LOGO DESIGN LED LAB
VIEW BOOK
2013. Law + Environment + Design Laboratory.
Partners of the Lab are: Natural Justice and the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology LED Lab Logo Design: Sonalee Mandke Photo credits in this viewbook: Naomi Shah (Sariska Project) Deepta Sateesh (all other photographs)
The ROOTS Project and View Book were made possible by the Shuttleworth Foundation.
Contents
Who We Are 01 How We Work 03 The ROOTS Project
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Upcoming Projects 19 Events 21 Engage with Us 25
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CULTURE + DEVELOPMENT
a g l o b a l c o ll a b o r
DESIGN + LAW
emination diss
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CONFLICT RESOLUTION
proje cts
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curriculum
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Who we are Vision
Strategy
We envision the lab:
To create a space for learning to understand the environment, analyse issues surrounding it, represent them and explore solutions towards a sustainable future.
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To be a space that pushes boundaries across issues and disciplines, using creative thinking.
• To facilitate creative engagement with environmental law through innovative problem-solving and design methodology. •
To challenge the existing legal, environmental, social and cultural frameworks through interdisciplinary thinking and collaborative work that can critically analyze and visualize the issues in their complexities.
To be a place where research and practice feed each other through experimentation that result in the creation of new tools and methods. To provide a platform to enable people from diverse backgrounds and interests, equipping them with ways of thinking and acting with sensitivity and creativity.
• To create an approach that enables various disciplines to unpack the notion of justice and create new pathways to empower indigenous and local communities towards a more adaptive and resilient society and ecology, establishing cultural integrity and equity.
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Designing law: in search of... East Coker from ‘Four Quartets’ “...At best, only a limited value In the knowledge derived from experience. The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies, For the pattern is new in every moment And every moment is a new and shocking Valuation of all we have seen. ...The only wisdom we can hope to acquire Is the wisdom of humility; humility is endless.” - T.S. Eliot.
How we work Values that guide our approach, methodology and pedagogy
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Interdisciplinary thinking
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Openness & reflection
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Embracing complexity
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Empathy & mindfulness
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Experience-based learning
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Group learning
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Democracy & consensus building
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“The sky above is their shelter and the earth with its plants and the surroundings is their home. I hope and wish it always is like that. They are the ones who are protecting nature and coexisting with it, instead of trying to destroy.� - Bidisha Das 4 | Law + Environment + Design Laboratory
THE ‘ROOTS’ PROJECT How can design thinking benefit a Maldhari, a camel herding nomad of Kutch, Gujarat? Do the Gujjars in the Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan have a right to reclaim their age-old access and rights over the forests in the Arravallis? How can you as a designer and creative communicator enable these communities to get ecological justice? Students at the LED Lab undertook 2 projects that did precisely this. They revolve around the larger ideas of sustainability, climate change adaptation and human rights in geographical zones of conflict between man and the environment.
These communities are being marginalized through policies of exclusionary conservation and rapid industrialisation that has affected their cultural, social, economic and environmental relationships and practices. They have been facing trouble from the Forest Department for access to resources and land, and the laws did not permit those rights, but with the revised Forest Rights Act 2006, these communities can claim for their forest rights to access, share and nurture resources and the land.
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“I realized awareness is a very small part of the solution. Yes, it is important for the local communities to know their rights, it is important for them to know when they are being exploited by the Forest Department, when they need to take a stand.� - Naomi Shah
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‘Van Adhikar’ Gujjars, Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan The Gujjars in Rajasthan are in the process of claiming these rights, through Biocultural Community Protocol (BCP), an interface/enabling document that help them define and communicate their cultural values intrinsically linked to their environment, the tangible and intangible, traditional knowledge and practices, and the socio-ecological relationships that create and maintain them. The Gujjars need to map their cultural landscapes and ecosystem values, including preservation of their sacred groves, or devbannis.
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Giving locals a sense of empowerment
Opportunity to influence legal action and conflict resolution
Co-existence
Government support
Agenda: Community Driven Conservation
Economic power
Promoting the concept of Devbannis
BCP. Identifying Community Rights
Influence in political and social scenario Creating a microeconomy out of devotion and staunch belief
Resources for mining
Highlighting one issue over the many others that are existing
Politics of securing votes
Harming geography, ecology and land use patterns
Religion: a priority over ecology
Dealing with aspects purely within the legal arena
Commercialisation in Core Areas
INDUSTRY
KRAPAVIS NATURAL JUSTICE
TEMPLE AUTHORITY
SARISKA
TIGER RESERVE ALWAR, RAJASTHAN
A “critical tiger habitat” and how it affects the Forest Rights Act (2006)
GUJJARS
MEENAS
Authority and power;
Weak and unable to exercise rights
fear among locals Preserving forest by drawing boundaries and preventing human intervention Wooing locals into giving up
FOREST DEPARTMENT
FOREST DWELLING COMMUNITY NGO worker
NANAK RAM GUJJAR
Forest guard
HARI RAM GUJJAR
Livestock Grazing Individual Benefit
Relocation from the Reserve
land; fake promise of changing land category for use
Authority of the Forest Rights Committee Influence Risks Interest Alternate Identity
Secondary Stake Holders Primary StakeHolders
GRAM SABHA
STAKEHOLDER MAP: To show the stakeholders involved in the situation, with respect to their interests and influences in the system.
Securing community rights Misrepresentation of community needs
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Design Outcomes The final design intervention was a toolkit that a paralegal can use in the field to help build awareness of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and facilitate community decision-making. The toolkit consists of a flowchart that describes the process of claiming COMMUNITY FOREST RIGHTS
p33a ST RE FO LES TIT
Conversion Of Pattas or leases, or grants issued by local authority or State Governement To Forest Titles
Community Tenures of Habitat and Habitation
rights; an infograph describing the rights, evidences to claim them and the responsibilities of community once the rights are claimed; placards; and a puppet theatre with scripts based on scenarios the Gujjars may face.
UNFOLDING THE LAW
conservation of old, heritage structures and regulation over commercial access
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Nistaar Taxes for commercial use and sale of Minor Forest Produce
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Call for claims and authorize the FRC to make record of these claims within 3 months of filing the claims and record evidence.
S
AIM
CL
RECORD OF RIGHTS
RESOURCE MAP
NISTAAR
APS
Responsibility of ensuring no developmental activities and therefore destruction of habitat
p33a
REC
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NC
IDE
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ORAL HISTORY
PATTAS
7-17 members
Collect necess information,do and records fro government au
LAND USE MAP
Protection and conservation of habitat and biodiversity from destructive practices Right to traditional knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights over forest resources
Grazing (Settled and Transhumant)
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Consider verification process made by FRC
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Consider resettlemen package and written cons for relocatio
“Being close to these people for some days also brings to question many things that are rooted in our culture. Our idea of happiness for example, our relationship with money, our tendency to complain.� - Varda Schneider 12 | Law + Environment + Design Laboratory
‘Legally Bound’ Camel Maldharis, Chchari Dhand & Mohadi, Kutch, Gujarat The Camel Maldharis in Kutch are traditionally pastoralist camel breeders, and are also in the process of creating their BCP to claim their rights to the grazing ‘commonlands’. The Maldharis breed 2 types of camels, the Kutchi camels, and the Kharai camels that survive on mangroves along the coastline. The mangroves are also threatened, by industrial development, creating a highly complex web of humanenvironment, development-conservation and social-economic interdependencies.
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Design Outcomes The final design interventions were a board game that can help the Maldharis to understand the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and an experimental documentary film, called Graze, to build awareness in government bodies about the conflict in the region.
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Initial sketches on the Hero’s Project by Abhishek Choudhury. 18 | Law + Environment + Design Laboratory
UPCOMING PROJECTS The “Hero’s” Project This is a project based on the universal myth of ‘the hero’s journey’ by Joseph Campbell; it will look to work with the Khoisan community in South Africa to collect the stories of the community leaders, their myths and oral history. The challenge is to build inspiring narratives of these ‘heroes’, in forms that appeal to and communicate to the community’s youth.
The “Voices” Project This is a participatory video project to document the culture, oral history and legal challenges of the Paudi Bhuyan community, one of many primitive tribes in Sundergarh District of Orissa who inhabit forest areas. The final documentary film may be used by the community as legal evidence under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
Biodiversity Projects These are 2 design projects to assist the National Biodiversity Authority, India, to creatively communicate the importance of biodiversity to urban India, through various story-telling forms.
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EVENTS Global Environment Summer Academy Workshop
‘Exposing the Invisible’ - 2nd ARI-BCP Workshop
7 December 2012
18-20 February 2013
A half-day workshop on the importance of marrying law with design where participants explored the nature of this interdisciplinary approach and its potentials. The workshop was one of many design-related sessions held during the Grad Show 2012 at the Srishti School. The participants included Gary Martin (Director, Global Diversity Foundation), Marie Wilke, Kabir Bavikatte (Director, Natural Justice), Rustam Vania (Dean, Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology), Deepta Sateesh (Director, LED Lab) and Arpitha Kodiveri (Director, LED Lab).
A 3-day workshop was hosted by the LED Lab and Natural Justice, at Srishti School. The workshop examined the challenges of implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, the application of Biocultural Community Protocols in India and explored other instruments to facilitate assertion of rights over resources by indigenous and local communities. The workshop saw participation from various NGOs and communitybased organizations across South Asia working in this area accompanied with a half-day mini-workshop on how design thinking can influence the sphere of law and advocacy, with students help in facilitation.
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Workshop with Bhoomi College 22 February 2013 A workshop on the risks and advantages of approaching the courts in environmental issues. Attending the session were students of the LED Lab and Bhoomi College, who are pursuing a year-long course on sustainability studies.
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EVENTS Negotiating Hidden Terrains 26 April 2013 This 1-day symposium was a culmination of a long semester working on the ROOTS Project - the biggest challenge being visualizing the law. Students presented and exhibited the final design interventions, including four documentary film screenings on climate change, by Srishti Films students.
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The speakers at the symposium were: Kabir Bavikatte, Natural Justice: On the need for new ways of seeing and understanding the law. Rustam Vania, Srishti School: On the opportunity of using design thinking and processes to meet this challenge. Ravi Chellam, Madras Crocodile Bank Trust: A reflection on the recent judgements on translocation of the Lions of Gir, Kutch, and the challenges. Maya Ganesh, Tactical Technology Collective: On the potentials of technologies and mapping as new ways of seeing and communicating, for advocacy. Arpitha Kodiveri, Natural Justice: On the challenges of the concept of “evidence� in law, and the opportunities and dangers in relation to cultural evolution. Danish Sheikh, Alternative Law Forum: On interdisciplinary ways of looking at law and popular culture, and the origins of interdisciplinary thinking. Deepta Sateesh, Srishti School: On interdisciplinary thinking and pedagogy to address complex environmental issues, and the story, successes and failures of the ROOTS Project.
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ENGAGE WITH US We engage in a variety of activities which range from collaborative projects, consultancies, research, and designing curriculum and workshops. If you would like to collaborate with us please contact us at ledlab@srishti.ac.in. We hope to hear from you! Deepta & Arpitha.
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Our Current ecosystem Directors
Friends of the lab
Deepta Sateesh Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology
Rustam Vania, Abhiyan Humane, Arnab Basu Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology
Arpitha Kodiveri Natural Justice
Sanjay Barnela Srishti Films & Moving Images
Advisors
Nitin Rai Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment
John C. Keene University of Pennsylvania
Ravi Chellam Madras Crocodile Bank Trust
Geetha Narayanan Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology
Girish Prabhu Srishti Labs & Pepper Slate
Kabir Bavikatte Natural Justice
Ashish Kothari Kalpavriksh
Students
Jyoti Hosagrahar Sustainable Urbanism International
Kutch Team: Ananya Singh, Koyal Chengappa, Mariette Breton, Varda Schneider, Shambhavi Singh, Bidisha Das
Harry Jonas Natural Justice Sahjeevan (NGO), Kutch, Gujurat
Team Sariska: Meghna Jaswal, Joshua Iype, Sanika Sahasrabuddhe, Naomi Shah
Krapavis (NGO), Alwar, Rajasthan Nupur Panemangalor, Illustrator & Graphic Designer
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“I think I can begin to deconstruct each clause of a law and understand its implications. What needs to be thought about is the broader application of the law for empowerment and more access.�
- Sanika Sahasrabuddhe
Web: http://srishti.ac.in/ledlab/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/LEDLaboratory Email: ledlab@srishti.ac.in Tel: +91.80.4044.7000 Address: P.O. Box No. 6430, Yelahanka New Town, Bangalore - 560 106