The project proposal envisages a multidisciplinary research effort to assess and quantify the ecosystem benefits and services of plantations on community lands and forests.  In India, such plantations are being carried under various rural development and afforestation projects over more than million ha in the country.  The project methodology consists of field surveys, community socio-economic surveys, participatory research activities, development of methodology for assessing and quantifying the ecosystem benefits, application of modelling techniques in decision making on land use planning for similar afforestation projects.  Data generated will be used to compare the scenarios under various community land uses as needed by the different sections of the society to maximise the benefits to the rural community and involving public participation in such decision making.  The emphasis will be on assessing the benefits from these land uses as perceived by the village community based on villagers need values of  these uses.  The use of modelling technique in decision making will be demonstrated to the managers of such lands i.e. forest department, rural development department, policy planners and village and town councils.  Such approach will improve the present methods of land use planning that are simply based on one or two main market based benefits from the land use and do not consider scenario analysis and multiple land use.

In Europe, land-use and forest planning does, in most cases, consider multiple forest values, which may even be mapped. However, the mapping of forest functions is carried out be experts with little input from stakeholders. For the conversion of plantations into forests that provide a greater range of ecosystem services, no priority areas have been identified. The identification, based on landscape analysis, and the appraisal of silvicultural techniques to achieve this goal, will be carried out using the same decision making modelling described above.

The unanswered questions mentioned in the previous sections explicitly relate ecosystem management to the integration of ecological, economic, and social factors.  The knowledge gained from studies by the European partners is proposed to be transferred to India and further developed for application in Indian conditions by means of a case study.  The proposed action will provide an initiative in developing a programme to provide primary source data for comprehensive assessment of extent, condition, uses, impacts of management of plantation ecosystems that serve as the foundation for policy studies and major economic and ecological management decisions and perform a pivotal role in public and private plantation planning.  This could for example be utilised for developing indicators for sustainable management and for forest certification.

Following main activity groups (AGs) are constituted for the execution of project activities :

Activity Group 1, (AG 1).Building the infrastructure base for the action,

Activity Group 2, (AG 2).Conduct Trainings, workshops and conference, 

Activity Group 3, (AG 3). Development of methodology for assessment and quantification of ecosystem services from community  lands and plantations through Land use inventory & Socio economic surveys

Activity Group 4, (AG 4).Comparative studies on the role of silvicultural tools to increase provision of  a range of ecosystem services

Activity Group 5, (AG 5).Comparative studies at the landscape level to optimise services (and developing a model for analysing   scenarios for land use)

Activity Group 6, (AG 6).Comparative studies on Community Participation in public and community land use for plantation planning & management in Europe and in India

Activity Group 7, (AG 7).Development of a data base for developing university courses on ecosystem benefits and services

Activity Group 8, (AG 8).Synthesis of project results and dissemination of knowledge

AG 2:         Trainings, workshops, and Conference (ALT- NE)

·        Training workshop for Indian partner and associate staff to develop their skills and competency in assessing and quantifying forested ecosystem benefits by EU partners in EU:

The EU partners will organise a training workshop for the project personal of FRI, India.  This workshop will be held in Germany and Netherlands and the objective of this workshop will be to strengthen the skills and capabilities of scientists and personal of FRI in methodologies for assessing Ecosystem benefit assessment and will also involve field visits for having a practice session on field procedures.

·        Training workshop for EU partner and associate staff to develop their skills and competency in developing participatory management approaches for forest and community lands by Indian partner in India:

        The FRI will organise a workshop for the project personal of the two partners from Germany and Netherlands.  This workshop will be held in Dehradun in India and the objective of this workshop will be to strengthen the skills and capabilities of project personal from partner institutes in Europe on people participatory management processes and community involvement in land based project planning and management. 

·        Workshops at a year interval for target groups in India and in Europe:         

Workshops will be organised at the end of one year to review the project progress and knowledge gained for the personal of the participating institutes.  The objective of this workshop will be to bring to the knowledge on benefits and services of plantations on community and forest lands of target groups the objectives of the project, the present developments of the project sand critical inputs from the target groups. 

·        Conference on project achievements at the end of project duration:

A conference focusing on theme of the studies under the proposed action will be organised.  The results from the proposed study will be presented and the conference will also invite papers from other people involved in the similar type of studies in other regions/countries.  The conference recommendations will be based on synthesising the current information from the knowledge gained.  The main role will be of participating institutions. (FRI-IN)

AG 3:         Development of methodology for assessment and quantification of ecosystem services from community lands and plantations in India (coordinated by FRI-IN)

·        Community meetings & Community landscape mapping:

The community meetings will be organised to introduce the project and the community survey, explain the study and reasons for its need and questions from the community will be answered.  Under this activity, villagers will involved in groups according to caste, gender etc. to illustrate their knowledge of village land resources using base maps.  These maps will be discussed with community and local forest/rural development department staff to update and to make necessary changes. 

·        Village level and household level questionnaires for primary data collection:

Prospective local experts will be identified based on information gained during community meetings and community mapping.  These local informants will be used to collect local views and knowledge on local natural resources. 

Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) methods will be used for collection of information on village population, socio-economics, various needs on land based resources (agriculture, forestry, dairy) for livelihood of different sections of village population. 

·        Socio economic survey, categories of stake holders and their level of dependence:

The village team with the assistance of the local informants will collect the socio-economic data at the village level through the community meetings, household surveys and interviews. 

·        Topographical & Soil mapping:

Survey of India topographical maps will be used to prepare base topographical maps showing the main topographical features such as rivers, roads, village locations, and main relief features of the landscape.  Soil information will be superimposed on these maps using the available maps or the soil assessment during the field activities.  Local informants from the farming community will be involved in such soil local classification and mapping. 

·        Records of forest and community land use management:

Forest and revenue records will be assessed to quantify the land resource utilisation in the overall landscape and the change in such use and the reasons thereof.  The pattern of population changes and relative dependence on community resources will be recorded.  Resource Survey team of FRI will take the lead role in preparing the data sheets for this information collection.

·        Record of species, production levels, uses (ethno-ecological data):

The village team under the guidance of silviculture and Botany divisions will prepare datasheets for collection of data on vegetation and trees from the sample plots.  Data on herbs, shrubs, trees, their local names, plant and its parts uses, frequency of use by various sections of people, use-value to people, and regeneration methods, changes in stocking will be carried out. 

·        Data control and management:

Under this activity data checking and revision for errors will made.  Plant records of the survey will check with the herbarium use, referencing, checking synonymy, and revising.  Herbarium staff under the Botany division of FRI will be responsible for this activity against the field reference. The two EU partner will contribute with studies in their respective countries as well.

AG 4:         Comparative studies on the role of silvicultural tools to manipulate ecosystem services (coordinated by WIF-GE)

·        Review state of art of silvicultural systems in plantation management

Data on the various ongoing silvicultural practices in land use management of the community and public lands in India, Germany and Netherlands will be documented under this activity.  The rationale for the system in use and the scientific basis for their use on the respective land use management will  also be documented. 

·        Analyse the needs of silvicultural system for multiple land use

The documented silvicultural systems will be analysed for the production and utilization of benefits and services that are delivered by them and compared with the extent of social and economic demands for different benefits on the ecosystems by the community from the information gained from community surveys. 

·        Develop and prescribe silvicultural systems that integrate multiple land use

Study the alternatives systems in use in other regions and countries that address the multiple use of the land resources and develop prescriptions to integrate and optimise the multiple and often conflicting social and economic demands on land use by taking into consideration the biological and ecological considerations.   The other two institutes FRI and ALT will contribute to these with data from their countries.

AG 5:         Comparative studies at landscape level to optimise services and developing a model for analysing scenarios for land use (coordinated by ALT-NE)

·        Existing landscape planning practices:

Analyse how plantations on community and public land resources are incorporated into the landscape level. For study areas in each country an assessment will be made how the planning of the plantations was done. This will mainly focus on which stakeholders were involved, what techniques/tools were used, and for what functions the plantations were planned for. A land-use map will be used to investigate the importance of different land-use types, and to check what interrelationships exist between different land uses in the study area.

·        Review of existing models and collection of data for model development:

Existing models on decision making in multiple land use planning will be studied for potential application.     Alterra has developed a landscape-ecological model which has been used in the Netherlands, UK, Italia, and the Russia to investigate whether networks of habitats in the landscape could fulfil certain biodiversity functions. It will be checked whether this model can be used in the Indian context. It will be checked if data are available on key-stone species, barriers, and other indicators for functions to be developed.

·        Model validation for ecosystem benefit quantification and land resource use analysis in hills and plains of India:

The model will be developed and validated for the economic and social data collected from field in the Hills and in Plains of the two states in India and the study areas of Germany and Netherlands.  Data for this will be collected by three partner institute from the area under study in the respective countries.

·        Simulation of different scenarios:

The model will be utilised in scenario analysis under different constraints for maximising benefits from planted ecosystems under multiple use. The different scenarios will include the locations of plantations in the landscape and different management options. This will aid in decision making for land use planning and management by the target groups. 

AG 6.         Comparative studies on Community Participation in public and community land use for plantation planning & management in Europe and in India (Coordinated by FRI-IN )

·        Historic development of Community Institutions, Customary rights & Regulations on community lands and policy developments and changing governance:

The objective of the activities under this group is to explore and learn from the changing nature of the involvement in managing community and public land resources specifically that are for plantations.  It will draw from examining the adaptations of joint management of community land resources based on experiences in India, Germany and Netherlands through studies on developments of polices, enactments involving community institutions in land use planning and development activities.

·        Changing land use practices & Land use conflicts, socio economic benefits

This activity will involve examining the changes in land use practices on community lands and their effects on distribution of economic benefits through case studies in areas varying from well afforested forests in hills to very low forest cover in plains and the relative need for wood, fuel wood, NTFPs, growing environmental awareness, recreation needs in different regions for different sections of community. Enumerating the effect of these changes on land use conflicts and their resolution. 

·        Lessons learnt

The results from the case studies will focus on examining the interactions between government and local development agencies and the village communities having distinct and often conflicting values, perceptions, knowledge and claims to community and public land resources under plantations.

AG 7.        Development of data base for developing university course material on ecosystem benefits and services (coordinated by WIF-GE)

·        Review of the present courses

Identification of perceived needs of various levels of education in understanding ecosystem services to various target groups including community panchayats, university courses and refresher courses for land use managers.  This will include development of course material for undergraduate, M. Sc, Post graduate diploma, and short duration focused continuing education (refresher) courses on the subject for forestry and rural development departmental staff. 

·        Collection of literature and data from case studies

The present course material on the subject from various universities and research reports, journals will be collected.  Data base searches will be made to identify the relevant data from the case studies and reports from different countries.   The data obtained from the present study will be the constituent from the participating countries far data base.

·        Analysis & Synthesis of the data base and development of course material :

The collected data on the subject be structured in a data base on different topics.  The new knowledge gained from the studies under the actions will be incorporated in the data base.  The data base will be then utilised to develop specific course material taking in to consideration the needs and requirements of undergraduate, MSc, Post Graduate diploma, and refresher courses for the land managers and also for  course to generate awareness in young students. 

AG 8:         Synthesis of project results and dissemination of knowledge (coordinated by WIF-GE)

·        Set of guidelines and manuals for target groups:

Under this activity, a set of guidelines and manuals on assessing and quantification of benefits and services from the plantations on community and forest lands will be prepared for disseminating the methodology developed under the proposed study.  A separate set of guidelines for the state forest departments and rural development department who have skilled staff and another set for the village community will be developed.  Educational course material will be disseminated to various education providers and to village communities in the form of simple posters and pamphlets.

·        Research reports and papers, working papers:

The scientists and research fellows working for the proposed action are expected to contribute to knowledge dissemination through publication of scientific papers in research journals and also technical reports for workshops.   The project reports will be made available on the project web page.

       

·        Final project report and Conclusions:       

Final project report will evaluate the project activities and accomplishments in relation to the project objectives.  The results of the project will be disseminated to the research, government ministries, and various stake holders.