Presence and effectiveness of material benefit provisions under Joint Forest Management in India: the cases of World Bank-aided Village Forest Committees in Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

Provision of material benefits by external agencies has been widely adopted in developing countries' forest management, although their effectiveness in improving local livelihoods and conservation has been controversial. We provide empirical evidence of the presence and effectiveness of material benefit provisions under Joint Forest Management in a forest division of Madhya Pradesh State, India. We conducted an extensive survey of 18 World Bank-aided Village Forest Committees and case studies of two committees, one tribal and one non-tribal. Material benefit provisions by the forest department were the most predominant type of economic activity. Provisions were dispensed in a top-down manner lacking communication and facilitation, and consequently were not sufficiently effective in improving local livelihoods and conservation, especially in tribal communities. The policy implications we derived are the following: the provision of material benefits should be properly explained to beneficiaries for them to be effective as conservation incentives, technical assistance for the maintenance of the dispensed materials should be provided by village development specialists, and collective forest-based activities should be gradually promoted so that beneficiaries gain a sense of ownership for forest resources and programs. These improvements should be implemented with particular attention to disadvantaged or marginalized populations.