In March 2009, the ceremony of land tenure certificate for forest plantation for 30 years was held at project site. This certificate was for the land of 50 acres planted last year in first year of this program. The secretary of Gwa Township Authorities, FD officer, Township Police officer, warden of RYES, Township Education officer and other village authorities attended and gave a speech. This is an important step for our project because other groups did not get this kind of legal certificate yet. This means that the landless Chin-hunters had the chance to live on this land for 30 years officially. 2. Capacity Building and Awareness Raising 2.1 Trainings and Activities FOW and FD had been j o i n t l y implemented capacity building activities and trainings such as grassroots stakeholders on CF, civil society development and wildlife survey for Chin community. The objectives of these trainings are to build the capacity of grassroots stakeholders for their leadership skill, decision making skill, CF management, and other skills so they can actively contribute to the forest plantation and good relationships with local authorities. FOW also supported and trained Chin people in some simple wildlife surveys (e.g., turtle and elephants) including how to use GPS-receiver, record GPS location, habitat type, take photos, and operate camera traps. 2.2 Community participation to mitigate HEC The community participation is a vital role in mitigation HEC. The object is to improve the capacity of villagers to cope with elephant damage. This was accomplished by helping communities share with each other methods that they currently use to mitigate elephant damage and by introducing to them new methods that have proved successful in other countries. FOW has tested these HEC prevention methods in Shwe-U-Daung Wildlife Sanctuary in Mandalay Division. Methods that villages do not currently use include visual clearing, permanent watchtowers in fields and planting crops, such as sesame (Sesamum indicum), that the elephants do not like. FOW led villages who wished to do so to write action plans employing methods they would like to try or that are appropriate for them. 3. Project supporting activities 3.1 Forestry program During the period of 2008-2014, the seeds of hardwood species such as Xylia spp. were distributed by the project for establishment of about 200 hectares of a community forestry plantation. The local community also planted 12 different crops inside the forest plantation for incomes. Securing this plantation signifies a real change in attitudes between the local authorities and Chin villagers. These were previously marked by fear. Relations are now friendly and provide the basis for further win-win opportunities to balance conservation and sustainable development. In 2009 Forestry Minister’s visit to Gwa Township, he appreciated project activities and objectives and promised to support the education in Chin state. Following his enjoyment on the project, many benefits appeared such as: 1) one donor for reconstruction of mobile school; 2) Arranging the National Registration Cards (NRC) for Chin people by Township Immigration Department with lower expense; 3) Upgrading mobile school to government primary school by Township Education Department. In 2011, the project provided equipment and technical assistance to construct a nursery. The Chin planted and tended the seeds for six months and sold the seedlings to local people. Income from the nursery goes into a village welfare fund and is used to hire teachers and maintain the water pipeline. Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the 163 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
Proceedings of International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Sustainable Development Goals : Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016 at the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
To see the actual publication please follow the link above