BCLRIP Introduction

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (BC-RLIP)

The Government of India has received a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) and a grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) towards the cost of a new Project titled the Biodiversity Conservation and Rural Livelihood Improvements Project (BCRLIP).

This project is in many ways a successor to an earlier and recently concluded project titled ‘India Ecodevelopment Project’ (IEDP) and seeks to extend the philosophy and practices of IEDP from a PA centric treatment to a landscape level where PA, non PA forests, and other land uses intermingle and get addressed together under a single project that addresses local livelihood improvement issues in the context of Biodiversity Conservation.

The Project Tiger office (PTO) in the MOEF which has been charged with the management of BCRLIP carried out an extensive exercise involving expert government agencies like the Wild life Institute of India (WII), Botanical Survey of India (BSI) and Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and several consultations with the state governments to arrive at the following six landscape sites for coverage under the project:

State	Biogeographic Zone	Name of Landscape (LS)	Name of Core PA	LS Area (approx) sq km
J&K	Himalaya and Trans Himalaya	Indus Valley	Changtang WLS	10,000
Uttaranchal	Himalaya and Trans Himalaya	Askot Musk Deer Sanctuary	Askot Musk Deer Sanctuary	1300
MP	Deccan Peninsula and Gangetic Plains	Satpura	Satpura NP	4500
Gujarat	Arid and Semi Arid	Little Rann of Kutch	Wild Ass Sanctuary	5000
Mizoram	North East	Dampa	Dampa NP	1100
Kerala – TN	Western Ghats	Intervening LS	Agasthyarmalai BR	9400

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) Government of India has selected a consortium consisting of PEACE-ELDF-Samrakshan Trust-NR International represented by PEACE, after a highly competitive exercise as the consultants to design and prepare the Project document for the new Project (BCRLIP). The said Project document would then be appraised by the WB and a SAR (Staff Appraisal Report) prepared which would then be implemented over a period of 6 years by the respective state governments.

THE CONSORTIUM

The consortium executing the project consists of following four (4) organizations and other core team members and advisors, who are vastly experienced experts in their own fields.

PEACE Institute Charitable Trust (http://www.peaceinst.org/) Established in 2003 at Delhi, it is a public charitable organisation managed by experienced professionals. It is dedicated to the promotion of forest and wildlife conservation policies, programs and actions in the country.

Enviro Legal Defence Firm – Established in 1999 at Noida (UP), it is a law firm run by dedicated legal experts and specializes in natural resource policy and law.

Samrakshan Trust – Established in 1999 and headquartered in New Delhi, Samrakshan Trust is a NGO that undertakes field interventions to reconcile conservation imperatives with livelihood needs of communities living in the vicinity of areas of high conservation significance.

NR International (http://www.nrint.co.uk/) – UK based, NR International has been working in Asia for over 30 years and has implemented over 40 projects in India.

In addition our core team consists of 9 subject matter experts and an advisory panel.

The team across the consortium brings in a total of 300 + person years of experience.

Temporary association for the project has been established with 6 field based organizations, one at each landscape.