Community for action

A self-funded, volunteer-driven organisation in Manipur is enabling residents to take charge of the ecology and environment of their region

A wise man once said that society is defined not only by what it creates, but also by what it refuses to destroy. This is what makes the efforts of a tiny Imphal-based NGO, Forum for Indigenous Perspectives and Action, or FIPA, to safeguard the ecology and biodiversity of the Northeast, so significant. In a region that has been so ridden with strife, a concern for the environment would have taken a back seat had it not been for its advocacy and efforts to change people's consumption and waste disposal patterns.

At present, FIPA is monitoring the development of the eco-sensitive zone of Loktak Lake. The largest freshwater lake in the Northeast, Loktak is known for its unique floating islands and phumdis, and was declared a Ramsar site in 1990. Within it lies the Keibul Lamjao National Park, the last natural refuge of the endangered sangai deer, also the state animal. Recent studies, however, show a steady growth in inorganic and organic pollution in the lake, owing to a build-up of municipal sewage, domestic waste and pesticides. It was listed under the Montreux Record in 1993 as a Ramsar site, the ecological character of which is changing, or likely to change.

"The ecology of Loktak is being affected by unregulated urban development in Imphal and around," says Nandini Thockchom, co-founder of FIPA. "Rivers that empty into the lake are choked with garbage - especially plastic bottles - while increased traffic has resulted in air pollution." Nambul River, which flows through Imphal into Loktak lake, has been worst affected by this unplanned development. Check dams upstream have reduced the amount of water in the river, while downstream, it has become Imphal's dustbin with domestic, bio-medical and industrial waste being dumped into it. To make matters worse, this perennial river has been designated by town planners as "Nambul nala" (Nambul drain). "This further reflects an uninformed public policy view that has serious implications for the health, socio-culture and economy of the state," says FIPA co-founder Ram Wangkheirakpam.

Even as experts note a serious drop in piscine and avian populations in the lake, the government has floated a plan to build a luxury resort there, for which it has evicted communities that have traditionally depended on the lake for their livelihood. "The demolitions were so sudden that we have recorded cases of children who went to school as they would on any other normal day, but came back to find that their entire village had been razed to the ground," he says. "Yet, it is evident that the bulk of the pollution in the lake is being caused by the improper waste management in Imphal - not these communities."

For the Northeast, Loktak has become a metaphor for the region flawed development policies. "Using the Loktak case, we are advocating a more participative model of development, wherein local stakeholders benefit from tourism," says Wangkheirakpam. Presently, three separate communities are protesting against the building of the resort on Loktak: people evicted from the floating islands; those evicted from the villages on the lake's banks and the fisher folk whose livelihoods are being threatened. "We want to unite them so that we can register the protest from a common platform," he adds. On the anvil is a court battle, as FIPA is preparing to fight a case against the developers of the luxury property being built on the lake.

"The fact is that we cannot clean Loktak lake or Nambul river ourselves," says Wangkheirakpam. "But we can push the government to create policies that safeguard the fragile ecology of this region, and involve local stakeholders instead of ignoring them completely."

Another related aspect of FIPA's work is awareness building. Thockchom and Wangkheirakpam have flagged off several small scale initiatives to promote cycling in Imphal, reduce the use of plastic bottles in public functions and more. "Since much of Imphal's garbage ends up in Nambulriver," says Thockchom, "we believe that citizens groups like ours can play an important role in reducing and regulating the waste generated by our city." Their interventions may be on a small scale but they certainly keep the indigenous perspective in mind. "When we thought of convincing people to not use plastic bottles in public functions, we enlisted the aid of a Likhai (traditional tightly-knit neighbourhood community akin to a village with its own governance system)," says Thockchom. The elders in the Likhai agreed and banned the use of plastic bottles in its community hall.

Self-funded and volunteer-driven, FIPA has also been critically examining the construction of dams in the Northeast. "Whatever the form of development," says Wangkheirakpam, "we want the government to see it from the perspective of the indigenous communities of this region."
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