Ongoing Programs and Future Plans

Environmentally Sustainable Policies and Practices, particularly relating to water and soil resources, continue to be the core area of DCAP’s activities in current work and future planning. Preparatory work for scaling up of water and soil conservation, addressing water pollution and expanding scope and application of GIS for promoting decentralized governance are underway.

• A comprehensive Survey of Surface Water Bodies in Pilana Block, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh State has been completed for identifying scope for Rain Water Harvesting and Sewage Treatment.
• Orientation Programs were conducted for Farmers for expansion of Organic Farming in Pilana Block, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh State.
• A network of Organic Farmers in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bundelkhand and Haryana is being established for providing marketing support and decentralized Organic Farming Certification [Participatory Guarantee Systems].
• In Uttarakhand, besides updation of GIS data on natural resources in Takula Block, Almora District, perspective plans have been developed for implementation of Village Plans in Takula Block prepared in previous project. These plans include new applications of GIS to develop participatory dynamic mapping of resource changes, causes and effects from micro level to a “landscape” scale, to enable landscape-level conservation and development decisions.
• R&D for Disaster Resistant and Climate Change Adaptation Technologies for Rural Communities is underway.

Expanding the scope and application of GIS is envisaged for current and proposed program areas. This is planned to be done through a new initiative of DCAP – Landscape based Research and Development.

Landscape based Research and Development.

The Landscape Approach involves recognizing and using overlapping cultural, social, and governance “landscapes” within biologically defined areas. It is a framework for making landscape-level conservation and development decisions. International agreements like the Convention on

Biological Diversity, Bern Convention and World Heritage Convention also recommend landscape-scale actions. The landscape approach helps to reach decisions about the advisability of particular interventions (such as a new road or plantation) and to facilitate the planning, negotiation and implementation of activities across a whole landscape. It integrates top down planning with bottom up, participatory approaches. Geospatial Technology can be particularly useful in achieving understanding of and promoting appropriate solutions to environment-based decision making. DCAP will explore avenues for R & D based on this approach in its future programs, aimed at integrating the several program interests and initiatives undertaken so far.