Velhe

Our Approach

Sustainable Landscape Management (SLM) is Raintree Foundation’s flagship community-based program that aims at creating resilient and thriving ecosystems from an environmental, economic, and mental well-being perspective. Initiated in 2018, this 9-year pilot is an intersectional and longitudinal program that aims to bring about a holistic transformation of our program area – Velhe Block, Pune district, Maharashtra.

Rooted in the principals of systems thinking, the program brings together several stakeholders, with the community being the focal point. Our focus areas include community development, environment, and disability & mental health each encompass several smaller initiatives and interventions, with linkages and interdependencies cutting across them.

Why Velhe?

  • Global biodiversity hotspot
  • Compromised water availability through the year for drinking & agriculture despite high rainfall
  •  Limited livelihood options
  •  Lowest human development indicators in Pune district
  • Lack of active NGO presence, political insignificance and lack of industries
0 hectares | 9 Villages

Total Area

0 people | 654 families

Beneficiaries

Western Ghats of India

  • 140,000 sq. km | ~ 6% of India’s landmass
  • Exceptionally high level of biological diversity and endemism
  • UNESCO World Heritage site & Global Biodiversity Hotspot
  • One of the world’s eight ‘hottest hotspots’ in terms of biodiversity
  • One of four biodiversity hotspots in India
  • 325 globally threatened flora, fauna, bird, amphibian, reptile and fish species

Why conserve them?

  • Biological Diversity – Accounts for more than 30% of all plant, fish, bird, and mammal species found in India
  • Ecosystem Services – ~245 million people living on the peninsula
  • Anthropogenic Pressures – Encroachments, road development, mining, modern agriculture & human settlements
  • Weather pattern – Heavily influences India’s monsoons
  • Carbon Neutralizer – ~ 4 million tonnes of carbon
  • Vulnerable Ecosystem – 35% loss of forest cover over the last 90 years

Our Projects

Project: Water Filters

Focus Area: Water Security

Problem Statement:

Lack of availability and access to clean drinking water for the community & livestock.

Solution:

Maintenance and repair of primary and secondary sources of drinking water along with installation of 8 community water filters with water ATMs

Impact:

  • Equitable access to clean drinking water to the community especially to women and girls for 600 households
  • Reduced time for accessing drinking water

SDGs

Project: Farm Ponds

Focus Area: Sustainable Livelihoods

Problem Statement:

Water availability for agriculture is a major problem in the area which leads to sub-par yields. Additionally, lack of water also does not make a second crop possible.

Solution:

Construction of 17 Farm Ponds.

Impact

  • Availability of water to combat the dry spells during the kharif season
  • Income augmentation due to additional livelihoods opportunity

SDGs

Project: Bio-digesters

Focus Area: Renewable Energy

Problem Statement:

Community’s dependence on firewood as an energy source.

Solution:

Installation of 60 biodigester. A biodigester digests organic material and converts the waste into manure & biogas.

Impact :

  • Reduces the biotic & abiotic pressure on the forest and gives the slow-growing trees time to regenerate
  • reduces air pollution caused by burning firewood
  • provides organic fertilizers that improves soil/water quality
  • reduces drudgery of the women who collect the firewood
  • improves physical & mental health
  • Saving of ~ INR 10,000+ per household | 600 endemic trees per year

SDGs

Empowering communities to take climate action

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