly in the field of mountain farming systems. Earlier in the year, the Director General, Mr Egbert Pelinck, led a fact-finding mission to Pakistan which included a visit to the Northern Areas and field activities supported by AKRSP. Both Mr Pelinck and Mr S
Rasmussen, General Manager of AKRSP, agreed that closer collaboration between the two organisations would be of mutual benefit. Exchange of information and participation in each other's meetings was considered an important first step to do so. Initially, the following subjects were identified for collaboration: Ecological Tourism; Geographic
Information Systems (GIS); Micro-hydels; Gender; Community Forestry; Information-Networking; and Beekeeping.
In the meantime, several AKRSP staff have already participated in ICIMOD-sponsored workshops and training courses.