Abstract
The idea of participatory forest management was accepted as an integral component of India’s forest policy in 1988 and implemented through the Joint Forest Management (JFM) programme, which now covers lakhs of villages across all major states. Perceptions about this programme, however, differ widely. Some assessments term it as largely successful with some room for improvement, while others are highly critical of the programme. This chapter presents a meta-analysis of JFM success. It first examines the normative lens through which JFM success might be defined, and seeks to identify a minimum common expectation regarding what JFM is about. It then reviews key studies of JFM that come from divergent perspectives, and shows that, once the differences in norms are sorted out, the JFM programme has by and large failed to meet the basic criteria of a joint planning and management exercise. The chapter ends by providing an institutional analysis of why JFM has failed, and a political economic analysis of why the programme is still be supported by the forestry establishment.
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