Community Forest Management in Tribal States of India : With Special References to Madhya Pradesh

Contents: 1. India's forest and history of forest management. 2. Collaborative forest management in India. 3. Madhya Pradesh- The 'Tiger' and 'Tribal' state. 4. JFM in undivided Madhya Pradesh. 5. Madhya Pradesh forestry project. 6. Current trends of joint forest management in Madhya Pradesh. 7. Summary and conclusion. References. Appendices.

"The 1990s decade brought about some revolutionary changes in community management as people's participation becomes an important tool in managing natural resources efficiently, sustainably and equitably. The government initiative in policy making and issuing resolutions were welcomed, which made an impetus for the participatory process to be embraced by the State Forest Departments. Madhya Pradesh is a well-known state for its natural forests (Tiger' state) and indigenous people (Tribal state). The State Forest Department followed the National guidelines and commenced their activities in 1991 forming the village institution in Harda, which was later transformed to Joint Forest Management (JFM) model. In this state the largest number of JFM committees have been formed in both closed and open forests.

This book has six chapters dealing with issues on India's forest and history of forest management to community forest management in Indian and then focussing on JFM in Madhya Pradesh highlighting the relationship between tribals and forests and analysing the current trend of JFM in MP. Finally, the last chapter sums up the findings of the previous chapters and tries to throw some questions on the future sustainability of JFM in the state." (jacket)