In the process of restoring life-sustaining qualities of nature for survival, growth, and alleviating poverty: The Auroville experience

Millions of people around the world depend for their livelihood on the surrounding natural resources/landscapes that are often degraded, and face further deterioration with increased use and threats of conversion.  Poverty, there, is not simply lack of finances, but also lack of availability, access, and ability to govern basic life sustaining resources like water, soil, fuel, construction materials, and so on.  Around the world a vicious cycle of accelerated natural resource degradation, spiraling poverty and lack of ecological resilience in the face of unpredictable climatic patterns have set in. This can be somewhat abated with widespread restoration of vital functioning of the ecosystems. One significant experiment in this regard is Auroville. Auroville, located in India, is an UNESCO-ratified international township in the making through ecological / watershed restoration work over the last 39years transforming a thoroughly denuded desert-like landscape to a green area supporting biodiversity and people.  This involves (a) initiating a green cover to eventually help restore indigenous vegetation, (b) creating water catchments for use, restricting soil erosion, and recharging aquifers, (c) experimenting with ecologically sensitive indigenous/new technologies and farming practices, and most recently (d) disseminating the effort, experiment, and learning in the bio-region, including the Tsunami-affected coastal areas.