There are three units of operation, namely (i) the Community Biodiversity Team; ii) Farm management Team; and (iii) Admin management Team; The Community Biodiversity Team is further divided based on the 3 Key Result Areas- Conservation (Biodiversity Conservation and Enhancement); Education (Biodiversity Education, Communication & Training) and Livelihoods (Biodiversity based sustainable Livelihoods and Food Security). See the Fig.2 for the schematic presentation of the programme plan. The Conservation area focuses on threatened Plant Genetic Resources; the ECT gives emphasis to empowering tribal community men, women and children, and Livelihood team gives priority to developing green health initiatives. The Key Result Areas are still in pilot forms, which we know, need to be scaled-up within next three to four years. Towards this goal and to mainstream the subject, community biodiversity in the agricultural and rural development domain, we have adopted a three phase implementation plan. Five distinct organizational units have been identified for the programme implementation (see the fig. Organizational diagram)

In the next five years, the activities of CAbC will be concentrated in 10 Grama Panchayaths of the district, in addition to the current three locations, where the tribal community population is comparatively more and diverse (see table-2). The total tribal persons in these 10 panchayaths are 79,756, which constitutes 58.62% of the total tribal population of the district. Over 90% of the tribal families in these Panchayaths fall below poverty line. The focus of CAbC will be sustainable reduction of poverty of this mass through a variety of interventions. By 2013-2015 the programme will be replicated in selected gram panchayaths of whole north Malabar region, which consists of four districts including Wayanad. By 2020, with a disciplined execution of all the planned targets, we expect to realize the ultimate vision of us-transforming CAbC into a World Class Organization in the area of Community Biodiversity Management and the achievement of MDG 1.

We have adopted a three phased implementation plan to achieve our 2020 vision, in which the phase I. (2013-2016) will be of consolidation and concentration of activities in three Key Result Areas of CAbC. The KRAs are: Conservation (Biodiversity Conservation and Enhancement); Education (Biodiversity Education, Communication & Training) and Livelihoods (Biodiversity based sustainable Livelihoods and Food Security). See schematic presentation of the programme under these three key areas. The phase II is scaling up of the most successful initiative such as (i) Green Health programme ; (ii) ECAS programme;(iii) Tribal food Security programme (Yams & Tubers) and (iv) RET Plants programme. The diversification of community biodiversity programme will take place in the IIIrd phase during 2016-2020.

Operational Plan- Community Biodiversity Programme

Agro-biodiversity is the feedstock for climate resilient agriculture. However, the Indian Agriculture where at least 600 million people depend for their livelihoods still find trouble in fully recognizing the significance of agro-biodiversity in combating vulnerabilities related to agricultural productivity. Wayanad district is no exception for this scenario. Every year huge crop loss is reported in almost all the crops in the district. A major reason attributed to this is the vulnerability of the modern varieties to withstand pests and diseases and the climate change impacts. It is widely accepted now that every species and variety matters to counteract the diseases /pests threats and deleterious effect of climate change. In situ on farm conservation of agricultural biodiversity gains significance in this context, as it can be an effective form of adaptation for local communities to cope with such kinds of threats.

CAbC has successfully demonstrated the resourcefulness of its team as skillful scientists and community mobilisers in promoting agro-biodiversity. Our activities focusing on rice, yams, fruits and vegetables, wild food plants, spices like pepper and gingers have been made notable results with reference to the germplasm management. These activities will be further strengthened in the coming years with a prime objective of sustainable utilization of the genetic resources of this region. The programme plan is as follows.

Key Result Area I: CONSERVATION

The Conservation team led by Dr. Ratheesh Narayanan is involved in conservation and sustainable management of threatened plant genetic resources of socio-economic and ecological value for the last 10 years. The team has successfully raised diverse kinds of plants of food and medicinal value and distributed to local community men and women. Nearly 16,000 seedlings of 80 Rare Endemic Threatened (RET) target species were multiplied by the team. By this effort, CAbC were able to protect many number of threatened trees and a large number of other species of rare medicinal plants, woody climbing plants, orchids, and butterfly host plants. The multiplication process takes place mainly through seed germination as well as vegetative propagation. The team had also relocated several plant species that are believed as extinct, as Eugenia argentea Bedd. Aspidopterys canarensis Dalz., listed in the Red Data Book of Indian Plants (1987) and described several species that are new to science. The team’s efforts helped Kurichya and Kuruma tribal communities of Wayanad were conferred with the “Second Plant Genome Saviour Community Recognition Award” for the year 2008 under the provisions of the Gene Fund of the PPV&FR Act 2001, for their contributions in conservation of traditional rice varieties.

Key Result Area II: EDUCATION, COMMUNICATION & TRAINING

A major strength of CAbC is an aggregate of 12 years of knowledge and experience in pioneering management of community biodiversity and natural resource management. The organization has quit a good number of experienced staff and advisors whose expertise ranges from biodiversity conservation to socio-economic issues and high quality infrastructure and own possession of over 16 ha of fertile land. We effectively make use of this comparative advantage for educating a wide range of stake holders in the area of sustainable agriculture and management in an around Wayanad district. The Education team, under the leadership of Mr. Girigan has shown their best to bridge the knowledge gaps in the village in this area of management by establishing a Village Resource Centre and a Village Knowledge Centre and strengthening an Every Child a Centre. Their contributions helped CAbC to create a sense of care amongst people of the district towards its natural environment and amongst children to build an attitude towards a pro-nature future.

Key Result Area III: SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS AND FOOD SECURITY

The Community Agro-biodiversity Centre is engaged in providing support to local communities to sustainably utilise the agro-biodiversity ever since its establishment. The Centre wants to bring extensive expertise in management of these areas to provide sustainable solutions for livelihood and food security needs of the poor families. The Livelihood team spearheaded by Mr. Sivan has focused on improving the knowledge and economic base of the villagers, particularly women in the area of medicinal plants and water resource management. Over 75000 seedlings of commonly used medicinal plants were distributed to 345 families for cultivation in the last three years. Their focus on improving the livelihood of the economically and socially marginalized communities through appropriate projects on mushroom, bio-inputs, medicinal plants nurseries and cultivation, preparation of herbal formulations etc. yielded reasonably good results.

Operational Plan: FARM DEVELOPMENT

CAbC owns about 41.37 acres of land area, in which about 25 acres is maintained as a coffee farm about 10 acres is used for developing a conservation garden (See the map and the table below for details of the Land use pattern). It has got fairly a good collection of live plant species that are collected from different areas of the Wayanad. There are collections of 200 odd germplasm accessions belonging to 25 taxa of wild and 18 cultivars of yam. An Orchidarium that consisting collection of over 100 species of wild orchids, arboretum with several rare native trees, wild food plants, butterfly host plants, and collections of over 400 species of medicinal plants are the major attraction for visitors.