Get involved

• Organise all the people of your village into a Jaiv Panchayat and help the people understand that their Jaiv Panchayat will be a decision making body on all matters pertaining to the conservation, management, and protection of all biological resources of that area.
• Organise meetings / awareness campaigns with the Jaiv Panchayat, and discuss the diverse kinds of biological wealth available and used in your area
• Make a formal declaration that all the biological resources belong only to the community.
• Prepare a community biodiversity register (CBR) to prevent erosion of biological resources and knowledge. A few active members (Jaiv Rakshaks) from amongst the Gram Sabha can take the responsibility of maintaining and updating the register periodically.

The first Jaiv Panchayat was brought to life by a gathering of about 1000 villagers of Agastyamuni village in district Rudraprayag, Garhwal, Uttaranchal on 5th June, 1999- the World Environment Day. The Jaiv Panchayat campaign launched by Navdanya is a part of the much broader movement called Bija Satyagraha.

As a part of the movement over 4000 village communities have affirmed their rights to their biodiversity and have taken a pledge to conserve, rejuvenate and protect their biodiversity. There are more than 85 Jaiv Panchayats in Garhwal alone, where people have asserted their inalienable and common rights to their natural resources. In many of the Jaiv Panchayats, the elected leaders are also the leaders of the Movement.

Many of them have declared their villages GM-free zones as well. Jaiv Panchayat records the biodiversity of the village in their own Community Biodiversity Register (CBR) to protect and reclaim the biological and intellectual commons. It has rejuvenated indigenous knowledge and promoted its propagation from grandmother to grandchildren.