Madhya Pradesh is where our restoration work and our livelihood work meet most directly. Around the Panna Tiger Reserve, protection rules have narrowed what a household is allowed to do. Our answer is a set of enterprises the rules permit, built on removing the invasive biomass choking the same ground.
The problem around a protected area
Forest rules, protected area rules, tiger reserve rules and eco-sensitive zone notifications stack on the same fringe villages. Each is sound on its own. Together they leave tribal households with almost no permitted livelihood, and the result shows up as pressure on the forest and as human and wildlife conflict.
Conservation holds only when the family living at the boundary has a reason to protect the boundary. Aromatic and medicinal herbs, nursery work, food processing, cold storage and biochar from invasive biomass sit on the permitted side of every eco-sensitive zone notification, so those are the enterprises we build there. Our central coordination office is in Bhopal.
Where we work in Madhya Pradesh
| Area | District | Institution or partner | What is happening there | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bhapatpur Kurmiyan village, Ajaigarh Block | Panna | Ecoharvest FPC, formed by SLRD, with Terravya Agro | Integrated biochar, biofertiliser and essential oil unit with aromatic cultivation and restoration blocks. Also the first Living Soil processing plant. | Under setup |
| Jhinna village, Ajaigarh Block | Panna | Ecoharvest FPC with Terravya Agro | Food processing unit, medicinal and aromatic plants, herbal conservation and a phased mushroom cultivation line. Site of the planned Vindhya Herbal Garden and Living Research Centre. | Under setup and concept |
| Madla | Panna | Ecoharvest FPC | Solar cold storage at the tiger reserve gateway, with local market development. | Under setup |
| Unchehara | Satna | SLRD with the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department | The second Living Soil processing plant. Invasive biomass converted into biochar and biofertiliser, with cleared ground replanted in native species and bamboo. | In development |
| Inner zone ~20 km, outer zone 20 to 40 km of each plant | Panna and Satna | SLRD with the Forest Department | Invasive species removal and ecological restoration across an indicative 200 to 500 hectares in the first phase, using mechanised uprooting so labour teams stay out of core habitat. | In development |
| Eight districts around Panna, Satna and Rewa | Vindhya and Bundelkhand belt | Global Association of MSMEs with SLRD | Krishi Udyam Setu, connecting farmer enterprises to buyers through readiness clinics and a buyer Sangam. A natural fibre handicraft cluster is proposed for Panna and Satna. | Rollout |
| Four sites across Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya | Multiple | Farmer institution led | Eco-restoration and community based natural resource management. Native tree plantation, soil and water conservation, community led ecological monitoring and sustainable land use practice. | Completed |
| E4-12 Arera Colony, Bhopal | Bhopal | SLRD with AIIMS Bhopal | Central coordination office. Agreement with AIIMS Bhopal on detection and management of inherited blood disorders in tribal communities. | Operational |
Eco-restoration and community based natural resource management
Delivered across Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya as a farmer institution led intervention over twelve months at four sites. Work covered native tree plantation, soil conservation, water conservation, community led ecological monitoring, sustainable land use practice and capacity building.
The intervention showed how ecological restoration strengthens biodiversity, climate resilience and livelihood security at the same time, on the same ground.
- 200 beneficiaries
- 4 sites
- 12 months
No photograph No photograph of this programme is held in the archive, which is a gap on completed work. The field team is being asked whether images exist before the entry publishes with one.
The Panna cluster, three sites
An integrated model around Ajaigarh, Jhinna and Madla, linking biodiversity protection with farmer institutions, local processing and regenerative enterprise. Ecoharvest FPC, formed by SLRD, is the farmer institution. Partners are Terravya Agro, Vistaar Agrotech and the Global Association of MSMEs.
SLRD forms and strengthens the farmer institution, mobilises the villages, runs restoration, nurseries and watershed work, and supports operations. The agri-business partners commit the private capital and own the plant. Keeping grant money and commercial risk in separate hands is what makes both fundable.
- Bhapatpur Kurmiyan: integrated biochar, biofertiliser and essential oil production
- Jhinna: food processing, medicinal and aromatic plants, herbal conservation and mushroom cultivation
- Madla: solar cold storage at the reserve gateway
No photograph The three images held for these sites are generated renders. They are used only with a caption beginning Concept illustration, or the entries publish without images and the sites are photographed.
The Living Soil Initiative, Panna and Satna
Lantana, parthenium and Prosopis juliflora have taken over grassland, degraded forest and village common land across the belt. Removal alone is expensive, and cleared ground grows the same weed back within two seasons. The Living Soil Initiative closes the loop by giving removed biomass a value.
Invasive biomass is removed under Forest Department supervision using mechanised uprooting, pyrolysed into biochar and converted into biochar based biofertiliser. Cleared ground is restored with native species and bamboo, with joint monitoring by the Department and the field team.
All capital and operating cost sits with the collaborating organisations. What we ask of the Department is a working relationship, a nominated officer and joint verification.
One claim we deliberately do not make. Evidence from camera trap studies on crop raiding after invasive removal is mixed, so the case for restoration here rests on grassland recovery and prey base rather than on a promise of reduced conflict.
- 200 to 500 hectares in the first phase
- Two processing plants, at Bhapatpur Kurmiyan and Unchehara
- An inner zone within about 20 km of each plant and an outer zone from 20 to 40 km
No photograph A before and after pair of the same ground, shot from a fixed point, would carry this entry further than any other single photograph on the site.
Vindhya Herbal Garden and Living Research Centre
A living conservation, research and livelihood site at Jhinna, being developed by SLRD with YesEarth and Ecoharvest FPC. Planned zones are a medicinal grove, aromatic terraces, a wild food orchard, a germplasm and seed bank, a pollinator and agroforestry edge, and community livelihood zones.
Access and benefit sharing follow India’s biological diversity framework.
- Illustrative target of more than 100 plant species
- Illustrative target of more than 500 farm families engaged
No photograph Concept stage. The entry publishes without an image and keeps the word illustrative attached to both targets.
Tribal health with AIIMS Bhopal
An agreement signed with AIIMS Bhopal in August 2026 for interventions across Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and the North East, covering detection and management of inherited blood disorders in tribal populations.
Two streams run in parallel: corporate funded equipment support strengthening the healthcare institution, and community level detection, counselling and follow-up in tribal districts. Field personnel are trained residentially at AIIMS Bhopal.
No photograph No camp or patient photography goes on the site, ever. The agreement photograph is the only image used.
Market access and handicraft revival
Krishi Udyam Setu runs in the Vindhya and Bundelkhand belt across eight districts around Panna, Satna and Rewa, connecting farmer enterprises to buyers through readiness clinics and a buyer Sangam.
A natural fibre handicraft cluster is proposed for Panna and Satna, reviving traditional weaving and handicraft by growing fibre crops through farmer institutions alongside the revival, with a common facility centre open to every producer in the district on a published tariff.