Restoring India's Landscapes

Foreign.

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Welcome to the Big Ideas into Action podcast from the World Resources Institute. In this episode, we're in India looking at why nature based solutions are an.

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Effective tool for local communities that depend.

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On forests and farmland. Nature based solutions we see as an approach that builds on local knowledge, local skills, local needs.

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We mobilize communities, we involve them in decision making to ensure that the local development plans are inclusive.

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Hi everyone. Welcome to Big Ideas into Action, the podcast where we explore ideas at the nexus of people, nature and climate. I am Anjali Kopla, Communications Manager at World Resource Institute India, and I'll be your host today. Let's talk about something that impacts over 700 million people in India. Forests and farmlands. Healthy ecosystems aren't just vital for the planet, they are the backbone of local communities, especially in rural India, where people depend on them for their livelihoods and sustenance. But here's the challenge. We're in the middle of a climate and biodiversity crisis. That's where nature based solutions come in. These are the strategies that use natural systems to tackle environmental issues while reducing carbon emissions and helping communities build resilience against climate risks. Both the public and the private sector are increasingly turning towards NBS for these reasons. And in India, landscape restoration is a major nature based solution that's gaining popularity in the government and and from both businesses and financial institutions. To explore how this can conserve India's forests and farmland while boosting local economies, we are joined today by Siddharth Adake, Senior Manager, Food, Land and Water Program at WRI India, and Romit Sen, Senior Vice President, Corporate Sustainability at HSBC India. So Siddharth, my first question to you is let's get on with the basics, right? Can you help us understand what landscape restoration is and why is it important for people, nature and climate?

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Almost 30% of India's total land area is degraded and the research is also showing that 45% of this agricultural land also has poor soil health. So, as you rightly mentioned at the start, landscape restoration is a nature based solution that's gaining a lot of global recognition. It's very effective and cost efficient in tackling climate change. But to break it down, and to answer your question, I would say that landscape restoration is not just about planting trees, which many of us think it actually takes many forms. For example, developing water resources, practicing sustainable agriculture, conserving soil moisture. We are talking about agroforestry, where we grow trees along with crops. Or we are talking about silvopasture, where we are also going trees on buns and Boundaries along with grazing lands. So you see, there are different forms to landscape restoration. But what's exciting is the return on investment. WRI report actually estimates that for every dollar you invest in land restoration, we can generate up to $7 to $30 in value. And when you actually scale these efforts, the impact is immense. We are talking about water availability for all, improving soil health, so that means better food and nutritional security. We are talking about boosting rural livelihoods and helping communities to adapt for climate risks. At the national level, it's also very crucial for India's global commitments, as most of us know that we have pledged the nationally determined contribution under the Paris Climate Agreement. Our Prime Minister has taken the net zero pledge by 2070. We are also signatory to the bond challenge. We have taken the ambitious land degradation neutrality challenge. So definitely landscape restoration is supporting all these global commitments as well as the SDG's Sustainable Development Goals. And hence I would say it's a win win situation for everyone.

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I mean to summarize, landscape restoration is about more than just planting trees, right? It's about regenerating ecosystems using different integrated approaches. And when done at scale, this can conserve biodiversity, improve rural livelihoods, boost local economies and sequester carbon. And when we think about where this is happening in India, Madhya Pradesh really stands out. It showcases the maximum scope for restoring landscapes. So we turn to Siddhi District in mp where WRI India has initiated a pilot project under Climate Solutions Partnership in collaboration with the District Administration Local Implementing Partner Action for Social Advancement with the support of hsbc. So Siddharth, can you tell us what is so unique about sidhi's landscape restoration model?

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So to find the right pilot site for demonstrating an integrated landscape approach that I just spoke about some time back, WRI India used a multi criteria classification system. This includes factors like restoration potential, watershed principles and socio economic indicators. So as you pointed out, Sidi District is in the eastern part of Madhya Pradesh in Central India and it borders Uttar Pradesh. It ranks very high in terms of climate vulnerability, poverty and it's very poor on the developmental indicators as a whole. But despite these challenges, what we saw was the district has immense potential for forest protection and landscape restoration. How we identified that was through the Restoration Opportunities Atlas that was developed by WRI India along with its partners.

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So can you tell us how did the team get started with the actual work in Sidhi?

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Yes. So the starting point for us was adopting the Restoration Opportunity Assessment Methodology. In short, we call it voom. Again, this is a product that was developed by WRI Team and the analysis revealed that there is scope for almost 3 lakh hectares of land in seaweed that can be restored through tree based interventions like Agri Haughty Forestry model. Popularly it is known as Wadi model or planting trees on field boundaries, developing watershed structures, focusing on sustainable agriculture and soil moisture conservation. So from there the findings were implemented with strong support from the Department of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development. They are under the aegis of Government of Madhya Pradesh and along with Sidi District administration. So what we did was we leveraged funding from multiple government schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes or the mgnregs, the Livelihood Mission and the Watershed Development Program. So this collaboration was formalized through an MOU with the state government and the idea was to showcase a pathway for scaling landscape restoration. So what we focused was on fostering collaborative planning, addressing implementation barriers for restoration and building the capacity of restoration enterprises and farmer producer companies. While we continue to pilot landscape restoration projects and focusing a lot on robust monitoring techniques.

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That's fantastic. Can you share some of the tangible outcomes so far?

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Yes, yes, of course. I'm very happy to share that. Till date we have created around 405 soil and moisture conservation and water resource development structures under this initiative. Five water groups have been formed to ensure the upkeep of these structures. And financially, for every one rupee that we've invested in this initiative, we managed to leverage close to seven rupees of public funding through various government schemes. So since the project's inception, over 13,000 households have received jobs or work opportunities under MGNREGS and more than 4,000 farmers have benefited from technical support and capacity building programs. Of course, focusing on land restoration, we are also promoting a farmer producer organization in Cedi and we facilitated an MoU between the FPO and Oriental Paper Mill which is close by for the sale and purchase of bamboo and other suitable species.

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Siri is a great example of what's possible. It highlights the economic potential of nature based solutions while addressing key challenges like climate risks and rural livelihoods. So Romit, from HSBC perspective, how do you think this project aligns with your broader strategy of promoting nature based solutions that can tackle climate risks?

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I would say that climate change impacts are real. You know, we know that this is something that communities, businesses, people all around the world and particularly in our country are facing it almost like on a daily basis historically. You know, I think from a more development paradigm point of view the approach has been to look at solutions to address climate risk. But I think as we evolved our Thinking there was a growing, I would say, understanding and a desire to look at solutions that are not only cost effective but are contextualized in the local context. Because for a country which is as large as India with 16 ecological zones also looking at the way people live, the socio cultural behavior, solutions that are contextualized and are relevant to the local needs becomes very important when you were to look at managing climate risk or any other development or environmental challenge that you would face. Nature based solution is a key theme around our Climate Solutions Partnership program which was HSBC's flagship global program launched in 2020. We realize that identifying solutions which have deep rooted understanding of the local complexities but is also in sync with what local people need. How the solutions will fit into the larger public development program context is a key. Siddharth spoke about the leveraging bit. It could have only been possible because the solutions that were identified and demonstrated as part of the program in Siddhi were developed in sync or resonated with the larger developmental programs that the government had there. So primarily nature based solution we see as an approach that builds on local knowledge, local skills, local needs, but with a lot of scientific, rigorous that you know. I am aware that this whole program and initiative has been able to not only look at methodologies but also in terms of implementation and monitoring because you know, measure of success is an important feature of all the programs that we do. But how using an approach which is deep rooted in science, backed by evidence generated through the on ground implementation has demonstrated a solution. So that's where, you know, we look at NBS as a larger, I would say theme to address some of the climate risks. And also I would say not only climate but also let us look at livelihood. This whole initiative has kind of created so much opportunities for people to enhance their livelihood and income because as a developing country the development imperatives of household becomes very important. So centering ecology, environment, climate with a strong integration with livelihood and human well being could have only been possible because of the nature based solution framework that we looked at. Exploring it as part of the project.

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That's a fantastic perspective Ram. Especially the bit that you mentioned about livelihoods. And of course contextualizing these solutions with scientific rigor and keeping people at the center are quite integral to the success of these initiatives. And we have seen that there's a persistent challenge of integrating public funds across various government departments and existing policies and these kind of impede the uptake of integrated landscape restoration. So Siddharth, I would like to throw this question to you. Like how has The SIDDHI pilot tried to address these barriers through bringing public private capital.

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So in Siddhi we adopted an integrated landscape approach as I mentioned earlier. And this moves away from the fragmented piecemeal work that is often carried out by individual agencies or government departments. What we saw was typically agencies like MGNRHGS or the State Rural Livelihood Mission, the Watershed mission. Departments like Forest, Agriculture, Horticulture, which are very key departments. When we talk about landscape restoration they do tend to work in isolation and on small and disconnected projects. So what we've done in CD is to bring these efforts together under the broader umbrella of nature based solutions, aligning them to a landscape level planning approach. At the heart of this is convergence as you pointed out, as Romit pointed out and what I've been saying, that it's essentially pooling financial resources from different schemes and different administrative departments to implement landscape restoration at scale.

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That does sound like a lot of coordination. So how did you get all these stakeholders on the same page?

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So coordination is of course the key and it actually starts with robust analysis to identify what sort of barriers exist for restoration and of course in the local context. So we then collaborate with stakeholders to co create solutions through what we call restoration dialogues. These dialogues ensure that all the voices are heard and the solutions are both practical and locally relevant. On the ground we are partnering with organizations like Action for Social Advancement to support community led restoration initiatives. So a bottom up approach is very, very critical here because we mobilize communities, we involve them in decision making to ensure that the local development plans are inclusive and they reflect the real needs and priorities of people. So this makes the process more holistic and and sustainable.

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I actually love this emphasis on community involvement. Sidharth, can you just elaborate, how does this tie to the larger planning process?

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Yeah, so one of the key components of the CEDIPILOT is mainstreaming planning and execution through a landscape approach that I've been talking about. It means that we take an integrated and collaborative view of the entire landscape and we look at different land uses, land cover types, the landowner pattern in that area to enhance both ecological and social functions. We also link our efforts to the farmer producer organizations and the women self help groups because these groups play an important role in ensuring that restoration efforts are sustainable and the economic benefits reach the communities directly.

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In India, public funding has always been the backbone of landscape restoration efforts. And this is something that Sidharth, I believe you would have also experienced it during your implementation of this initiative. Right, but here's the thing, if we really want to scale up Initiatives like the one in Siri, we can't really rely on public funding. Private investment has to play a much bigger role. Which brings me to you Romit. In your opinion, what needs to change in order to boost public private funding? I mean, how can we make landscape restoration a commercially viable solution for tackling the challenges that we just mentioned?

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So Anjali, I think on private financing let's just look at it across two themes. But before that let's also recognize the fact that and this is government data which says that 92% of the development finance will still and continue to be from public sector. The remaining 8% will be contributions from bilaterals, CSR and others. The non public side of things. So unlocking public sector finance using private sector capital, CSR philanthropy is one bit, and I'll touch upon the commercial bit also in a few seconds is going to be the key theme to kind of demonstrate and take forward the whole development route. You will have to, as I said, unlock public capital using private capital to mainstream solutions, to scale up solutions. Now on the private financing side, as I said, let's look at it across the two following segments. One part of the private capital is funds that is coming through corporate social responsibility. And the approach that the WRI team has adopted I think is critical where I think to present a viable case to CSR to look at landscape restoration where you know, there is a sound proof of concept, there are clear outcomes in terms of what's working, what's not working. And another bit that perhaps you know, the team may write, may also consider is any initiative like this, you know, which we have partnered together requires investment over time within the CSR construct. You know, where we have, where organizations, you know, doing CSR programs, look at programs with a certain time frame, with a certain impact. How do you kind of projectize the whole landscape restoration concept with two milestones over a period of time will be very, very helpful to demonstrate the case for CSRs to invest in a landscape restoration initiative. So that's the CSR part of the private capital that I'm talking about. The other piece is the commercial capital. A lot of financial institutions have something called priority sector lending which is the commercial side of it. You know, agriculture, it is something that is mandated by the guidelines prescribed by rbi. And you know, lending for agriculture is an important aspect of that. You know, businesses are lending on psl, it's a large part of their balance sheets. You know, financial institutions are doing it. So we'll have to look at private financing within these two, you know, frameworks CSR and priority sector lending.

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Got it Romit. And I think it's clear from a conversation so far that financing restoration efforts is going to become critical in the coming years as RFP efforts to, you know, mitigate climate risk advances. So coming back to you Siddharth, I just wanted to understand, based on your experience from Sidhi project, what insights have emerged that give you the confidence that these kind of initiatives can be scaled across Madhya Pradesh or to even other parts of Central India?

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Yeah, so there have been some great learnings, Anjali and as I mentioned earlier, the Restoration Opportunities Atlas of India that was developed earlier, it highlights that our country, and specifically Madhya Pradesh, it has enormous potential for forest protection and landscape restoration. There is of course significant, significant scope for carbon sequestration, which makes this approach even more valuable in addressing climate changes. From the Sidhi experience, I can say that it's possible to design a scale up strategy and that will be built upon the interest and the momentum we have created. The demonstration effect of this model, the way it's shown tangible on ground results, we believe that they can spark similar efforts in other districts and states. The scaling strategy of course will focus on adapting and integrating key learnings from the CD pilot that include multi scale of governance, leveraging policy incentives, fostering collaborative partnerships and the most important, aligning public funding for restoration across districts in Madhya Pradesh and beyond. It will also deploy assets from the Climate Solutions partnership that we have created such as the Citizen Science mobile app which is a very important scalable impact monitoring methodology as a whole. I can say that at the national level the emphasis will be on replicating these learnings through knowledge creation and targeted communication to drive scaling up, scaling out and scaling.

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Thank you so much Siddharth for putting this out together. I mean Sidhi Landscape Restoration Model is a great example of how we can scale such efforts. This model has established strong connections between on ground implementation and policy level interventions that makes it right for scaling and replication. I mean, the challenges and opportunities may vary across regions, but nature based solutions are critical to unlocking benefits for nearly three quarter of a billion people in India. So that does it for this edition of WRI's Big Ideas into Action podcast. Thank you Romit. And thank you Siddharth for joining us and sharing your valuable insights. It was a pleasure talking to you both. And if our listeners are interested in learning how nature based solution projects can use ground data and satellite data to encourage more investment, check out our recent podcast episode. This episode was produced and edited by Nicholas Walton and is part of the Climate Solutions Partnership, a five year philanthropic partnership between hsbc, WRI and WWF to help climate solutions become commercial reality and have real world impact. To hear other WRI podcasts, visit wri.org podcast thank you for listening. Sam.

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