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conservation of forest resources. From 1990, the Government of
India adopted the principles of ‘care and share’ highlighting the
need for the partnership of village communities in protecting and
developing degraded forests through the institution of Joint Forest
Management Committees (JFMC). The village communities benefit
from the increased grass fuelwood and timber produced as well
as wage labour and watershed development. JFMC has now been
recognized as a body of Gram Sabha – a village level institution.
This participatory model in forest management now covers more
than 20 million ha in over 100,000 communities and has succeeded
in stabilizing the forest cover in India despite the pressure of
increasing population and demand for forest products and services,
contributing in large measure to the observed increase in forest
and tree cover by 3.13 million ha from 1997 to 2007 (India State of
Forest, 2009). This unique model of partnership is a relationship
developed between the local communities and forest departments
in India for integrated development of villages in proximity to the
forest areas. The scientific and sustainable management of forests
is provided by the forest department, while the local communities
help in the micro planning process for regeneration, protection and
management of forests, and receive the predetermined share from
the forest resources managed by them.
Non-timber forest products management and livelihoods
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in India are known to play
an important role historically in the social life of forest-dependent
communities. NTFPs contribute over 68 per cent of total forest
export revenue in India. Nearly 300 million people, living in and
around forests in India, depend on NTFPs for sustenance and
supplemental income. India has shown remarkable progress during
the last decade in enhancing the contribution of forest poverty
alleviation through empowering people with the ownership of
NTFPs as well as value addition in accordance with the Millennium
Development Goals declaration in 2000 to halve the
number of people living in poverty by 2015. Likewise
other forest-based, low-key economic activities such as
ecotourism are promoted as a poverty alleviation activ-
ity. Such activities are increasingly incorporated in
forestry programmes, be it ecodevelopment in national
parks or externally aided programmes.
The ‘greening’ of India
The intangible benefits derived from forests by way of
providing ecological security of the country are very
important. India has recognized the link between forests
and the hydrological cycle, and forests’ ability to generate
water is the highest priority when making working plans.
Likewise, forests play a key role in removal of accu-
mulated CO
2
in the atmosphere, and sequester it in
vegetation, soil and wood products. From 1995 to 2005,
the carbon stocks in our forests and tree cover have
increased from 6,245 million tons to 6,622 million tons,
corresponding to the increase in forest cover, thereby
registering an annual increment of 38 million tons of
carbon which is equivalent to 138 million tons of CO
2
.
Integrated development by JFMC in Tiria village,
Chhattisgarh, India
As part of the ‘care and share’ policy of the Government,
this Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC) of
368 members (74 families) was established in 1998.
It managed a forest area of 340 ha and received its
share of Rs.159 lakhs from harvesting of timber in a
recent five-year period. These funds were used by JFMC
to improve socio-economic status of the village by way
of providing solar electric connections, tube wells with
overhead tanks for water supply, biogas plants to supply
piped gas to every household as well as install biodiesel
engines for lift irrigation to augment irrigation facilities.
These interventions by JFMC had the following benefits:
• Reducing dependency on fuelwood resulting in
improvement of density of adjoining forest areas
• Harvesting of two agriculture crops every year due to
improved irrigation
• Enhancement of the income of each family by
Rs.15,000 to Rs.20,000
• Improvement of education level of villagers due to
solar-powered electricity
• Reduction in incidences of water borne diseases due
to piped water supply to every household.
A view of Satpura National Park
Image: Ministry of Environment and Forests, India
Image: Ministry of Environment and Forests, India