Utthan Centre for Sustainable Development & Poverty Alleviation www.sietalld.org
Testimonial "The recognition of jatropha plantation for clean energy by the President of India, bamboo plantation for reclaiming degraded areas by INBAR, and promotion of medicinal plants by AYUSH Department, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and WHO are some of the key honours bestowed on Utthan."
converting one million hectares of degraded land into productive biodiesel smallholdings and reclaiming 85,000 hectares of mined areas
educating one million adults through literacy and adult education programs
regenerating and planting 62,500 hectares of degraded forests and promoting one million hectares of agroforestry.
Profile
Mission The Utthan Centre for Sustainable Development & Poverty Alleviation (Utthan)’s mission is to create opportunities for sustainable economic, social and ecological development by adopting and promoting schemes/programs that are pro-disadvantaged community and pro-environment. It does this through:
enhancing the ecological, economic and social development of disadvantaged communities and their empowerment
managing and transforming Natural Resources into assets for economic and environmental sustainability
‘greening’ for ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation and mitigation & adaptation of climate change
aiding human development for adopting ways of economic growth and lifestyle that promote harmonious co-existence of human beings with nature
providing research and development support.
Background
Founded in 1996, Utthan operates in surface soil mined areas around cities, degraded forest lands, dry lands and wastelands. Its projects cover distressed migration areas; backward and inaccessible areas with poor community and communication; and areas with deficits in food, nutrition and health support. These include 10 districts in Uttar Pradesh, 2 districts in Chhattisgarh and 4 districts in Madhya Pradesh States.
Utthan’s main activites are:
demonstrating and promoting agroforestry models in different ecosystems
promoting herbal medicines
developing technology for cultivation of Jatropha curcas in degraded lands for biodiesel production
demonstrating watershed management, rainwater harvesting and ground water recharge for augmenting water availability
reclaiming degraded land through watershed development
implementing Joint Forest Management strategies for curbing deforestation
literacy and adult education programs
health and Sanitation programs and health fairs
environmental fairs.
Partnerships
Utthan has developed partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders, including beneficiaries of its programs, the farming community, the agro-tech industry, local governments, NGOs and international research centres. Other partnerships include linkages with selected countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Impact Achieved
Utthan has had an impact on a wide range of areas that relate to sustainability. Some key examples include:
demonstrating agroforestry models that ensure security in food, fodder, fuel, herbal products bamboo and sustainable productive potential of an area of one million hectares
identifying ‘super clones’ of Jatropha curcas, a plant used to make biodiesel, developed propagation techniques and demonstrated its successful growing on degraded lands which had no other economic use with community involvement. Now Jatropha cultivation has spread over an area of more than one million hectares in South Asia, primarily in India
regenerating and planting 62,500 hectares of degraded forests in Chhattisgarh which has helped 85,000 tribal families to secure their livelihoods and income
reclaiming 85,000 hectares of surface soil mined areas around cities, directly benefiting 90,000 families by adopting watershed development programme and promoting plantation of Bamboo, Jatropha and medicinal plants. This resulted in a decline in the frequency of dust storms
demonstrating watershed management, rainwater harvesting and ground water recharge in 20 community blocks
collecting superior clones of 40 important medicinal plants, developing their propagation and cultivation techniques and harvesting, processing, packaging and marketing herbal products. Utthan also prepared a national task force report on Medicinal Plants and published 30 books on important species for sharing the knowledge
immunizing 0.6 million infants and children against 6 vaccine preventable diseases and polio and providing full health coverage to 0.34 million people in 96 villages of Kaurihar block of Allahabad
helping people become literate and economically productive through adult education programs.
The Alcan Prize for Sustainability programme is climate neutral and offsets CO2 emissions generated
from management and travel activities relating to the Prize with contributions to Climate Care.
