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		<title>Mongabay India</title>
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		<description>India&#039;s environmental science and conservation news</description>
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					<title>Traditional salt workers contribute to wild ass conservation and regain access to Little Rann of Kutch</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2023/10/role-of-traditional-salt-workers-in-wild-ass-conservation-recognised-get-back-access-to-little-rann-of-kutch/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2023/10/role-of-traditional-salt-workers-in-wild-ass-conservation-recognised-get-back-access-to-little-rann-of-kutch/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Oct 2023 15:28:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ravleen Kaur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Agariyas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Little Rann of Kachchh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Little Rann of Kutch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National Green Tribunal]]></category>
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											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gujarat and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Indigenous Rights, and Salt Pans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tejal Makwana is packing her bags for the annual sojourn to the salt desert. After the Dussehra festival, she and her husband Danabhai Makwana will rent a tractor, load it with a plastic water tank filled with drinking water for the next 20 days, solar panels, a pump, a diesel genset, tools to make salt, [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Tejal Makwana is packing her bags for the annual sojourn to the salt desert. After the Dussehra festival, she and her husband Danabhai Makwana will rent a tractor, load it with a plastic water tank filled with drinking water for the next 20 days, solar panels, a pump, a diesel genset, tools to make salt, groceries and kitchen essentials. These supplies will keep them afloat for the next seven months she will spend in the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK), 10 km from their village Junagam in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district. The first task would be to set up a chapra or a makeshift hut, with bamboo poles and jute sacks, which would be her home till summer assails this cracked landscape, bereft of trees. The floor of the chapra would be coated with dung of the Indian wild ass, found predominantly in this region. Then, the process of salt making will begin, by digging kui or temporary wells and creating two-feet embankments to make large pans or depressions in the desert. Once the floor of these pans is made impermeable by a series of manual processes, salty groundwater will be pumped from the kuis and spread there. Over the winter, this brine will be converted into salt. This year, Tejal Makwana must carry an identity card issued to her by the Gujarat forest department to confirm she is an Agariya, a community of salt workers, who have recently been given official access to LRK, after years of restrictions, to continue&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2023/10/role-of-traditional-salt-workers-in-wild-ass-conservation-recognised-get-back-access-to-little-rann-of-kutch/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>When salt is an essential commodity and salt makers are not</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/when-salt-is-an-essential-commodity-and-salt-makers-are-not/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/when-salt-is-an-essential-commodity-and-salt-makers-are-not/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Oct 2021 12:24:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ravleen Kaur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[salt pans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tribal]]></category>
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											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gujarat]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Salt Pans, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the last Monday of the monsoon month in September 2021, 48-year-old Gunawant Ramji Koli left for the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) to place idols in a mud puddle. During the monsoon, waters of 11 rivers and many nullahs drain here and mix with the tidal waves from the Gulf of Kutch. The water [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the last Monday of the monsoon month in September 2021, 48-year-old Gunawant Ramji Koli left for the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) to place idols in a mud puddle. During the monsoon, waters of 11 rivers and many nullahs drain here and mix with the tidal waves from the Gulf of Kutch. The water recedes in September-October. Then, the puddle in which Koli placed the idols would have massive saltpans around it. Koli belongs to Agariya, a traditional salt-making community in the Western Indian state of Gujarat. The Agariyas, like farmers, pray to their gods every year through such rituals for a bumper harvest and for no natural calamities. Koli’s prayers now include protection from man-made calamities too. Surplus water from the Narmada canals floods their saltpans, destroying salt worth several hundred thousand rupees. The 60,000-odd Agariyas at the Little Rann produce 30 percent of India’s inland salt but they have no legal rights over the land on which they have been making salt for centuries. The LRK is an area where no human being stays. Agariyas make salt in three percent of this land but the 2011 census indicates that a population of 1.75 million from nearby areas is dependent on it &#8211; the fishers, truck drivers, labour to load salt and packaging units. The 5,000 square kilometres region was notified as a Wild Ass Sanctuary (WAS) in 1973, to protect the equine species. It is part of India’s largest National Biosphere Reserve and one of the few nesting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/when-salt-is-an-essential-commodity-and-salt-makers-are-not/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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														</item>
						<item>
					<title>NGT comes to the aid of Kharai camels and mangroves in Kachchh</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/09/ngt-comes-to-the-aid-of-kharai-camels-and-mangroves-in-kachchh/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/09/ngt-comes-to-the-aid-of-kharai-camels-and-mangroves-in-kachchh/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Sep 2019 12:17:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=6831</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Mangroves, and Salt Pans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For the indigenous “swimming camels” of Kachchh and their mangrove habitat, a decision by India’s green court has come as the saving grace from threats to the ecosystem and the unique camel population.     In order to protect the mangroves in the western district of Gujarat, also the habitat of Kharai camel species, the National Green [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For the indigenous “swimming camels” of Kachchh and their mangrove habitat, a decision by India’s green court has come as the saving grace from threats to the ecosystem and the unique camel population.     In order to protect the mangroves in the western district of Gujarat, also the habitat of Kharai camel species, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the authorities to ensure that there is “free and continuous flow of estuarine water in the creeks” and there is “no obstruction of any kind.”  The green tribunal’s decision came in a case filed by the Kachchh Camel Breeders Association (KCBA) who alleged that there has been rampant clearing of the mangroves in Nani Chirai and Moti Chirai areas of Bhachau Taluka in Kachchh by the Deendayal Port Trust (DPT), in violation of the provisions of the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification (CRZ) 2011 as well as Forest Conservation Act 1980. The role of the DPT, formerly known as Kandla Port Trust, also came under the green tribunal’s scanner during the case.  Located on the Gulf of Kachchh on India’s west coast, DPT was constructed in the 1950s and is the largest port in terms of volume of cargo handled. According to the KCBA, these areas are close to the habitat of indigenous Kharai Camel species which live among the mangroves and are the source of livelihood for many camel breeders of the region. They had alleged that DPT cleared the mangroves without obtaining the required CRZ clearance as well as forest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2019/09/ngt-comes-to-the-aid-of-kharai-camels-and-mangroves-in-kachchh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Swimming camels, mangrove islands of Kutch face mounting challenges</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/01/swimming-camels-mangrove-islands-of-kutch-face-mounting-challenges/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/01/swimming-camels-mangrove-islands-of-kutch-face-mounting-challenges/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jan 2019 14:34:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Azera Parveen Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sandhya Sekar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=3680</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Species]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gujarat]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Mangroves, and Salt Pans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the land of contrasts that Kutch is, winter is the lean feeding season for its unique breed of Kharai camels. These camels, unlike the kind most of us are familiar with, are typically dependent on the mangroves for food, and during monsoons, they swim to the mangrove islands in hordes and stay there for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the land of contrasts that Kutch is, winter is the lean feeding season for its unique breed of Kharai camels. These camels, unlike the kind most of us are familiar with, are typically dependent on the mangroves for food, and during monsoons, they swim to the mangrove islands in hordes and stay there for days altogether. The sight of swimming camels, as one can imagine, is spectacular, but faced with challenges such as rapid industrialisation in the coastal areas, and mangrove destruction, their population is dwindling, making it a threatened breed. The story of how the Kharai camels came into being in Kutch draws fascinating tales of folklore and belief. It is said that about 400 years ago, there was a dispute between two brothers in a Rabari family over the lone camel that they possessed. To resolve the issue, they went to Sawla Peer, a holy man, who made a wax camel near the real one and asked each to choose one. The elder brother chose the real camel; to the younger one, Sawla Peer advised to immerse the wax statue in the sea. Thousands of camels then emerged from the sea and started following him. These were the Kharai camels, and the Rabari and Jat community &#8211; the two tribes which own and handle these camels &#8211; revere it. Some also say that these camels were handed over to these tribes by the erstwhile royalty. The history may be hazy, but the fact remains that the Kharai&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2019/01/swimming-camels-mangrove-islands-of-kutch-face-mounting-challenges/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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