Guardian of the groves

Van Amma

Bhagirathi Devi - Van Amma in Uttarakhand's Champawat district

Reason for forest disappearance

Excessive grazing and tree felling turned the 12 hectare forests into a barren land in 2000.

Impact on water

This impacted the flow of water in local springs

Van Panchayat

The Van Amma formed van panchayat - autonomous forest management committees under Indian Forest Act, 1927.

Fencing forests

The first focus was on clearing and fencing parts of the forests.

Silvopasture

Silvopasture - practice of integrating trees and livestock grazing on the same land

The forest was fenced with stones and thorny plants. Also cleared invasive species and bushes and planted grass and fodder plants.

Revival of forests

The tree growth took 5 to 6 years and 11.6 hectares of forest was revived.

Guard of the forest

Van Amma was assigned as the guard of the forest, every house contributed 20 rupees per month for her salary.

No fire incident

The forests is also usually opened in march to remove dry leaves before fire season, because of which there has been no incident of fire so far.

Revival of water in streams

The rejuvenation of forest has revived streams, between 2017 and 2021, flow increased from average of 2.8 litres per minute to 4 litres per minute, which meets the water needs of 8 to 10 villages.