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Land reclamation, the use of capitalist tactics; beat them at their own game
In collaboration with the Nityata Foundation (www.nityata.org) in South India we are planning several land reclamation projects. In a crowded country like India we have to fight to preserve and protect the natural richness. Next to protection of already existing natural habitats by the Indian Forest Department our independent initiative will help the ongoing battle against human encroachment on our natural treasures.
Existing Project
An individual with considerable resources bought about 1250 acres (500 hectares) of land in a semi-arid area with little attention paid by the official protectors. This has now been developed by simple means, but with tremendous insight and commitment to a place that has become a great habitat for some animals like bear to return dragging with them other small mammals. The bird diversity has increased almost ten fold. This took nearly 15 years, but it did happen.
What money can buy
On average the profit made from the sale of 100 kounter-fit t-shirts can buy us up to 1 hectare of land.
Depending on the state where the land is, the possession record and procedure law varies from very strict to reasonably free laws. To protect a given habitat an area of 50 to 100 hectares with continuity is needed. Once the land is purchased investments are needed for its protection that includes human resources and some intervention on the land for water management, planting of plants appropriate to the region, and a plan to protect the animal species there. A larger piece of land would be of course more useful and meaningful. We strongly believe that the land purchased should produce some income in long term to sustain protection almost without external inputs.
100% transparancy and efficiency
We strive for 100% transparency about how the profit gets invested and the percentage that ends up in direct land reclamation and the protection of these lands. We want to stay a lean, mean fighting machine that has little to do with bureaucracy and distorting interests. Our ideal is that every Euro of profit made by kounter-fit equals 1 Euro spend on reclamation and protection.
