Natural Resource Management

We are working on several digital tools to help with better natural resource management in rural areas. Named as the CoRE stack (Commoning, Resilience, Equality), this includes:

• Improved land-use-and-land-cover classification using machine learning, to capture especially within-year variations so that the seasonality of water bodies can be tracked, along with the extent of water scarcity by observing whether cropping is done only during the rainy season or throughout the year.
• Use of the above data to identify ideal sites for NRM works, e.g. pond construction based on irrigation need and proximity to water bodies, trenches and bunds based on slope and water use in neighbouring areas, conversion of land from cropping to tree planting, etc.
• Participatory processes so that the site selection above is done with community consensus, and by ensuring that the most vulnerable groups of small and marginal farmers get precedence to large farmers.
• District-level planning of NRM budgets to ensure a fair allocation across Panchayats, so that any past discrimination on the lines of caste or development are corrected.
• Impact of the commissioned NRM works, observed through increased cropping intensity and surface water availability.
• Estimation of carbon sequestration benefits with increased cropping intensity and conversion of some land from cropping to planting of fruit trees.

Short video (3min): https://youtu.be/JvU1T10oTa4

Long video (60min): https://youtu.be/DcznjfVBruo

Detailed info: A deck about various projects.