Orans - DTE - 20/12/22

Context:
Residents from around 40 villages of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan have walked 225 kilometres to protect community-conserved sacred spaces known as ‘orans’. Currently, the biodiversity hotspots are classified as wastelands.
Relevance:
Imp. facts for prelims
About:

-‘Orans’ are community forests that act as a store of biodiversity, enable effective water management and serve as a community based regeneration system, which also ensure sustainable extraction of Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFPs) by villagers, in the world’s oldest Aravali Mountain Range and in the Great Indian Desert of Rajasthan.
-Sacred groves have been live manifestations of historical, cultural and emotional attachment of human beings with forests.
-They unify rural communities religiously, culturally and socially. In due course, degradation and depletion of forests and forest resources have occurred due to several reasons—both natural and anthropogenic.(India).
-There are about 25000 orans in Rajasthan that cover more than 600,000 hectares and provide a much-needed lifeline and safeguard to their respective communities.
-Founded to address the above challenges, KRAPAVIS, an organization of local people, has been working for 21 years to revive orans, both physically and conceptually, in the desert and Aravali regions.
-These orans are hotspots of biodiversity with trees and flowers like rohida, bordi, kumbhat, and desi babool in large numbers.

-About KRAPAVIS:
Krishi Avam Paristhitiki Vikas Sansthan (KRAPAVIS), literally means “organization for the development of ecology and agriculture/livestock”, works with a clear mission: the betterment of ecological, agricultural and livestock practices with a view to ensuring sustainable livelihoods for rural pastoral communities in Rajasthan.