Joint Forest Management Committees Research Articles

Institutions of Community Participation including Joint Forest management Committees (JFMCs) and eco-Development Committees (EDCs), linkages with Panchayati Raj Institutions, review of their working in various regions of the country and identification of

Institutions of Community Participation including Joint Forest management Committees (JFMCs) and eco-Development Committees (EDCs), linkages with Panchayati Raj Institutions, review of their working in various regions of the country and identification of

Effects of joint forest management on forest conditions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

This study measured the effects of joint forest management (JFM) on forest conditions in purposively selected three forest divisions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The technique of experimental (JFM) versus control (non-JFM) group was applied. Assessment was made between JFM forest and nearby similar non-JFM forest located in the same forest-ecological and socio-economic settings. A total of 393 sample plots (234 from JFM forests while 159 from non-JFM forests) were assessed. Results of independent sample t-test revealed significant difference between JFM and non-JFM forests. Average tree density of JFM forests was 276 trees/ha while for non-JFM forests it was 247 trees/ha. Similarly average seedlings density/ha in JFM forests was 3114 as compared to 1987 in non-JFM forests. Data analysis explored that human disturbances were more in non-JFM forests as compared to JFM forests where joint forest management committees played active role in their protection. In JFM forests, forest protection and improvement activities were observed more times as compared to non-JFM forests. So, this can be concluded that JFM has remarkable contribution in protection and improvement of forests in study areas. It is recommended that network of JFMCs should be extended to non-JFM forests for protecting them from further degradation.

Why Do Households Depend on the Forest for Income? Analysis of Factors Influencing Households’ Decision-Making Behaviors

Using survey information of 150 randomly selected households across 21 villages of the forest-rich district of Swat, Pakistan, this study assessed households’ decision-making behaviors in depending on income from nearby forested land using socio-economic attributes. The evidence from the study may aid in making the existing policies be better targeted toward families that depend on the forest for income. Descriptive statistics and econometric techniques such as logit and tobit were used to analyze the data. Respondent households obtained the highest share of their income from off-farm activities (37%) and least from forest activities (16%). Fuelwood constitutes the biggest share (66%) of forest income, followed by medical plants (20%) and fodder (13%). We found that households with more physical assets, more family members working in off-farm jobs, and households earning more income from off-farm jobs were significantly and negatively associated with households’ decision to depend on forest income and total income obtained. We also found that households with less distance to the market and membership to joint forest management committees (JFMCs) were significantly and negatively associated with households’ total income obtained. However, household size was significantly and positively related to households’ decision of forest dependency. The study recommends the creation of off-farm opportunities and inclusion of local people in the management of forests through establishment of JFMCs, particularly for large and poor families.

Constraints Analysis of Joint Forest Management Programme in Jammu Division of Jammu and Kashmir

The study was conducted in purposively selected “East Forest Circle” of Jammu division of J&K. Multistage sampling was followed for the selection of respondents from six forest ranges from East circle, having maximum number of Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) purposively. Twenty four committees, four from each selected ranges of and eight members from each selected JFMC were selected through random sampling technique making the sample size of 192 respondents. Total 192 JFMC members were interviewed to find out the constraints faced in Joint Forest Management Programme. Henry Garrett’s ranking technique was used to analyse the constraints. The result showed that respondents ranked Lack of funds, Delay in planting time, lack of training programme as major constraints in respective order.

Community Involvement in Forest Management: A Social Analysis of Joint Forest Management in Maharashtra, India

ABSTRACT With the formulation of Joint Forest Management Programme in India, the involvement of communities in forest management has been recognised as a sustainable way of forest resource management. Nevertheless, research conducted on the experiences of Joint Forest Management reveals that there are lots of inherent factors that determine the success or failure of such forestry programmes. The present article is the outcome of a research project conducted in the Thane and Raigad districts of Maharashtra state among some Joint Forest Management Committees. Using primary and secondary sources of information, the study investigates the characteristics of the resources, the characteristic of community, the characteristics of rules, the context of the socio-economic environment and the extent of participation of JFMC members in forest management activities and hereby tries to find out the reasons for success and failure of forest management programmes.

Forest conversion by the indigenous Kalasha of Pakistan: A household level analysis of socioeconomic drivers

Indigenous groups in many parts of the world are often forest dependent societies, and thereby may also play a disproportionate role in protecting and managing threatened forest resources. Taking the Kalasha indigenous group of Pakistan as a test case, this study contributes a socio-economic analysis at the household level aimed at understanding factors that influence forest clearing decisions. The findings of the study may help to develop general policies that facilitate sustainable resource for indigenous and other marginalized forest-dependent communities. The analysis was based on a contrast of 74 households at the forest margin that cleared nearby forested land versus 49 households that did not clear. Survey results indicated that the prime motivation for conversion of forests was expansion for cropland (77%), livestock grazing (18%), and orchards (5%). We found that families with more members and fewer physical assets were more likely to clear forested land for agricultural expansion. Families with more members employed off-farm, and members of Joint Forest Management Committees were less likely to be involved in forest clearing. For poor households, fuel wood constituted the largest part of their total income and for households with off-farm income the smallest. Social factors, such as education, ethnicity, and forest ownership were not significantly associated with clearing of forests. We conclude that programs focusing on off-farm income generation opportunities targeted towards the poorest households would be the most effective policy intervention for lowering deforestation and forest conversion.

Identifying local actors of deforestation and forest degradation in the Kalasha valleys of Pakistan

Prevention of forest loss is a high priority in Pakistan, where catastrophic flooding in 1992 and 2010 has been linked to deforestation. Under the United Nation's REDD+ program, new incentive schemes are developed to encourage forest protection and reforestation, while implementing social safeguards for forest-dependent indigenous groups. The objective of this study is to support Pakistan's REDD+ readiness activities that affect the Kalasha, a unique indigenous people that are nominated for enhanced protection of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. We aim to identify actors and power structures that have caused deforestation in the past, and recommend policy improvements that protect forests as well as the Kalasha's culture and traditional livelihoods. A remote-sensing based historical analysis showed that government actors have significant power to influence land use practices in the region, although their policy instruments may not have had the intended effects. A logging ban in 1993 could not stop forest loss and instead caused a shift to illegal selective cutting of the same magnitude. Near human habitation, forest loss actually increased after the ban. In household surveys, self-reported clearing of forests conformed to remote sensing data, and fuel wood use was identified as the primary pressure on forest resources. Results from expert interviews, however, revealed contradictory perceptions regarding the actors responsible for forest loss. Both local residents and government officials hold the other side as primarily responsible, while rationalizing their own contribution. We recommend policy changes towards more balanced power structure in joint forest management committees. In addition, alternative heating methods would remove the currently largest pressure on forest extraction for fuelwood. Since fuelwood production for regional consumption constitutes one of the largest sources of income for the poorest households, REDD-based compensation schemes would have to support the most affected households of the indigenous Kalasha.

Factors affecting women participation in joint forest management committees in Punjab

The present study was conducted in different joint forest management committees (JFMCs) of five forest development agencies (FDAs) in Punjab to assess the effect of demographic factors viz age, caste, qualification, landholding and occupation on women participation at different stages of the project. Maximum participation of women was observed in middle age group in all stages of programme viz planning (5.61%), implementation (27.33%) and maintenance (22.61%) followed by young and minimum in old age group women. Women of schedule caste category participated more at all stages of programme viz planning (7.52%), implementation (34.44%) and maintenance (29.28%). Participation of educated women was observed more at planning stage and of illiterate women at implementation and maintenance stages since latter were mostly engaged in labour-oriented work. The landholding of the participants played an important role in participation. Landless women participated more at all stages of programme followed by women with low landholdings. On the basis of occupation women from labour class participated more at all the three stages of the programme. The implementing agency should generate more awareness through meetings, consultations, group discussions etc so that women could participate at planning stage more effectively. Some incentives to the participants must be provided while attending the meetings and few income generating activities should be initiated among the women groups.

Joint forest management in India – an assessment

SUMMARY Joint forest management (JFM) in India has been instrumental in changing the socioeconomic lives of forest dependent communities (FDCs) from being forest-centered to one based on the money economy. JFM has resulted in the elite capture of forest resources, and enabled regeneration of degraded forests though the evidence on the quality of regeneration is mixed. The government records suggest that with the drying up of donor funds for the JFM program. FDCs are losing interest and many JFM committees are now defunct in many states. Finally, JFM related work compels forest officials to spend more resources on a disproportionately small swathe of forest land which may have implications for biodiversity conservation in the long run. The study advocates privatization of forests as a possible alternative option to address these concerns, and enable the transition of our traditional linear economy towards a circular economy.

Perceptive insight into incentive design and sustainability of participatory mangrove management: a case study from the Indian Sundarbans

Incentive design is among the decisive factors behind active community participation and long-term sustainability of participatory forest management. Especially in case of mangroves, where multiple interests apply, it requires a careful integration of several ecological, economic and institutional factors. The primary objective of this paper is to understand the basis of incentive design and make a comprehensive inquiry into the existing incentive mechanism of participatory mangrove management in Indian Sundarbans. The qualitative and in-depth assessment was derived against a conceptual framework that contains three main determinants: (1) resources availability, (2) control mechanism, and (3) perception of end-users. The study deploys the results of various participatory exercises such as structured interviews with forest officials, focus group discussions with 10 Joint Forest Management Committees and semi-structured interviews with 119 mangrove users. In general, we observed an over-cautious, hierarchical and safety-margin-based incentive design with distinct bifurcation of communities over the adequacy and effectiveness of derived benefits. Although, the incentives are diverse and align well with the overall conservation of mangroves, they are considered to be insufficient by nearly half of the mangrove users. The main issues that were observed to hinder effective community participation can be summarized as (1) serious restrictions on access to economically exploitable mangrove products, (2) passive involvement of vulnerable occupational groups, and (3) lack of trust and conflicting interests between the officials and the communities. Although the existing preventive management of mangroves can be justified considering the magnanimity of the Indian Sundarbans, it can severely impair community participation and emerge as a clear threat to future sustainability. To secure greater participation of the communities, we propose small scale, innovative developmental incentives to supplement traditional forest-resource-based incentives.

Helping to self-help? External interventions to stimulate local collective action in Joint Forest Management, Maharashtra, India

The governance of community forests requires that resource appropriators overcome collective action dilemmas. Often, forest communities appear unable to do this. External actors then present themselves to help. Inducing the organization of communities through external actors is common practice in development efforts in general, and in community forestry programs, in particular. Does external-agent involvement affect the likelihood of durable collective action at the local level? We apply criteria associated with durable collective action to six communities in Maharashtra, India, with varying levels of external-actor involvement in the organization of Joint Forest Management committees. Our results show that although there is a (weak) correlation between external-agent involvement and expected durability of local collective action, such interventions do not appear to straightforwardly lead to the emergence of durable forms of collective action in communities where it didn't previously exist.

Biodiversity Conservation through Participatory Monitoring: A Case Study from People’s Protected Area Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh

Biodiversity plays a significant role in maintaining the life support system of the people and provide them with livelihood opportunities. Forests are the repository of biodiversity. Often such biodiversity resources face the threats of degradation and extinction due to over exploitation and lack of monitoring mechanism. People living in the forest fringe areas can play important role in conservation of biodiversity provided they are properly oriented, their capacity is built and they are empowered to check the drivers of degradation. The present paper focuses on how the floral biodiversity resources of Dugli Jabarra and Sankra Chandanbehera PPAs under Dhamtari Forest Division in Chattisgarh are conserved through active participation of the Joint Forest Management Committee members. Forest fringe dwellers are organized in the form of Joint Forest Management Committees to protect and conserve the biodiversity, sensitized to adopt non destructive harvesting practices of biodiversity, their capacity is built for resource survey to measure the status of biodiversity at a regular interval and take corrective action to reverse the process of degradation. Such empowerment of people has brought positive changes in the status of biodiversity and the substantial increase in the income of the people through biodiversity based livelihood.

The Structure, Functioning and Organisational Interaction of Community Based Forest Management System: Empirical Evidence from Goalpara District of Assam

India has been following the Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) system since 1990 in the form of Joint Forest Management (JFM). The data of Forest Survey of India shows that the regions where the JFM system is implemented has not improved the forest cover whereas there is improvement in forest cover in the regions where no JFM committee exists. This means that there is a failure of the CBFM system in the state. The failure of the Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) is linked to the organizational structure and functioning of these JFMCs. This study points to the array of conflicts between the actors involved in forest conservation activities viz., the JFMCs and Traditional Forest Protection Committees, the Nominees of Forest Department and Local JFMC functionaries, and JFMCs and the Forest Dependent Households. These conflicts explain the reasons for lack of cooperation between the actors and emphasize the need to provide the forest dependent people not a nominal participant role but a more substantive role in defining the purpose and the process of forest conservation.

Joint forest management in India: Experiences of two decades

Joint Forest Management (JFM), embracing the philosophy of forest conservation and livelihood improvement through cooperation between state and civil society, has emerged over the past decades both as a specific paradigm of forest governance in India and as India's largest community forestry program. The JFM program, evolved during early 1970s covering a few forest villages as a model for reversing the trend of degraded forest ecosystem through the active protection by local villagers. The JFM program is implemented currently by 106,482 Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMC) and it covers 22 million ha of forests spread across 28 constituent states of India and union territories. JFM emerged against a backdrop of two centuries of centralised bureaucratic control over forest management in India. Centralized control during the 19th and 20th centuries failed either to conserve resources or to contribute substantially to the well-being of local populations. However, inconsistent persuasions from decentralization policies in India under present forest policy (1988) have prompted people to analyse the theoretical basis for accepting that decentralization would bring improvements in forest ecosystem management. Still others have contested the de facto rationale for decentralization (i.e., improved forest management) and have suggested that decentralization may be a manipulation by elites to serve their own interests or to shift power, for example from national to international agencies that have funded decentralization. Thirty years from its inception, there are now concerns for the recent effectiveness of JFM (over the past 20 years) because it is a group action that is getting old and is perhaps losing some of its pioneering drive and innovativeness. Although JFM has been administered nationally, decisions on implementation detail have been left to the individual states, resulting in different strategies. The long history of JFM has also provided scope for experiences with it to change over time as well as between places. Given the range of experiences with and perceptions of JFM, as well as the importance of the objectives JFM ostensibly serves, the time is ripe therefore for a retrospective evaluation to take stock of its actual achievements, its status and ways forward. The current paper seeks to provide such a review and analysis. The paper highlights design and implementation issues related to government resolutions, benefits-sharing and forest offences. It also assesses the critical design factors and key drivers responsible for institutional reforms. The paper evaluates impacts of protection on forest productivity and on the livelihoods of local communities. It highlights that the JFM program, by virtue of the diversity of its implementation, provides an ideal laboratory for exploring why similar reforms can lead to different outcomes. The paper argued that though there are supporting government policy and guideline and massive fund support, why there has been a low down of enthusiasm for JFM in the last two decades. From experiences, it suggests strategies for its revival and JFM can further contribute effective toward forest conservation and enhanced livelihood opportunities in the future.

The Role of Joint Forest Management in Enhancing the Productive Capacity of Household: A Case Study on Tripura State, India

In India, Joint Forest Management (JFM) is one of the recognized organizational systems to regenerate forest resources, meeting local needs of people and sharing expected benefits. This study examines the factors that affect success of JFM program by testing the hypothesis that JFM committees' activities play a major role in poverty alleviation in North and South Districts of Tripura. The study hypothesis has been analyzed through Multiple Regression based on information obtained from primary survey of 200 households. In South District, expenditure pattern indicates that non-JFM households' expenditure is high on nonproductive activities whereas that of JFM households' is more on productive activities. Income and asset possession of JFM households is high as compared to non-JFM households. In North District, income of non-JFM households is higher than JFM households, but their expenditure is very high on both productive and non-productive activities in comparison to JFM households' expenditure. These expenditure patterns indicate some finer points about their socio-economic condition which are later discussed in the paper. In short, South District JFM households contribute significantly to their socio-economic conditions compared to North District JFM households. North District JFM households' contribution to their socioeconomic condition is less, because of lack of awareness arising from limited interactions of households with the Forest Department officials. The overall study concludes that the effective functioning of JFM committees is critical towards reducing poverty in the region, as evident from the comparative study of South and North Districts.

Role of Community Institutions in Joint Forest Management

Forest is one of the most important resources for the very survival of human beings, especially those who are living in and around the forest. However, one of the major reasons for its depletion is unsustainable exploitation often by the same very people whose survival depends on the forests. Several attempts have been made in different countries to save this invaluable resource. Joint Forest Management (JFM) in India is one of such attempts which is characterised by active participation of the community institutions together with the Department of Forests. In this paper an attempt is made to discover the underlying institutional factors that enable or inhibit functioning of the Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) and their effectiveness. Primary data were collected from 200 members of 63 JFMCs from four territorial forest divisions of Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal. Apart from JFMC members, 19 forest department officials and staff were also interviewed to know about the performance of the JFMCs. Collected data were coded, assigned scores and analysis was done with the help of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS10.0) for windows. Results suggest that locally evolved institutional arrangements are major factors that contribute to JFMC functioning which is represented by gradations. Moreover, among various parameters of institutions, control mechanism plays the most significant role in influencing the functioning of JFMCs. Therefore, to assess the performance of JFMCs in a shortest possible time, review of control mechanism only will represent a fairly accurate picture.