Ecorestoration of Banni Grassland - Global Restoration Network

PREFACE
Ecorestoration of
Banni Grassland
Banni, a vast stretch of 3847 Km 2 area, located along the northern border of Kachchh
district of Gujarat state supports a good number of livestock from Kachchh and other
districts of the state and also neighbouring states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Today
this area is severely degraded due to increasing salinity, overgrazing, climatic abnormalities
and alarming invasion of Prosopis juliflora. This situation is evident from the fact that the
human and livestock population of the area decreased by 25 and 47 per cent respectively.
To over come the existing issues, many developmental projects have been implemented in
the area with a view to improve the socio-economic conditions of the people. However,
results were not very satisfactory, because these efforts did not ensure the involvement of
people and had ignored the ecological fragility of the region. Gujarat Ecology Commission
(GEC), therefore, decided to make a novel and eco-friendly intervention to improve the
living standards of Banni people under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP)
of the Government of Gujarat.
GEC, after a series of interactions with the Banni people, laid out the plan for the development
of Banni, while the implementation of that plan was carried out through Gujarat Institute of
Desert Ecology (GUIDE) and Vivekananda Research and Training Institute (VRTI). Though
the project activities commenced since late 1995, due to severe drought in 1995 and 1996,
the actual results of the restoration work were visualised only in 1997. The present report
deals with the one year recovery of the restoration sites located at Bhirandiyara and Dhordo
and the comparative productive status of unprotected and Prosopis juliflora infested
grassland areas of Banni. It also describes the pilot restoration activities carried at
Bhirandiyara (reclamation of saline land by GUIDE) and Dhordo (development of degraded
land by VRTI) villages of Banni to demonstrate the ways to improve the saline and degraded
lands. The restoration activities are in progress, however, the results obtained after the
1997 monsoon is summarised in the present report. The results of the study enhance our
hope of improving such areas. I hope the present report will help the researchers, planners
and development agencies to understand the effects of proper management in puts on the
development of degraded and saline lands.
Y.D.Singh
Director
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