Exercise 4

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Exercise 4

    The first UNDP Equator Prize winner that I chose was the BIO-KG Federation. This project works on transitioning the agriculture of the rural and mountain communities of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to organic-only in a "landscape-level" approach. This process uses a bottom-up approach to target "districts" decided on by communities, and it focuses on revitalizing depleted soils and eliminating chemical fertilizer. The community organization utilizes traditional farming methods in the region and saving seeds that are usable for various climactic conditions. According to the project information, "ten organic aimaks have been created, six of which are led by women." 

    This project is postmodern due to its bottom-up approach, which utilizes the community of the region to better their own lands as opposed to modern organizations going in and directing the projects. The bottom-up approach focuses on what the lands already provide, as well as what the communities traditionally did with them (before modern environmental depletion from modern development). The sustainable development goals of the project are to transition the agriculture of the region to organic, as well as revitalizing soils that had been depleted. This has been very successful. The community has been able to save important, varied seeds, and ten aimaks have been created! The project also empowers women due to take leadership positions in these aimaks. On a larger scale in the region, the project has resulted in Kyrgyzstan's government pledging to switch to only organic agriculture within a decade!


    The second Equator Prize winner that I chose was "Aadhimalai Pazhangudiyinar Producer Company Limited." This is a cooperative of over 1,700 indigenous people of the "Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in Southern India." This cooperative forages for goods in the local forests, as well as cultivates crops that are well-suited for the region. The share-holders take great care in making sure that the techniques are not depleting the resources of the area. "The company has a gender-balanced membership and a women majority among its employees, and provides hands-on training for shareholders and social enterprises across the region"

    This is a postmodern project as opposed to a modern project due to the power of the project coming from the community as opposed to outside, western help. It is a cooperative of over 1,700 indigenous peoples, which means that there is no "higher up" organization or person directing the project. This means that the indigenous community directly benefits from the benefits of both the economic sale of finished goods, as well as providing education for farmers and community members on sustainable approaches to agriculture and foraging. This project is extremely successful, and finished goods from the cooperative are sold in multiple locations within the region. 


    The third Equator Prize winner that I chose was Tatamo Miray an’Andranobe (TAMIA). This organization is a result of 4 communities in the Lake Andranobe region coming together to restore the lake's water quality, water level, replenish fish stocks and remove invasive species. They use various methods to achieve this, including planting trees on the hillsides to prevent silting of the lake by 50%. Fish catch yields more than doubled between 2004 and 2019. The water from the restored lake now provides drinking water to more than 3,000 people. 

    This project is a postmodern project instead of a modern project because it was started from the ground up by the local community, utilizing the traditional knowledge of the lakes and incorporating different methods to fix the lakes instead of just filling them back up for them to be depleted again. This not only provided a long-term improvement of the water levels, but it also resulted in the replenishment of native species of fish, plants, and other wildlife that had been depleted. This project was extremely successful, and now provides drinking water to more than 3,000 people, making a large-scale sustainable development example for the region. 

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