The Journey

of

2013 - 2019

Pioneering Rural Futures in the Eastern Himalayas

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 From Snowline to Sealine

Current Focus: Rural Futures across Eastern Himalayas to create prototypes for extending impacts to the rest of the
Himalayan Region 2
MILESTONES OF BALIPARA FOUNDATION
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Who We Are
• Balipara Foundation, growing since 2007

• Field offices: Eastern Himalayan Botanic Ark (Balipara,

Assam), Elephant Country (Udalguri, Assam)

• Knowledge Centres: Guwahati & Mumbai

• Community based conservation efforts using the

proprietary concept of NaturenomicsTM & Rural Futures Where We Are
• 4 Verticals of Rural Futures: Elephant Country, Eastern
• Eastern Himalayas: Eastern Nepal, North Bengal, Bhutan,
Himalayan Botanic Ark, Eastern Himalayan
North East Indian states, Bangladesh
NaturenomicsTM Forum, Knowledge & Publications
• 3 of 34 global biodiversity hotspots,

• Social Challenges: Rapid Human Development

• Economic Challenges: Rising Income disparity & decreasing

livelihoods opportunities

• Environmental Challenges: Degradation of soil & arsenic

contamination of water sources, declining biodiversity, reducing
green cover

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 OUR INITIATIVES

ELEPHANT COUNTRY
ELEPHANT
… COUNTRY

EASTERN HIMALAYAN BOTANIC ARK

EASTERN HIMALAYAN
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EASTERN HIMALAYAN NATURENOMICS FORUM TM FORUM

EASTERN
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KNOWLEDGE & PUBLICATIONS KNOWLEDGE

KNOWLEDGE &dolor
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 Learning Through Experimentation

Solar Lighting Gladiolus Bee Keeping

Biogas Solar Water Heater Vermicomposting

Fishery Poultry Ghost Peppers 6

 UDALGURI LANDSCAPE MISSION

• Community based Habitat Restoration Project

• Afforestation of 500 ha. Impacting 12 villages
• Planting 1 million trees over years
• Aiming to create 25,000+ man-days of work for local
communities
• Direct income generation of INR 7.6 million

ASIAN ELEPHANT SECRETARIAT

• Digital platform for collaborative Asian Elephant

ELEPHANT COUNTRY Conservation
• Prototype live at www.elephantcountry.org
• Features include: Encyclopedia, Interaction platform,
live helpline number

ELEPHANT COUNTRY PRODUCTS

• Creating incentives for communities living alongside

Asian Elephants
• Raising awareness about Asian Elephant ecosystems
including communities, habitats, etc.
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 100,000+
PLANTS
300+ SPECIES
10 THEMATIC SECTIONS
• Orchidarium
72+
• Herbarium
EASTERN HIMALAYAN BUTTERFLY
SPECIES • Bambusetum
BOTANIC ARK • Fern House
75+ BIRD
• Medicinal & Aromatic
SPECIES Plants
• Socio-economic Plants
• Aquatic Plants
14+ SNAKE
• Eastern Himalayan
SPECIES
Ecosystem replica
• Economic Botany
• Organic Garden

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WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITIES
• Social Enterprise run by members of the local
communities
• Created 200,000+ ‘man-days’ of work
• Creating multiplier effects in terms of complementary
services & livelihood opportunities in neighbouring
communities
• Promoting the culture, biodiversity, cuisine and
lifestyle of the Eastern Himalayas

• Centre for propagation of threatened, endemic and

economically important plant species
• Community-based model to promote skilling, training &
local livelihoods
• Offering workshops and services for smart
afforestation techniques

• Offers a unique indoor-outdoor learning models which

prioritizes experience over pedagogy
• Creating co-learning to highlight local experts
• Combines traditional knowledge and modern learning
• Offers 1 day, 1 week and 8 week courses
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 EDUCATION

Creating a unique learning Over 1000 students & community

experience combining nature, members have attended
traditional knowledge & new workshops since inception of
learning techniques to inspire a Eastern Himalayan
new generation of eco-crusaders NaturenomicsTM School

Some Workshops held:

Nursery Techniques Coconut Shell Craft Snake Awareness Bamboo Utilization

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 SOCIAL RESTORATION PROJECT

145 years of Cultural Inheritance & 1000 years of Environmental

Heritage of the Eastern Himalayas

• Over 11,000 guests from over 40 • Trained and Employed over 300
countries people from local communities

• Nurtured and tended to by local • Restoration of the 145 Year Old

guardians – the communities of Heritage Bungalow
Eastern Himalayas
• Awardee of TripAdvisor 2018
• All revenue ploughed back to Certificate of Excellence
the local communities 11
 ETHNIC ECO- TOURISM THROUGH HOMESTAYS

Organic & local living through village homestay with Mishing, Garo, Nyishi and other ethnic
communities for meaningful tourism in the Eastern Himalayas

Mishing Village Garo Village

Nyishi Village
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 A PLATFORM FOR MULTI-DISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION

• 3500+ participants since 2013

• 20+ countries and 22 Indian States represented

• Participants included
• Economists, Scientists, Botanists
• Conservationists, Wildlife Enthusiasts,
Ecologists
• Government and Forest Department officials
EASTERN HIMALAYAN • Entrepreneurs, Business Leaders,
NATURENOMICSTM FORUM • Lawyers, Educators, Journalists, Students
• Architects

• 80+ grassroots innovators awarded

• Rs. 1cr+ invested in impact creation

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 OUR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT

83 Case Studies of Eco Champions across 10 categories highlighted since 2013

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM FORUM 2018

Live

1,85,785 632
accounts 34.5K 4,478 Views
reach

------In The Future------

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 INITIATIVES WITH PARTNERS (Some examples)

Assessing the current status of

Facilitated the process of organic Solar Light Distribution in Mushroom cultivation in NE India
transformation in Hathikuli association with MASK with Kunming Institute of Botany

Giveaways of uniform to Kaziranga Biodiversity Asssesment Audit

Restoration of Misa Polo Club National Park Forest Guards in with Dept. of Bio Technology,
association with WCT Govt.of India & ATREE 16
 COMMUNICATION FOOTPRINT

More than 100 Articles in leading publications – Covered by

leading in English, Assamese, Japanese, French
Coverage in 5 languages - English, Hindi, Assamese, Japanese &
French
4 Prime Time Television Interviews

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 KNOWLEDGE & PUBLICATIONS

NATURENOMICS PUBLICATIONS – 7 Volumes PARTNERED PUBLICATIONS- 2 Nos.

PROGRESS & IMPACT REPORT

THE HIMALAYAN- 1 No. NEWSLETTERS- 7 Volumes
- 5 Volumes 18
 KNOWLEDGE & PUBLICATIONS

NATURENOMICSTM PUBLICATIONS – 6 Volumes PARTNERED PUBLICATIONS- 2 Nos.

NaturenomicsTM 1.0: Naturenomics Hidden Treasures by Naresh Swami

NaturenomicsTM 2.0: Developing the Naturenomics Model The Medicinal Plants by Jatindra Sharma, IFSS

NaturenomicsTM 3.0: Ecological Competitiveness for

Economic Sustainability

NaturenomicsTM 4.0: Optimizing Biodiversity and Social

Security in Indian Mining Areas

NaturenomicsTM 5.0: Reflections on Managing Water OTHERS

Handbook on Biodiversity of Eastern
NaturenomicsTM 6.0: Eco- Champions of Eastern Himalayas Himalayan Botanic Ark

NaturenomicsTM 6.0: The League of Earth Heroes Ethnobotany

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 VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMS
Eduardo Ausocua from Spain usesd his creativity to build Livelihood, Sustainability and Conservation Volunteering
an Earth friendly wall from glass & mud Program for 4 Interns from Ashoka University

Wharton Social Impact Habitat Management

Consultants Program for Hari Badale

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 STRENGTHENING TAXONOMY IN NORTH-EAST

Bioresources and Sustainable Livelihoods

A collaboration with the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and Institute of Bioresources and
Sustainable Development (IBSD) under the sponsorship of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in partnership with a range of
institutions in the Northeast

Mapping of bioresources in Northeast India

Quantitative inventory of the distribution and

diversity of flowering plants and biological resources
in Upper and Lower Assam region of the Northeast

Quantitative inventory of the distribution and

diversity of flowering plants and biological resources
in Upper and Lower Assam region of the Northeast

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 OTHER EXPERIMENTS & TRANSFORMATION

Eco Housing in Assam Acquaponics Solar Water Purifier

Elevating the tea workers quality of To set an example of a farming
life by developing smart eco method which can be adopted by Low-cost solar water purifier for
housing project farmers without large farm rural households
lands

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 RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS
Indo-China Partnership on Climate Change Secretariat A Member of REDD+ Working Group

A Member of Mountain Partnership Wild Mahseer

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BALIPARA FOUNDATION STRUCURE

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 PARTNERSHIPS

PARTNERSHIPS CURRENT PROPOSED

Knowledge Partnerships 13 7

Local Partnerships 5 1

Investment Partnerships 2 14

CURRENT PARTNERS

Knowledge: Rain Forest Research Institute, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Annapurna Seed Library, Japan
Environmental Education Forum, Kunming Institute of Botany, Indraprastha College for Women, Kokugakuin University, Sanctuary
Asia, ATREE, Tezpur University, Missouri Botanical Garden, Current Conservation, Devex Asia Correspondent

Local: MASK, Pakke Paga Festival Committee, Khasi Hills Community, Green Guard Organisation

Investment: Tata Trusts, Axis Bank Foundation

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PARTNERS IN OUR 10 YEARS JOURNEY

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 BALIPARA FOUNDATION ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Anil Kumar, Axis Bank Foundation Dr. Kamal Bawa, ATREE

Dr. Anish Andheria, Wildlife Conservation Trust Manoj Badale, Blenhelm Chalcot

Anindita Phukan, Altum Law Nicholas Claxton, WOW Media Communications

Group
Dr. Aparna Watve, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Dr. Peter H. Raven, Missouri Botanical Garden
Belinda Wright, Wildlife Protection Society of India
Rajeev Goyal, KTK- Belt
Bittu Sahgal, Sanctuary Asia
Richard Leitch, River Journeys & Bungalows of India
Dasho Paljor Dorji, The Royal Government of Bhutan
Rolf Von Bueren, Lotus Arts De Vivre
Deitrich Schmidt- Vogt, University of Freiburg
Samir Menon, Tata Consultancy Services
Diana Owen, Royal Overseas League
Sentila Yanger, Tribal Weaves
Dr. Dibakar Goswami, Nuclear Waste Program
Sunayana Sarkar, NMIMS University
Dr. Indira Khurana, Water Expert
Shankar Venkateswaran, Ex- Tata Sustainability
Prof. Jianchu Xu, Kunming Institute of Botany Group
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 OUR STORIES
Eastern Himalayas: Balipara Foundation Journey

https://bit.ly/2iCdoKq

Rural Futures: Udalguri Landscape Mission

https://bit.ly/2x6lLFD

Seeds: Eastern Himaalayan Botanic Ark

https://bit.ly/2N6HlnC

EASTERN HIMALAYAN BOTANIC ARK IN

RESIDENCE AT WILD MAHSEER

https://bit.ly/2x6WOJE

https://bit.ly/2OeGDkV https://bit.ly/2N9OvHA

https://twitter.com/naturenomics

https://bit.ly/2NzApyO https://bit.ly/2x8HpZ1
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www.baliparafoundation.com