Villagers and the Use and Conservation of Indian Forests: The Role of Joint Forest Management (SOCIAL ECONOMICS, POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT WP 17) (original) (raw)
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Villagers and the Use and Conservation of Indian Forests: The Role of Joint Forest Management
2001
Provides a brief account of the development of the Joint Forest Management Scheme in India, especially in West Bengal, the state where joint forest management has been most widely adopted and which provided the genesis of the scheme that was adopted as part of India's Forest Policy 1988. The development, nature of and rationale for the scheme are discussed. Results to a survey of household heads in villages in the neighbourhood of state forests in the Midnapore region of West Bengal are reported. The survey provides information about the dependence of villagers on forest resources, the sustainability of current forest use as perceived by villagers, and reports their views about forest management issues, including the Joint Forest Management Scheme. The concerns of villagers about joint forest management are identified and analysed. It is suggested that some writers have been too ready to promote the sustainability and social welfare benefits of joint forest management as now pra...
In 2000, household heads of three villages located in or near forests in the south of West Bengal, India, were interviewed using a structured questionnaire1. The questionnaire is attached as an Appendix to this paper. The questions asked were designed to provide information about the extent of the dependence of households on state forests for their livelihood (cash income and subsistence needs), any differences in the degree of their forest dependence according to gender, threats to the sustainability of forest resources, the expected sustainability of the income of villagers from forest resources, as well as to provide data about forest management practices, such as a joint forest management. The latter involves cooperation between villagers and the West Bengal Forest Department. The villagers undertake to protect trees in their nearby state forest from pilfering in return for a quarter of the net income from sales of commercial timber by the Forest Department. An overview and assessment and general results of the surveys can be found in Clem Tisdell, Kartik Roy and Ananda Ghose, “Villagers and the Use of Conservation of Indian Forests: The Role of Joint Forest Management”, Social Economics, Policy and Development, Working Paper No.17, June 2001. The purpose of this present paper is to provide more detailed data summaries. The data are provided firstly for the three villages combined then for each individual village (Atabanda, Barabugpichla and Chandmura). All the villagers surveyed belonged to the Santal scheduled tribe. These three villages are located in the north Midnapore region north of Salbani, with Chandrakona Road being the nearest township. The general location of the survey area is indicated in Figure 1.1. The total sample consisted of 96 household heads, representing virtually all families in the villages of Atabanda (32 household heads). Barabugpichla (29) and Chandmura (35). The particular location of these villages is shown in Figure 1.2. Of these villages, Chandmura was most closely associated with the Arabari forest that, as mentioned earlier, was the scene of the earliest experiments with joint forest management in India.
Indian Journal of Spatial Science Autumn Issue, 10 (2) 2019 pp.20 - 30, 2019
Introduction Generally, forest villages are found both in the interior and fringe areas with dense and fairly dense forest cover. The forest is not only a source of income to the villagers but it also provides employment to the local inhabitants which make forest an important contributor to the rural economy in the area. The villagers collect a variety of NTFPs (edible fruits, flowers, tubers, roots, and leaves), medicinal plants, firewood for both cooking and selling in the market, wood for traditional agricultural implements, house construction, and fencing, fodder (grass and leave) for livestock and space for livestock grazing for livelihood. Therefore, with such different uses and extensive dependence pattern, over-exploitation and unsustainable harvest practice degrade the forest cover rapidly over the years. To mitigate these problems, a decentralized and participatory forest management program called joint forest management (JFM) is being promoted in India since
2001
In 2000, household heads of three villages located in or near forests in the south of West Bengal, India, were interviewed using a structured questionnaire1. The questionnaire is attached as an Appendix to this paper. The questions asked were designed to provide information about the extent of the dependence of households on state forests for their livelihood (cash income and subsistence needs), any differences in the degree of their forest dependence according to gender, threats to the sustainability of forest resources, the expected sustainability of the income of villagers from forest resources, as well as to provide data about forest management practices, such as a joint forest management. The latter involves cooperation between villagers and the West Bengal Forest Department. The villagers undertake to protect trees in their nearby state forest from pilfering in return for a quarter of the net income from sales of commercial timber by the Forest Department. An overview and asse...
The Indian Forest Policy of 1988 (MoEF,GoI.1988) and the subsequent government resolution on participatory forest management (MoEF,GoI.1990) emphasize the need for Community-based programme in forest management, which is popularly known as Joint Forest Management(JFM) programme in India. The basic objectives of the programme are proper management and conservation of forests, improving the livelihoods of forest dweller communities and reducing rural poverty. West Bengal is the pioneer state in India in introducing Joint Forest Management has come a long way in 1971-72 at Arabari research station in Midnapore district. The present paper concludes that balance between sustainability of the Joint Forest Management (JFM) Programme and Forest dwellers participation for protection of forest in South West Bengal.
From Genesis to Awaited Success of Joint Forest Management in India
Spatial Modeling in Forest Resources Management, 2020
In most of the developing countries of the world including India local people are the chief users and guardians of the different types of ecosystems, and they make the vast majority of daily environmental decisions with their land use and investment choices. They have used their traditional knowledge, since days unknown, to manage natural resources, conserve ecosystems, and adapt to environmental changes. Community management is always based on variety of reasons like resource enhancement, religious and cultural purposes, and many other needs. In India the onset of community management in a large scale during 1990s was mostly for the purpose of resource enhancement, livelihood and biodiversity conservation. But the movement to protect forests did not get its deserved share. Empowerment of people to manage forest resources remained as a far cry. Thereafter, there was no further development in the process of community management as it was envisaged. In the present time, in view of increased need of carbon sequestration, sustainable forest management has beecome a need. But this can not be compromised with the subsistence need of the forest dependent people. Therefore, a new generation community management needs to be deviced to sustain our forest resources for the need of the forest dwellers in the one hand and global need of carbon sink in the other.
South Asia Research, 2006
This article demonstrates that the resistance movement of forest communities in western Midnapore division in West Bengal, which acted as a key precursor to the joint forest management (JFM) programmes in India through a June 1990 Ministry of Environment and Forests circular, was based to a large extent on the successful experience of JFM in Arabari Hills under this division. In this particular locality, the resistance movement of forest communities had been mobilized for a long time by poor forest communities fighting for their community rights to forest resources as a matter of immediate survival, opposing top-down approaches to forest management. A detailed study of the existing four Forest Protection Committees (FPCs) of this area confirms that these immediate survival needs, generating mainly sustenance and income from non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for FPC members, are the key element for the long-term sustainability of a JFM system.
Socio-economic issues in forest management in India
Forest Policy and Economics, 2011
India's forest policy regime enacted so far had alienated the common users of their property rights in the name of forest and wildlife conservation. However, poor conservation outcomes have forced planners to reconsider the role of the forest community in resource use and conservation. Presence of a deep-rooted economic, social, cultural and ethical difference between members of Forest Protection Committee (FPC) constrains group behaviour and their capacity to modify regulations governing resource use. This paper studies the forest policy regimes of India in detail and seeks to investigate the influence of emerging socioeconomic issues towards formulating a more robust and sustainable future forest policy by selecting the district of Bankura in West Bengal, India, as a study area, where forest protection regime is practiced rigorously for nearly two decades. The exercise reveals that tribal populations are reluctant to be non-workers and prefer to protect the forest by being a stakeholder in the process of Joint Forest Management (JFM). Thus formulating a more egalitarian distributive JFM mechanism for sharing of benefits fairly across the resource users requires cognizance of collective-choice rule used and the type of heterogeneity existing in the community.
The Joint Forest Management, a collaborative forest management, was initiated in the 1990s to develop a common property regime through participatory and decentralized processes in the decision- making. In the episodes of JFM, the JFM activities in Harda of Madhya Pradesh were considered as a model indicating the effective channels of communication between the people and forest department with an attempt to change the attitudes of the forest officials and develop collective action from the group behaviour. This case study has been focused to reveal the change brought out by the forest department through livelihood interventions and the motivation towards the participatory process. The four villages have been selected in this study on the basis of pro-long JFM activities and the dependency on the forest resources of the villagers for their livelihoods. Findings show that due to change in the attitudes of people the interest for participation have grown in their mind though they have been the overlapping concepts of JFM with forest protection. The institutional processes have also been expressed by their regularity in meeting with awareness about their role. To make the JFM activities as a collective work they have developed their sense of belongingness and communication skills. From the analysis of the data of interaction It is revealed that the forest officials maintain good relationship with the communities as well as with colleagues up to theDFO level. A number of innovative things also have been incorporated into the watershed managementand forestry operations under JPM activities. Finally, the case has shown that the attitudinal changes and the innovations are the indicators of the sustainable forest management.
Issues of Conservation and Livelihood in a Forest Village of Assam
International Journal of Rural Management, 2014
The creation of the forest villages in the northeast Indian state of Assam, like the rest of India, was a part of the colonial forest management policy. These villages were established within the limits of the reserved forests for assured supply of labour for the colonial forest department. Later on, many recognized forest villages came up with landless peasants migrating to the forest areas in search of land and livelihood. However, their growing population and demand for land coupled with the highhandedness of the forest department gave rise to intense conflict between the two. This conflict has assumed a much more complex character in the recent times giving rise to serious contestations and challenges with regard to people’s rights and conservation approach of the state.