Joint Forest Management Programme Research Articles

Declining Powers of Van Panchayats: A Case For Empowering Community Based Conservations Programs

Van Panchayats embody the struggle for community rights and democratic representation. Established after a prolonged battle against colonial rule, they were initially designed as peoplebased forest management institutions. However, their effectiveness has been undermined by increasing centralization and near-complete subordination to the forest department. This paper examines the transition of Van Panchayats, particularly following the introduction of the Joint Forest Management Program, and compares it with the provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The excessive bureaucratization imposed by successive regulations has rendered Van Panchayats ineffective. It argues that Van Panchayats remain underutilised despite their potential to contribute significantly to conservation and development activities. To realise their potential, a comprehensive policy shift is necessary. This includes restoration of functional autonomy to Van Panchayats, reduced interference of the forest department, and adequate budgetary provisions. The paper advocates for the revival of Van Panchayats as a means to achieve a people based model of forest conservation and sustainable development.

An appraisal of people's participation in the joint forest management programme in the Kashmir Himalayas

People's participation in decision-making processes in the domain of forest management has been acknowledged as an effective mechanism for improving livelihoods and forest conditions. The present study makes an attempt to ascertain the participation levels and identify the factors influencing the people's participation in Joint Forest Management (JFM) programmes in the Kashmir Himalayas. The study is based on primary data, with a sample size of 434 households collected through a two-stage random sampling survey. The Participation Index (PI) was used to measure people's participation across different stages: planning, implementation, and monitoring. The determinants that influence the level of participation are then analyzed through the Binary Logistic Regression Model (BLRM). The findings indicate that the people's participation at the planning stage was 47.93%, at the implementation stage 54.38%, and at the monitoring stage 49.46%, indicating an overall moderate level of participation. The BLRM depicts that among the selected variables, gender, marital status, years of schooling, land holding size, income from forest, distance from the market, training, knowledge, and information have a significantly positive influence, while age, distance from the forest, restrictions on charcoal/timber harvesting, and a lack of incentives were found to have a significant negative influence on the people's participation in the JFM programme. Therefore, policy reforms should be reoriented to improve the organizational structure of forest management groups and implement fair benefit-sharing mechanisms, which are crucial for enhancing the participation of local communities in forest management initiatives.

Negotiating environmentality: implementation of Joint Forest Management in eastern India

ABSTRACT This article helps to reconcile developmental and conservation goals in community forest management. Through a case study design, using the conceptual lenses of governmentality, it unpacks how the regional networks of developmental aspirations in the Hazaribagh region of eastern India shaped people’s perception of their forests and their engagement with India’s Joint Forest Management programme. The outcome of such an engagement was a hybrid community forest management, comprising elements of both the rationalities of the state and the local community. Thus, the article suggests that the recognition of regionally grounded networks of developmental aspirations becomes a key to achieving socio-ecological justice in regionally meaningful ways in many countries of the Global South.

An Analysis of People’s Participation in different Stages of Joint Forest Management Programme in Himachal Pradesh

Joint Forest Management (JFM) is an effective strategy to involve people in the regeneration and management of forests. Forest Rights Act, 2006 provided an excellent framework to manage community forest resources with the help of gram sabha and link it to other developmental schemes. It was observed that forestry programmes failed to draw people participation. The present study was an attempt to investigate the level of people participation in JFM in Himachal Pradesh. There was a moderate level of participation of cent at an overall level. People participation was found to be highest in the maintenance stage (61.53 percent), followed by the planning stage (60.29 percent) and the implementation stage (51.32 percent). A focus on income and work activity with incremental profits is needed to increase people's participation in JFM operations. The involvement of formal and informal organisations can be extended to increase awareness of the importance of such programmes.

Factors Affecting Farmers Decision to Join Joint Forest Management Programme in Jammu Division of Jammu and Kashmir

The present study was conducted in purposively selected “East Forest Circle” of Jammu division of J&K. Multistage sampling plan was followed for the selection of respondents. Six forest ranges from East circle having maximum number of Joint Management Programme (JFM)Cs were selected purposively. Twenty four committees, four from each selected ranges of East circle and eight members from each selected JFMC were selected through random sampling technique. The respondents were divided into two groups 1).Treatment group: Eight members from each selected JFMC were selected randomly for the study making the sample size to 192 respondents. 2). Control group: Two villages from each range (12 villages in total) were selected through random sampling technique. From each selected village nine non- JFMC members were randomly selected. Thus, a total sample of 108 non-JFMC members were selected from these villages. Binary regression model was applied to analyze the factors affecting farmer’s decision to join JFM programme. The result of the study showed that family size, area under trees, extension contact and social participation significantly affecting farmer’s decision to join JFM programme.

Forests of Cooperation and Conflict: A Study on Joint Forest Management in Jungle Mahals, India

Joint Forest Management (JFM) is a programme that aims to manage the forests of India and to socio-economically develop the forest-fringe communities. A study on JFM was conducted in some forest-fringe villages of Jungle Mahals region of West Bengal. The main objective of the study was to see how JFM is functioning at present in those villages. It is revealed that the local forest department encourages the villagers to use, manage, protect and regulate the forest and its products. However, the villagers have some unfulfilled demands with the forest department. Furthermore, they cooperate with each other within the village but also are engaged in conflict with neighbouring villagers on the matter of the protection of forest and to access its resources. The paper suggests that the local forest department should negotiate with the local communities to resolve such conflicts and to make the JFM programme work more efficiently.

Policy Model Reconstruction of Social Forestry

Internationally, there has been a paradigm shift in forest resource management from state-based forest management to community-based forest management. This change has also occurred in Indonesia, namely through the social forestry program as outlined in the the Minister Regulation on Social Forestry and the Minister Regulation on Social Forestry in Perhutani Area. Indeed, these Ministerial Regulations already contain the principles of community-based forest management. However, the implementation still leaves problems. This paper will analyze the procedural weaknesses and inaccuracies in the designation of these Ministerial Regulations. The approach used is the statutory approach and comparison with qualitative analysis. The result shows that it is necessary to change the policy model by changing procedures by re-functioning the role of Forest Management Units as an institution that has the authority to manage forest resources in its area. Besides, the Social Forestry program should only be intended for forest communities who have pioneered forest resource management, whether they have joined the Community Joint Forest Management program or not. However, they must reside around forests managed by Perum Perhutani.

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.

Time Discount Rate of Forest-Dependent Communities: Evidence from Andhra Pradesh, India

Executive Summary This study presents evidence on time discount rate of forest-dependent communities (FDCs) in the backdrop of the joint forest management program launched by the Government of India in 1990. The study uses data from two regions of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh—Rayalaseema (a relatively dry forest region with low income) and the coastal region (relatively fertile forest and with higher income). We also identify socio-economic determinants of their patience levels and factors which distinguish the two regions. To elicit individual discount rates of FDCs members and their determinants, we use the choice task design methodology. Members from both regions were found to be highly impatient using the standard choice task design with the revealed time discount rate averaging 800% per annum. Members of FDCs from Rayalaseema were more impatient than their counterparts from the coastal region, although the statistical evidence is weak. We find no association between the income of members of FDCs and their time discount rate for both regions. Membership to caste categories showed a different response in both the regions, with members from the Scheduled Caste category and Other Backward Classes found to have a lower discount rate than those from the Scheduled Tribes category of Rayalaseema region and vice versa for the coastal region. For the coastal region, those with larger family size and heads of households were found to have a lower discount rate.

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.

The ‘Reality’ of Participation During Community Partnership in Management of Forest Resource: Evidences from Bankura District, Eastern India

The notion of ‘participation’ and its association with the concept of planning and governance has increasingly become important both in rural and urban governance. However the impact of the participation has been different in different settings. The present study is an attempt to examine the participatory processes in planning within an already existing participatory programme in India, namely the Joint Forest Management (JFM) Programme, empowering forest communities within rural forest dwelling units with management functions, through a participative approach. In recent times, within the framework of JFM, Microplan has to be prepared for each village, under the National Afforestation Programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. The study aims to address the nature and extent of participation and the factors which have affected the outcome of participatory processes in a representative case site, within broader context of participatory governance.

Constraints Faced by Villagers in Participation of JFM Programme of Malrajura Village: A Case of Akola Forest Division, Maharashtra

The present study was carried out at Malrajura village of Akola district and exploratory design of social research was used with a view to assess the constraints faced by the respondents for participation in JFM programme. The exploratory design of social research was used. Total Sixty respondents were selected randomly on the basis of land holding i.e. landless, up to 1.00 ha, 1.01 ha to 2.00 ha, 2.01 to 4.00 ha and above 4.00 ha. The data were collected by personal interview schedule, subjected to appropriate statistical analysis. The independent and dependent variables were used to find out the constraints and impact of JFM programme on livelihood of rural people. The statistical techniques namely Arithmetic mean, Standard deviation, and Ztest were used for the study. The findings of the study revealed that majority of respondents faced the problems of less price of NTFP in market. Regarding the finding of constraints analysis it was found that processing units were not available in village, lack of training, lack of knowledge to the respondents. However, the respondents differed significantly with after participation in Joint Forest Management Programme. It could be inferred that the analysis of these constraints emphasize to have concerted efforts to overcome these constraints so as to increase the livelihood of rural people.

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.

People’s participation in joint forest management in higher hills of Himachal Pradesh

Joint Forest Management (JFM) is an effort which involved people to participate for the protection, conservation and rehabilitation of forests whilst safeguarding the rights of forest dwellers. Women and other marginalized sections of the community need to be empowered to ensure their participation in JFM (Aggarwal and Chauhan, 2015). Such programmes while ensuring the conservation of flora and fauna, also provided stability for the agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, and local cottage industries and thus, help in all round economic development (Bhatia, 2000). The present study analysed the people’s participation in different stages of JFM programmes in the higher hills of Himachal Pradesh (Sundernagar and Kullu forest division). The results showed that people of age group 40-60 years participated most in the JFM programme. The participation of the general category people was found highest followed by scheduled caste, other backward class and scheduled tribe. The literacy rate of the respondents was found to be 98.51 percent while the literacy index was found to be 2.51 representing level of education in between middle class and higher secondary. In both the regions participation of people was found maximum during maintenance stage followed by planning stage and implementation stage. The overall participation index was found to be 61.91 per cent. The capacity building through training and awareness can help in safeguarding livelihood and conservation efforts of JFM.

Factors affecting people’s participation in joint forest management programmes in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, India

The present investigation examined the various factors affecting people's participation in the planning, implementation and maintenance of JFM programmes in the tribal distrct (Kinnaur) of Himachal Pradesh. In total, 10 factors were identified that influence people’s participation in Joint Forest Management (JFM) activities in the study area, which were independently affecting in all of three development blocks. District as a whole factors affecting in decreasing order were Lack of awareness about participatory forest management (66%), lack of co-ordination with forestry officials (64%), non availability of routine funds (56%), lack of training and visit programme (56%), clash between agriculture and JFM activities (54%), lack of emphasis on quick economic activities (49%), improper usufruct sharing (43%) etc. were some of major factors that influenced people’s participation. Policy and development emphasis on these factors, particularly taking into consideration the geography and need based activity in the various development blocks will increase the people’s participation in similar kind of projects.

A Critical Analysis of Forest Management Behaviour of Village Forest Committee (VFC) Members of Karnataka State

The key element of Joint Forest Planning and Management (JFPM) programme is the participation of Village Forest Committee (VFC) members and forest department in all forest development activities. Further, VFC takes the responsibility of protecting, conserving, development and management of the forest initially for 3 years from the establishment of plantation. The present study was conducted in three divisions such as Koppa, Karwar and Kodagu during the year 2014–2015 to analyse the forest management behaviour of VFC members. A total of 180 VFC members both male and female were interviewed using a pretested schedule. It was found that 35.0 per cent of the respondents were in middle age group. It was found that 53.0 per cent of VFC members had average level of management behaviour. There was a significant variation in the overall management behaviour status of VFC members in different forest area divisions in Karnataka state and the variables such as experiences in JFPM programme (r = 0.289), landholding (r = 0.274), mass media use (r = 0.213) and decision making ability (r = 0.274) had a positive and significant relationship with management behaviour at 1 per cent level. The results concluded that independent variables like family size, family dependency ratio, experience in JFPM programme, training need, farming experiences, family encouragement, landholding, participation in JFPM activities, extension contact, social participation, family income, material possession, mass media use, risk orientation, economic motivation and decision making ability had significant contribution to the management behaviour status of VFC members in Karnataka state. The R2 value pointed out that all the 22 independent variables had contributed to the tune of 81.43 per cent of variation in management behaviour status.

Decentralization, market integration and efficiency-equity trade-offs: Evidence from Joint Forest Management in Ethiopian villages

Abstract Extant literature on Joint Forest Management (JFM) impact evaluation has concluded that it generally does not provide sufficient incentives to justify the costs that forest use restrictions impose on local people. However, there is a dearth of evidence concerning whether alternative JFM intervention with improved market linkages for non-timber forest products has similar implications. In this study, we evaluated the income and distributive effects of a JFM program in Ethiopia in which additional support was provided for improved market linkages for non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Exploiting exogenous variation in customary rights across eligible groups of communities that participate in JFM programs, as well as using heteroskedasticity-based instrumentations, we identified the income and distributive effects of the program. Our analysis shows that the program has raised the income of the households who chose to participate by approximately 400 Ethiopian Birr or 26% of per capita expenditure; that result was robust to various specifications. We also found that this effect is largely driven by marketing incentives to use non-timber forest products. However, we found that the program's benefit is biased toward the upper end of the income distribution, a result that points to the inequality-reinforcing effects of the program.

Unheard Voices of Van Gujjar Women': A Thematic Analysis of Coping Patterns by Women in the Context of Sedentarization among Himalayan Pastoralists

The Van Gujjars families migrating to the Alpine pastures today face the same fate of being the ‘victims of conservation'. It started in the forest of foothills at the beginning of the 1990s with Rajaji National Park, but during the last decade most of the summer pastureland in the upper ranges has also been converted into national parks, global heritage sites or sanctuaries. Apart from National parks, Van Gujjars elsewhere had the right to graze their animals in parts of the forest against a fixed grazing fee. But now some forests are being closed by the implementation of Joint Forest Management Programmes. This Paper is based on a mixed research in which the quantitative aspect aimed at identifying the factors and levels of women empowerment before and after sedentarization through a Women empowerment Index. Qualitative research aimed to explore perspectives of young women from Gujjar community in terms of patterns of coping in their sedentarized life. Narratives of women presented a sense of collectivism and identification with issues and concerns of other Gujjars in terms of an identity of victimhood and a sense of being marginalized and socially excluded. Following patterns of coping emerged from narratives: Use of existing resources, Women as Livestock owners and managers, Women as Leaders in Migration, Work Participation and status of women, Women as Builders of Asset base, Gujjar women- the Natural resource managers, Coping through normalizing and acceptance, Coping in social matters and Assurance for moneylenders.

Site Suitability Analysis for JFM Plantation Sites using Geo-Spatial Techniques

The Joint Forest Management (JFM) programme is an institutional innovation that has much potential in any country confronting the disempowerment of indigenous communities and environmental degradation. The implementation of JFM in different states of India initiated in the year 1992. This plantation strategy succeeded as well as failed depending on the existing conditions of that area. Out of the several factors contributing to the failure the most significant was the site selection. This factor can be rectified using the advanced Remote Sensing-Geographical Information System (RS-GIS) approach. The present study was undertaken for identifying suitable areas for JFM plantation in the Nandod taluka of Narmada district. The weighted overlay analysis of different themes like landuse, slope, settlement/etc. in GIS mode has aided in giving the precise number of villages in this taluka which are found highly, moderately and least suitable for implementation of JFM strategy, thereby providing a useful input to the forest planners.

Impact analysis of joint forest management programme on rural household income in Uttarakhand

Joint Forest Management (JFM) is operating with main objective of forest management and empowerment of local livelihoods. The present study was carried out in Nainital district of Uttarakhand. An investigation run for two years and beneficiaries were categorized into two income groups (low and high). The annual family income was estimated for both the periods. The share of each source of income in annual family income was computed and compared. The JFM comprised second largest source of income with 25.48 percent share in annual family income after implementation of JFM programme and hence, it needs to be strengthened.