What is ecosymbiotic self-reliance?

The Śramani Institute defines ecosymbiotic self-reliance as a community’s ability and practice to sustainably procure the resources needed to meet their basic needs (food, shelter, plant-based healthcare, essential commodities/services) from their own ecological web (ecoweb) (see Box 1).

For tens of millennia, human communities living in symbiosis (mutually beneficial and interconnected dependence) with their ecowebs (ecosymbiosis) were indeed self-reliant and, in many cases, self-sufficient, as they developed sophisticated and regenerative Knowledge-Technologies-Practices (Knowtep) that were painstakingly and systematically adapted to their specific ecowebs. Such communities were thus ecosymbiotic communities. 

In the past several centuries, however, with the advent of European imperialism and globally imposed extractivist systems^[1], ecosymbiotic communities have been severed from their ecowebs and the abundance of resources therein, resulting in their inability to remain self-reliant. Thus, ecosymbiotic self-reliance has been — often forcibly — replaced by dependence on externally supplied commodities and services, meaning dependence on money (income) and/or the government to meet basic needs. Given that, for a large proportion of the world’s population, income is received from an employer, people who are not self-reliant are vulnerable to exploitation, poverty, discrimination, and violence, regardless of well-meaning protective government laws and regulations. Consequently, to restore dignity and security to humans and to counter the climate crisis, we need to (re)establish local ecoweb-rooted community self-reliance, i.e., ecosymbiotic self-reliance. 

Of course, such self-reliance requires the existence of abundantly resourced local ecowebs, which worsening ecocide worldwide has caused to degrade significantly, e.g., through mining, industrial pollution, overextraction of water, deforestation, and overuse of synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides. Consequently, (re)establishing ecosymbiotic self-reliance for communities requires regenerating ecowebs, meaning water tables are replenished, soil quality is restored, and rewilding is undertaken, so that biodiverse native plants, insects, birds, microbes, and animals (including humans) can once more thrive ecosymbiotically. 

In addition, there can be no ecosymbiotic self-reliance unless all community members understand and express (realize) their ecoselves through creativity-assisted personal evolution (Ākāś).^[2]

When a community is once again able to ecosymbiotically generate the commodities and services they need from their own local ecowebs and, therefore, meet their basic needs, the requirement for money (income) decreases significantly because they do not have to ‘purchase’ what they need. Thus, ecosymbiotic self-reliance renders a community resilient in the face of the deepening climate crisis and ever-changing (extractivist) regional, national, and global economic-legal-governance-education (ELGE)^[3] landscapes.  

FiveBecomings projects aim to (re)establish ecosymbiotic self-reliance for communities

FiveBecomings (Pañchabhūmi)^[4] empowers rural women to lead their Community (a cluster of 5-30 villages within a 5-15 km radius) to regenerate degraded local land into an abundantly ecologically resourced multi-sector commons^[5] (20-50 acres), where under the leadership of women, Community members cooperatively learn and work for their own benefit, and through their own efforts, (re)establish ecosymbiotic self-reliance and wellbeing in all aspects. FiveBecomings aims to solve problems locally while simultaneously addressing global challenges.

Why are FiveBecomings projects implemented in collaboration with women leaders of a Community? Simple. Because women have been holders of Knowtep and bedrocks of their families and peoples since our species first evolved, and they are equipped and motivated to work to overcome the multiple interconnected challenges they face.

Women Are holders of Knowtep and bedrocks of their families and peoples

Women not only nurture incipient humans in their wombs for many months before they birth new generations, but they continue to nurture their children, families, and peoples throughout their lives. Many — if not most — rural women nurture their fellow humans, and also the ecowebs in which they live, by preserving and implementing their people’s local/ Indigenous regenerative Knowtep in multiple aspects: food harvesting/cultivation/preparation, water management, livestock rearing, plant-based healthcare, energy generation, knowledge transmission, interpersonal mediation, and ecological conservation, to name a few. Yet rarely are (rural) women recognized or rewarded for their invaluable contributions.

Challenges faced by rural women across the world

Not only are (rural) women not recognized or compensated for their irreplaceable contributions to their peoples and their ecowebs, but they are instead subjected to many types of suffering:

• Large proportions of women (and girls) are subjected to violence in various forms — sexual, financial, physical, and/or emotional violence — perpetrated by men
• Women are suppressed in patriarchal systems, discouraging — and often prohibiting — them from taking on leadership positions
• Most women do not have access to dignified livelihood opportunities and are relegated to agricultural/other labor and/or (unpaid) household/reproductive/communal labor
• Women are predominantly financially dependent on their husbands, fathers, and/or sons, rendering them vulnerable to violence and exploitation
• Education of girls is valued less than that of boys, leading to higher school dropout rates for girls
• In many rural areas, some girls are forced into child marriages
• A large percentage of women (and girls) lack self-confidence due to oppressive conditions
• Women often do not have access to adequate sanitation, water, food, or healthcare, leading to ill-health (of mother and child), high maternal mortality rates, and reproductive problems
• The larger misogynistic legal-police-government system often discourages women from reporting violence, leading to the perpetuation of shame, insecurity, and exploitation

FiveBecomings centers women in leading their Community to ecosymbiotic self-reliance

It is precisely because rural women endure so many interconnected challenges that they are highly motivated to actively improve their circumstances.Thus, the implementation of each FiveBecomings project begins with the formation of a Women’s Council, comprising a small number of women elected democratically by the adult women of every household in the Community. This Women’s Council serves multiple purposes, including:

• serve as half the governing body of the Community Cooperative (also established at the outset of each FiveBecomings project), with the other half being a democratically elected Cooperative Council, consisting of at least 50% women and marginalized members of the Community;  
• comprise women members who serve as team leaders for the activities undertaken by the Community transformers in each sector of the commons (team leaders are trained by the Śramani Institute (and partnering local nonprofit organization) to be able to fulfill these roles effectively);
• guide, teach, and involve children/youth in activities leading to ecosymbiotic self-reliance; and
• serve as the body (a) to which women/girls can confidentially report complaints of violence, harassment, exploitation, discrimination, and/or other crimes, and (b) that can take appropriate action (e.g., by mediating with alleged perpetrators and/or with police/government authorities).

1. K. Mitra, 424 Years and Counting: the Global System of Corporate Extractivism, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh092024-010a (24 Sep., 2024) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/systems/systems-reform/424-years-and-counting-the-global-system-of-corporate-extractivism-1-of-3).

2. K. Mitra, Realizing the Ecoself through Personal Evolution (Ākāś): Importance in FiveBecomings, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh052025-003 (11 May, 2025) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/regenerative/human-ecoweb-integration/realizing-the-ecoself-through-personal-evolution-akas-importance-in-fivebecomings).

3. K. Mitra, LivingConfluence: Community Wellbeing-Rooted Economics, Law, Governance, and Education (ELGE), Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh012025-002 (10 Jan., 2025) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/systems/extractivism-alternatives/livingconfluence-community-wellbeing-rooted-economics-law-governance-and-education-elge).

4. K. Mitra, Local-Global Benefits of Rural FiveBecomings Projects Designed for Community Self-Reliance, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh032025-022 (18 Mar., 2025) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/systems/ecoweb-rooted-framing/local-global-benefits-of-rural-fivebecomings-projects-designed-for-community-self-reliance-1-of-2).

5. K. Mitra, Reversing the Enclosure of the Commons through FiveBecomings, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh042025-042 (13 Apr., 2025) (https://ecosymbiont.org/earth/content/systems/extractivism-alternatives/reversing-the-enclosure-of-the-commons-through-fivebecomings).