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Socio-economic issues in forest management in India

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  • Paul, Sheeladitya
  • Chakrabarti, Snigdha

Abstract

India's forest policy regime enacted so far had alienated the common users of their property rights in the name of forest and wildlife conservation. However, poor conservation outcomes have forced planners to reconsider the role of the forest community in resource use and conservation. Presence of a deep-rooted economic, social, cultural and ethical difference between members of Forest Protection Committee (FPC) constrains group behaviour and their capacity to modify regulations governing resource use. This paper studies the forest policy regimes of India in detail and seeks to investigate the influence of emerging socio-economic issues towards formulating a more robust and sustainable future forest policy by selecting the district of Bankura in West Bengal, India, as a study area, where forest protection regime is practiced rigorously for nearly two decades. The exercise reveals that tribal populations are reluctant to be non-workers and prefer to protect the forest by being a stakeholder in the process of Joint Forest Management (JFM). Thus formulating a more egalitarian distributive JFM mechanism for sharing of benefits fairly across the resource users requires cognizance of collective-choice rule used and the type of heterogeneity existing in the community.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul, Sheeladitya & Chakrabarti, Snigdha, 2011. "Socio-economic issues in forest management in India," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 55-60, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:13:y:2011:i:1:p:55-60
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Vikram S. Negi & R.K. Maikhuri, 2017. "Forest resources consumption pattern in Govind Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Himalaya, India," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(7), pages 1235-1252, July.
    2. Sirivongs, Khamfeua & Tsuchiya, Toshiyuki, 2012. "Relationship between local residents' perceptions, attitudes and participation towards national protected areas: A case study of Phou Khao Khouay National Protected Area, central Lao PDR," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 92-100.

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