Deploying Modern ICT Tools to Develop Gramsabha Level Plans for Conserving and Managing Community Forest Resources

Abstract

Forest Rights Act 2006 (FRA) gives forest communities rights over collection, storage, processing and sale of non-timber forest produce (NTFP) from their Community Forest Resource (CFR) areas and responsibility of protection, conservation and management of the resources. The Act mandates the gramsabhas to prepare Conservation and Management plans to fulfill these obligations. We present a template of such a plan along with a methodology to prepare it employing user-friendly free and open-source ICT tools which can be used by the tribal youth. The Gramsabha level plans (GSCMP) differ significantly from the Forest Department Working Plans (FDWP) in several ways: (a) FDWP is concerned mainly with timber extraction and plantation, whereas GSCMP emphasize sustainable collection, processing and sale of NTFP and conservation of biodiversity and (b) FDWP is based on outdated methodology, whereas the proposed GSCMP employs the modern landscape perspective and plotless sampling methods. This methodology is already being used in 17 gramsabhas of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.