SECURING INDIA’S FUTURE
Planning processes in India are usually top-down, with a handful of ‘experts’ and decision-makers preparing plans that the rest of the country has to follow. For once, however, a planning process showed that things can be done differently.
The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) process was carried out from 2000 to 2003, under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Technical coordination was carried out by Kalpavriksh, and administration was handled by BCIL. The process aimed to produce detailed recommendations on how to conserve India’s amazing wild and domesticated biodiversity, secure the livelihoods of those dependent on biological resources, use these resources sustainably, and achieve equity in all of these activities. Plans were made at local, state, inter-state (ecoregional), thematic, and national levels.
This film documents the exciting process of evolving these plans: foot-marches, cycle rallies, workshops, public hearings, mass media outreach, boat rallies, biodiversity festivals, seminars, folk media, and many others. It follows the NBSAP process to several sites across the country, meets up with the key participants, records the main outputs. Through these and other means, it depicts the enormous scale of participation that the process achieved. It also highlights some weaknesses and gaps.
This is a chronicle of a path-breaking process of democratic decision-making, one that holds many lessons for future processes of planning in India and the rest of the world.
A film by Vijendra Patil, Bars and Tone Television Pvt Ltd, Pune, India
