A "Common Important Forest" in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
is a forest governed by local communities in a way compatible with
sustainable development
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
. Such forests are typically called village forests or panchayat forests, reflecting the fact that the administration and resource use of the forest occurs at the village and
panchayat
The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical ment ...
(an elected rural body) levels. Hamlets, villages and communities of villages may actually administer such a forest. Such community forests are usually administered by a locally elected body, usually called the ''Forest Protection Committee'', ''Village Forest Committee'' or the ''Village Forest Institution''. Such committees are known as ''Van Panchayat''s in the
Kumaon Division
Kumaon (; Kumaoni: ''Kumāū''; ; historically romanized as KemāonJames Prinsep (Editor)John McClelland ) is a revenue and administrative division in the Indian State of Uttarakhand. It spans over the eastern half of the state and is bounded ...
of
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
, ''Forest Co-operative Societies'' in
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
and ''Van Samrakshan Samiti''s in
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
. Legislation pertaining to communal forests vary from state to state, but typically the state government retains some administrative control over matters like staff appointment, and penalization of offenders. Such forests typically conform to the
IUCN Category VI Protected Areas, but protection may be enforced by the local communities or the government depending on local legislation.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
is the state with the most forest land while
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
has the least.
History of communal forests
Many village communities in India have traditionally used forests on a sustainable basis. However, the
British Rule in India
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
introduced several legislations in the 19th century curtailing the rights of local people from using forest resources. These included the
Forest Act, 1865 and
Forest Policy, 1894
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
. While some of the legislation was enacted in a bid to enact restrictions on forest usage for the purpose of sustenance, it was also motivated partly because such legislation provided a legal basis for the British Raj to acquire valuable forest resources like
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
for crucial initiatives like the
Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...
. The British completely changed the way Indian forests were before.
Such abrupt curtailment of rights caused protests in forest-dwelling communities in India, especially in the heavily forested
Kumaon Kumaon or Kumaun may refer to:
* Kumaon division, a region in Uttarakhand, India
* Kumaon Kingdom, a former country in Uttarakhand, India
* Kumaon, Iran, a village in Isfahan Province, Iran
* , a ship of the Royal Indian Navy during WWII
See also
...
region, and in what is present day
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
. The issues of such communities were addressed in the
Indian Forest Act, 1927
The Indian Forest Act, 1927 was largely based on previous Indian Forest Acts implemented under the British. The most famous one was the Indian Forest Act of 1878. Both the 1878 act and the 1927 act sought to consolidate and reserve the area ...
, which initiated the development of ''village forests'' for sustainable use by villagers dwelling in or on the fringes of the forest. The ''Van Panchayat Act'' of 1931 further expanded the idea of local administration and management of forests, even though the first Van Panchayats were formed as early as 1921.
Following the
independence of India
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
in 1947, the
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
instituted the
National Forest Policy, 1952 which classified forested areas into:
''Protected forests areas'', ''National forests'', ''Village forests'' and ''Tree lands'' ''Common Trees Between living places of People''. Laws regarding village forests were based on the state legislature. Numerous state laws and acts regarding communal forests were enacted before 1990, including the ''UP Van Panchayat Rules'' in 1976, and the ''Orissa Village Forest Rules'' in 1985.
However, such communal forest development and management came to the forefront only after the
National Forest Policy, 1988
The National Forest Policy, 1988 is an Act of the Parliament of India to revise the previously enacted National Forest Policy of 1952. The 1988 National Forest Policy strongly suggested the idea of empowering and involving local communities in ...
. The National Forest Policy strongly suggested the idea of empowering and involving local communities in the protection and development of forests. A direct outcome of the National Forest Policy, 1988 was the
Joint Forest Management Program
Joint Forest Management often abbreviated as JFM is the official and popular term in India for partnerships in forest movement involving both the state forest departments and local communities. The policies and objectives of Joint Forest Movement ...
(JFM or JFMP) instituted in 1990 by the Government of India. It was started on a pilot project basis in
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
as early as 1971, and again in the late 1980s with considerable success.
The JFPM calls for the existence of an elected ''village level organisation'' (VLO) which would actively administer and maintain the communal forest. Such an organization is sometimes an existing elected body, like the ''gram sabha'', or ''gram panchayat''. However, a new body is usually elected for administrative purposes, usually referred to as the ''Forest Protection Committee'' (FPC), but known as the ''Van Panchayat'' in the Kumaon region.
As of September, 2003 all 28 state governments had initiated the JFPM, and many had passed appropriate legislation as well. According to the 2002-03 Annual Report of the
Ministry of Environment and Forests
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is an Indian government ministry. This ministry is headed by Secretary Rank senior most IAS officer. The ministry portfolio is currently held by Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of ...
, there were 84,000 JFM committees which controlled 170,000 square kilometres of forest in India.
The introduction of the protected area category ''community reserves'' under the
Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002
Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted fo ...
has introduced legislation for providing government protection to community held lands. While this does not pertain to communal forest sites, communally owned forests may be candidates for protection under such legislation. (See
Conservation reserves and community reserves of India
Conservation reserves and community reserves in India are terms denoting protected areas of India which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved an ...
)
Types of communal forests
Typically, communal forests are formed in two ways:
* Joint forest management program: Designation of marked areas in
reserved forests and protected forests of India
A reserved forest (also called a reserve forest) and protected forest in India are forests accorded a certain degree of protection. The concept was introduced in the Indian Forest Act of 1927 during the British Raj to refer to forests granted prot ...
as a communal forest for villages inside the reserved or protected forest or in the fringe areas. More infrequently, an existing forest may be directly designated as a communal forest.
* Social forestry program: Afforestation schemes in disused farm lands, degraded forests or other
wasteland
Wasteland or waste land may refer to:
* Desert or barren area
* an uncultivated area of land, whether wooded or not, whether common land or not
Art, entertainment, and media Comics
* ''Wasteland'' (DC Comics), 1987–1989 anthology-style horror ...
. Such community afforestation schemes are referred to as ''social forestry'' in India. See
Social forestry in India
Social forestry is the management and protection of forests and afforestation of barren and deforested lands with the purpose of helping environmental, social and rural development. The term social forestry was first used in 1976 by The National ...
for details.
Other forms of communally managed forests exist in India, but do not enjoy any form of legal protection if the Government of India is not a collaborator. The two major forms of such communal forests are:
* Community forest management programs: These are typically collaborations between local villagers and
non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
s for the purposes of according protection to a tract of forest. The responsibility of the participants are increased without legislation protecting such areas. However, as the government is not involved in such work directly, a much larger share of the proceeds from the forest resources go to the villagers. Recently, the Government of India has also acknowledged and legally protected several such communal forests. In such collaborations, the Government retains a far smaller and less powerful role with respect to the role in the ''Joint Forest Management Program''. The new
Rajaji National Park
Rajaji National Park is an Indian national park and tiger reserve that encompasses the Shivaliks, near the foothills of the Himalayas. It is spread over 820 km2 and includes three districts of Uttarakhand: Haridwar, Dehradun and Pauri G ...
is being built on such a model.
* Indigenous forest management programs: These are indigenous initiatives taken by local villagers alone to save forested lands. Typically, these lands are protected on a religious basis. Responsibility for the protection is often shared by the community in turns The most famous communal forests of this type are the "sacred groves" of India, which are protected for local deities and contain great biodiversity and many rare flora in small forested regions. See
sacred groves of India
Sacred groves of India are forest fragments of varying sizes, which are communally protected, and which usually have a significant religious connotation for the protecting community. Hunting and logging are usually strictly prohibited within th ...
for details. it should be searched.
Community forests in North East India
In North East India community forest management is most prevalent, where people are managing their forest resources since time immemorial. Mostly these communities manage these forests for variety of reasons, including resource enhancement and/or maintenance, countering ecological threat, expressing religious sentiments, cultural concerns and/or continuing traditional systems, political expression and managing biodiversity concerns.
External funding
Funding for such communal forest management and staff training usually comes from the ''Government of India'', but often comes from external non-governmental agencies. Notably, the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
has put forward several large loans for the purposes of accomplishing such projects, including a statewide co-operative drive in
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
in 2002. This project was, however, criticized for lacking transparency and focus.
[K. Venkateshwarlu ]
Study terms World Bank-funded forest programme a failure
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
, May 14, 2006
See also
*
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education
The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) is an autonomous organisation or governmental agency under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Headquartered in Dehradun, its functions are to conduct fore ...
*
Van Vigyan Kendra (VVK) Forest Science Centres
References
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