Sustaining the incomes of forest communities whilst conserving biodiversity is a challenge all over the world. Many poor people see conservation as a threat to their lifestyles and sources of income. A new approach to forest management in India is successfully changing this attitude.

The local government owns the Dugli-Jawarra forest area in Chhattisgarh state, but villagers living nearby are entitled to collect non-timber forest products (NTFPs). For many years, a lack of clear ownership rights meant villagers had no incentive to manage the forest resources, and illegal harvesting was widespread. The forest was becoming severely degraded through the over cutting of trees for timber and the collection of other forest products.

In the late 1980s, Indian forestry policy changed to tackle this degradation. State governments were told to encourage local people to participate in forest conservation. In the mid-1990s, eleven Joint Forest Management (JFM) committees were established in Dugli-Jawarra, leading to the creation of a People’s Protected Area (PPA) in the forest. These JFM committees now make decisions about the PPA.

The people involved with the management of Dugli-Jawarra forest come from several different social groups; forest-dependent communities and villages, state forest department, timber and NFTP traders, pharmaceutical industries and other local communities. Each of these stakeholders has different objectives, motivations and strategies to increase self benefits from the forest. However, the groups appear to work together effectively. The state forest department and forest-dependent people now share forest management responsibilities, development of village resources and financial benefits accrue from the forest.

Forest management activities include control of forest fires, controlling soil erosion, silviculture (the science of growing forest trees), identification, ex-situ and in-situ conservation of medicinal plants, and the sustainable harvesting of NTFPs. Each family belonging to the committee receives an allowance of forest products. The research shows:

• Villagers have learnt new management skills, such as participatory forest protection, silviculture, how to sustainably harvest forest products, and primary processing of NTFPs.
• The improved infrastructure in the PPA helps villagers to trade their products.
• Improved skills and market access allows villagers to sell directly to consumers, rather than through a ‘middleman’, meaning they get better prices for their products.
• Villagers are now more likely to make decisions as a group, rather than acting for individual gains. 
• The JFM system has empowered villagers to discuss needs and aspirations with forest officials. 

The new forest policies have rehabilitated the Dugli-Jawarra forests. The policies have encouraged a shift in the approach, from forest management for timber production to a multiple use framework focusing on NTFPs and poverty alleviation of forest dependent communities. However, further challenges remain:

• Villagers are concerned that they still do not have any recognised forest ownership rights, only a role in management.
• Inequality within forest communities remains. The PPA needs to ensure equal opportunities for all communities and villagers to participate in forests management.
• Despite the good relations between the forest department and village committees, the forest department still has the right to dissolve local committees at any time. This maintains an imbalance of power.
• The relationship between forest communities and the forest department does not remain constant; it changes with every decision. The government will need to review policies regularly to keep these two groups working effectively together.

Source(s):
‘Beyond Joint Forest Management: Dugli-Jawarra People’s Protected Area’ in ‘In Search of Excellence: exemplary forest management in Asia and the Pacific’, FAO and Community Forestry Training Centre: Bangkok, pp. 155 - 166 by Biswa Ranjan Phukan, 2005 Full document.

Funded by: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

id21 Research Highlight: 28 July 2005

Further Information:
Biswa Ranjan Phukan
Indian Institute of Forest Management
Po Box 357
Nehru Nagar
Bhopal 462003
MP, India

Tel: +91 (0) 755 2775716
Fax: +91 (0) 755 2772878
Contact the contributor: phukan@iifm.ac.in

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization

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'Making the most of forest products'

'Joint forest management in India: a sapling with feeble roots?'