Ranthambore Eco Development Programme

Through its field office in Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan, CEE was involved in eco-development related programmes villages around the Ranthambore National Park. The major objective was to demonstrate that if people in the villages are actively involved and if village resources and basic infrastructure are developed, then a village community's dependence on the National Park can be significantly reduced leading to better conservation. Activities of the project have ranged from adult literacy to children's programmes for school going and non-school going children, issue based camps, social fencing as opposed to policing to protect the forest, exposure tours, nurseries, improved agricultural and animal husbandry practices, development of fuel alternatives and EE in schools. A variety of eco-development activities were carried out in and around Ranthambore National Park (RNP) including organizing training workshop on environment, agriculture and animal husbandry for villagers. Efforts were made to implement a few awareness programmes in collaboration with the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve authorities. REDPro team members participated in the training on Panchayati Raj sponsored by the UNICEF. Under a Darwin project, CEE organized a training programme on biodiversity conservation at Ranthambore. Fifteen teachers from fifteen schools around RNP participated in the training. This training was followed by various activities in the schools, which included games, demonstration and setting up of "Prakriti Ke Mitra" club. A quarterly children's magazine "Phulwari" and quarterly newsletter in Hindi - "Ecosamachar" was published for the programme.