Network Papers

In this paper, written for internal reflection, we have described ADATS' experiences with two CDM projects where we built 17,000 domestic Biogas units 12-16 years back. Supported by solid data,, we have critically looked at performance and reasons for usage severely dropping from 2017 onward. We have explored various factors like Repair & Maintenance, the "convenience" argument and LPG trap, disempowerment of women, upward mobility, the pandemic, poverty, and the role of staff. After that, we examined who had retained their Biogas units, steadfastly refusing to switch to non-renewables. Finally, when reflecting on Impacts, we have commented on the acumen of the rural poor and how gender rote roles have been shattered.

2050 is fast approaching. Nations, corporates, business leaders and informed individuals were acutely aware that time was running out. The IPCC had warned that we have crossed the tipping point. Yet, till very recently, responses didn't seem to match the realisation. They appeared casual and indifferent, bordering on the callous; defensive comebacks with metaphoric shields up and weapons drawn. The rural poor, on the other hand, with lives intertwined with nature and bearing the direct brunt of climate change and unpredictable weather patterns, have an intuitive grasp even if not based on datasets and scientific explanations. Community-based climate projects facilitated by grassroots NGOs have, for the past decade and more, taped this intrinsic potential in as serious and responsible a manner as possible. We need to critique these efforts in order to identify lapses and make improvements. In order to initiate reflection and debate among FCN Members and others I have, over the past few weeks, penned my own thoughts and reflections.

After such a long spell of Lockdowns and unlocks ADATS decided to call the Coolie Sangha cadre from each Gram Panchayat for day long meetings at Bagepalli. This chronicle is not a recording of the minutes of the 6 meetings. It is a penning of the sum and substance of everything that 212 women and 191 men from 94 villages shared in 21½ hours spread over 6 days, interspersed with select anecdotes and authentic statements paraphrased to the best that my memory serves, ordered under 5 topics - the Pandemic, Lockdown, Crops & Cultivation, Children's Schooling, & the Coolie Sangha

Lockdown was just an immediate initial response to gain an understanding of the never-before-seen “novel” coronavirus. Irrespective of how it was presented to the population, it was never intended to be the magic bullet to defeat COVID-19. To therefore call it a knee jerk reaction that failed, even if it did not give anticipated results, would be wrong. It has given us time to plan a more realistic and effective response. A critical examination of learning gained – epidemiology, virology, response protocols – is the urgent need of the hour. On the other hand, pretending to be infallible and refusing to examine even limited results and failures will be the stupidest course to take.

On Sunday, 10 May 2020 we got to know that large number of Migrants had reached the Karnataka-AP border, right at our doorsteps. Ever since, ADATS Staff started going out every evening to asist as many as possible make a smooth crossing. We distributed a little bit to eat, drinking water and money to help them on their epic walk back home. Whenever possible, checkpoint authorities and we stopped Northbound trucks to ferry the Migrants at least a part of the thousands of kilometres they'd set out to trek. This is a compilation of emails we have been sending out to friends and well-wishers on our daily interactions and learning from some of the bravest youngsters we've ever met.

650 Coolie Sangha members came over 2 days to receive carbon revenue from the sale of Forestry credits sequestered through the planting of trees on their scattered holdings. To date, 509 families have received a total of Rs 1.77 crore Another 3,128 End User women have received Rs 3.03 crore through the sale of Emission Reductions they generated by using their Biogas units instead of non-renewable biomass. In the next few months, these women will receive another Rs 1.09 crore taking their total "business earnings through environmental services rendered to society at large" to Rs 4.99 crore Ram Esteves spoke about the current political economy, the Coolie Sangha, the agricultural economy, capitalism, climate change and carbon revenue in order to contextualise their heroic efforts.

The Coolie Sangha of yesterday was a unity forged in order to overcome poverty and tackle feudal oppression. You have achieved your objectives. Those functions of the Coolie Sangha are no longer relevant. In today’s world, we need the Coolie Sangha in a state of permanent cooperation and mutuality. It should be a Unity that continually stands for justice, protection and support for each other. This Unity is the basis for Social Capital needed by individual poor to aggregate their efforts and draw upon the community in order to succeed in new age business ventures that ADATS will identify and facilitate.

The "Project" is not Climate Change. The Project is social transformation. Social transformation will remain a utopian utterance, without scale and long-term involvement. Climate Projects offer both; an opportunity to reach out to hundreds of thousands of rural poor and stay intimately involved for decades. Social transformation can be achieved only through a bottom up process of dialogue and conversation with the rural poor and, among them, the most disadvantaged, rural women. By and large, grassroots NGOs are efficient and cost effective in implementing Climate mitigation/adaptation projects. After implementing the technologies, actual usage has to be monitored and the units maintained for 10-21 years. Centralised management followed by NGOs will not work. Monitoring, repair and maintenance can be carried out only by End User women themselves. A hapless lot, crushed through millennia of systematised social oppression, cannot be expected to magically take control of a global effort. They must first feel emboldened, empowered and enabled to take control of their own lives within their own households, which are the traditional bastions of patriarchy. FCN Member NGOs need to support all and every effort made by rural women to take control of their lives. A radical alteration of organisational structure and style of functioning is needed. When effective post-construction/implementation systems are in place, carbon offsets will be generated and translate into carbon revenue. Delivery commitments to carbon investors will be met. After that, revenue will continually be generated to compensate End User women and also maintain the systems/revenue flow. These have to be viewed as instruments for social transformation.

Conventional Crowdfunding raises once-off resources for a single cause or venture. In the context of the Fair Climate Network, Crowdfunding is an arrangement where a group of climate conscious individuals and/or companies, who cannot individually finance the total cost of an environmentally valuable climate activity, join together to pool resources to implement, maintain and monitor the project. Unlike normal Crowdfunding Platforms, in the case of pro-poor community owned and managed projects, there is need for much larger, long-term, multi-year, committed contributions that will not be repaid in cash, but in a monetized environmental service.

Report on the 9 day visit to the foothills and lower ranges of the Himalayas, to the working areas of SUVIDHA, NNS and Sanjeevani.

Ram Esteves, Convenor, tried to steer the 2 day FCN meeting on 10 & 11 April 2017 away from conventional discussions on CDM and offsetting. In this keynote, the seriousness of Climate Change and the looming threat to Homo sapiens was brought home with force.

Addressing climate change offers an opportunity to provide a unique environmental service that only we can deliver. The key characteristics of the FCN business plan is that it is collaborative, exponential, digital and combinatorial – vital ingredients for the success of any Start-up in today’s business environment. These Rules of Engagement form the basis for collaboration between FCN and Client NGOs

This is the LATEST UPDATED 5 page Common Family Survey Format to capture all data needed to prepare Climate Mitigation Projects. PLEASE PRINT IT AS IS IN THIS PDF FILE. This format will be used for all technologies like Biogas, Woodstoves, Photovoltaic Lamps, Water Purification, Low Carbon Farming, etc. For example, if you collect data for Biogas, you will not have to resurvey the family to get additional PDD data for Woodstoves, unless there is a major change in Methodology. Tristle Technology will also use the same Format, in this same order, in all their monitoring solutions.

The big breakthrough made in recent months is to establish a domestic and international market for Emission Reductions generated by Climate Mitigation Projects developed by FCN Members. Download to read an email sent out by the FCN Convenor to the entire Network

The FCN Tech Team has been supported with a generous start-up grant from Icco, the Netherlands. This is soon coming to an end by mid 2012. From now on, for support provided to new Client NGOs/Projects we will charge for services as under: Rs 240,000 for the 1st Phase services: Apt and implementable technologies, that can be developed as Climate Mitigation Projects that generate carbon offsets, chosen by grassroots NGO Rs 1,110,000 for 2nd Phase services: Project Design Documents developed and registered under CDM, VER and/or Gold Standard Rs 480,000 for 3rd Phase services: Project Implementation & Monitoring systems in place, as per registered PDD requirements

Welcome Address delivered by Ram Esteves on Monday, 4 April 2011 at the start of a week long training/orientation for Icco Climate Programme Officers and head office staff. In this important speech, the Fair Climate Network clearly spells out where we come from, where we stand, and what our business interests are. We then invites Icco to do the same, so that we could identify where our respective business interests and values match and meet.

Introduction given by Gert de Gans at the start of a week long training/orientation for Icco Climate Programme Officers and head office staff on Monday, 4 April 2011. Gert recalls his long association with the Fair Climate Network and goes on to share his thoughts on global warming and outlines a new paradigm for international cooperation. He forcefully argues for cosmopolitan ethics and global conceptions of justice.

Icco Directors visited Bagepalli on 26th & 27th January 2011 to explore aeas where their business interests meet and match that of our Network, and link their policy to the proactive enagement of the FCN. This paper is a distillation of those discussions.

Keynote Address given by Ram Esteves at the 7th CDM Meeting on 7th November 2010. Reflcts on the setting of fresh targets, Low Carbon Farming, choice of Technologies, mechanisms for the post-2012 continuity of the Tech Team, preparations for CoP16 at Cancun, the development of FCN Standards, Social Entrepreneurs becoming Carbon Investors, and the development of an Indian Carbon Market.

Sudha Padmanabha has written her Annual Report in the format suggested by Icco.

Sandeep Loya has submitted his Annual Report in the format suggested by Icco

At the 6th CDM Meeting, hardly a month after joining the FCN, Sandeep Loya tried to diagrammatically represent the CDM preparation process flow..

This 6th Meeting of the Fair Climate Network was well attended. Participants from Icco formally announced their contribution to the Tech Team at Bengaluru. We once again explored the possibility to bring Sustainable Agriculture into the fold of Emission Reduction projects. The meeting paid condolences to Fr. Vincent Ferrer.

The 12 point Minutes of the 2 day meeting we held where the Keynote Address was discussed and accepted in toto, Icco's generous offer accepted after a very critical scrutiny, a Core Group set up, an attempt made to understand the Carbon Investors' viewpoint, existing CDM opportunities in Sustainable Agriculture explored, the upcoming CoP15 discussed, and commitments made by members.

The rich and diverse membership of the Fair Climate Network is presented as its greatest strength. One where individuals come with expectations and end up giving far more than what they take away. The rough outlines of the Tech Team and bridging fund we would set up to facilitate grassroots NGOs develop pro-poor CDM Projects was discussed.

On 30 September 2008, ADATS wrote a letter to the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, offering the active support of the Fair Climate Network to the Fair Carbon Fund that Icco was going to set up as a carbon investment company which would invest in pro-poor CDM Projects.

A day long meeting was held on 9 February to review progress made in the past 5 months. Discussions were initiated on Icco's financial contribution to the Fair Climate Network.

This document is the report on the very 1st CDM Meeting held at Bagepalli, and subsequent discussions with Gert de Gans, Icco/KerkinActie, from 12 to 22 September 2007. It outlines the vision and brainstorms on the scope of the Fair Carbon Network: 1. Link grassroots NGOs in the South with voluntary efforts of concerned citizens in Annex I countries/societies. 2. Lead topic-wise debates and discussions on issues related to Climate Justice 3. Assist in developing pro-poor CDM Projects 4. Capacitate grassroots NGOs 5. Meet Transaction Costs of CDM development 6. Deal with Professionals 7. Play an “honest broker” role. 8. Forward financing and upfront funding of pro-poor CDM Projects through the purchase of VERs and CERs. 9. Place young people in learning and contributing experiences 10. Networking and Lobbying with the UNFCCC, EB and Methodology Panels, and Host Country DNA; Network scan