Environmental degradation and its effect on all life on the planet is one of the greatest challenges that human society faces today. Forests and wilderness the world over are under great stress and saving and increasing biodiversity is an urgent concern. Responding to this challenge, and educating for a sustainable development involves working in several dimensions – skills, livelihoods, ecology, communities, equity and justice. In a large, heterogeneous diverse country like India, hierarchies of caste, economic conditions and gender inequalities pose additional constraints.
FEEL was set up to articulate and develop a field-level response to this challenge. In 2014, FEEL took over the running of the Kaigal Education and Environment Program of the Krishnamurti Foundation India.
The Kaigal Education and Environment Program has been working in tribal and rural communities adjoining the Kaundinya Wildlife Sanctuary in Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, since 2002. The attempt was to protect and regenerate a large piece of degraded land by relating to the communities around and working with them and ask for their cooperation. The Yanadi tribal community is the predominant tribal group in this area, known for their knowledge of the forest. The intervention at Kaigal was conceptualized in a three pronged manner – education that is contextual to the community, conservation that is anchored by the community and livelihoods that can support, protect and nourish the local ecology by strengthening the communities.
Over the years, the work at Kaigal has improved the conservation status of different ecosystems covering over 14000 hectares, touching over 26000 people across 60 villages. Over 300 tribal households have been directly impacted through the intervention; the community enterprise set up as part of this program is supporting rural and forest based livelihoods.
The most important outcome that emerges, however, is that changing the relationship of the human being to the environment is the cornerstone for sustainable development.