Conflicting issues of devolution in the management of forests through public participation
2010
Khan, H.U., State Forest Research Inst. , Jabalpur(MP) (India)
The concept of community based forest management is very old in India. Historically, India has great traditions of protecting and managing forests as common property resources. Most of the time, every village hamlet and community try to ensure that utilization of natural resources including forests must not exceed the ecological carrying capacity, despite inadequate knowledge on scientific management of such natural resources. Economical and political colonization adversely affected the conservation attitudes of the people and resulted in the degradation of the country's vast natural resource. Post independence policies of forest management continue to neglect the involvement of the people in forest conservation and management. For nearly four decades, commercial exploitation policy continued and only after the promulgation of the National Forestry Policy 1988 when significant changes in policies were made and involve people. Proper management of forests is not possible without active participation of local people. Therefore, it is necessary to: identify conflicting areas of devolution in the present policies; and to suggest remedial measures for such grey areas by problem solving strategies especially at the execution level. Commitment of forest staff in technical and administrative support, apolitical character of the committees, constant interaction of the forest staff with committee members to resolve problems, regular trainings of villagers on self employment subjects, involvement of panchayat in forestry works for additional employment generation etc will definitely help in resolving conflict management of various issues mentioned here. Ultimately, the role of people is supreme in a democratic set-up and will definitely be strengthened by taking such actions.
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