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| Community Forest Management and Joint Forest Management; An Ecological, Economic and Institutional Assessment in Western Ghats, India. |
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Reference |
| Sudha P., Rekha P. V., Gunaga V. S., Patagar S., Naik M. B., Indu K. M., and N. H Ravindranath. 1998. "Community Forest Management and Joint Forest Management: An Ecological, Economic and Institutional Assessment in Western Ghats, India." Presented at "Crossing Boundaries", the seventh annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, June 10-14. http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/archive/00000166 |
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Introduction to the Institution |
| The rural and tribal communities depend extensively on the local vegetation for their varied biomass needs viz., food, fodder, firewood, leaf manure and raw material for locally manufactured products as well as industries. The main sources of biomass are the forests, land under tree crops,groves, plantations, permanent pastures, grazing lands, farms, homestead gardens etc. There is increasing pressure on forests and village vegetation (trees, grazing land) leading to degradation of vegetation cover. When the villages in the Sagara taluk of Shimoga district of Karnataka realized that the rate of extraction from community managed forests are non-sustainable and therefore stringent measures of protection are needed, they initiated community management systems without any help and support from the government. They imposed strict rules on the extraction of biomass. As a result of community protection in these villages, there is adequate biomass now to cater to the community needs, if extracted within sustainable limits. |
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Rules for Management
of the Institution |
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(a) Boundary Rules |
| Spacial Boundaries: The study was conducted in the community managed forests of Sagara taluk of Shimoga district in the Western Ghat region of Karnataka, South India. Sagara taluk has 23 community managed forest systems, of which three were studied of the villages - Alalli, Hunasur and Kugwe.Social Boundaries: Every household in the village has equal but limited access to fuelwood and other NTFPs. |
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(b) Governance
rules |
| In all the three villages a management committee exists for protection and management of the forest. In Alalli, the committee has 13 members including a chairman and secretary elected during the general body meeting held once in a year. In Hunasur, the committee has 9 members including the chairman, secretary and treasurer. There is representation of both young and old and all castes and sections. There are two general bodymeetings presided by the Tahashildar (Revenue officer) every year and attended by the village community. In Kugwe, the committee has 22 members including a chairman, a secretary, and a treasurer. The village is divided into 5 blocks each comprising of 36-37 households and each block is represented in the committee. The term of office of the committee is one year. In all the villages eligible candidate is selected based on efficiency, leadership qualities and experience. There are no women members in the committee, except in Kugwe. In Alalli, the entire village community is involved in guarding the forest with no specific guard. In Hunasur, every house is responsible for protection on a rotational basis. In Kugwe, 2 members from 2 households are assigned the duty of watching the forest in 2 shifts and a fence has been erected around a portion of the protected forest |
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(c) Resource Allocation |
| Grazing in Alalli was banned in the protected forest during the initial three years of protection. Grazing is however allowed now. During the cropping season, the ‘Bari system’ is practiced wherein nearly 22 households join together and send their livestock to graze together and the cattle is watched by members of a single household each day on a rotation basis. During non-cropping season, the cattle are grazed in the crop fields. Stall feeding is practiced during the rainy season. In Hunasur, grazing was prohibited inside the “Kanu” earlier and the same is practiced now. However, cattle graze the creepers, climbers and leaves found on the edge of the forest. In Kugwe, cattle are watched on a rotation basis as in Hunasur. Earlier, cattle were grazed in certain parts of Kanu but now there is no grass available, as the canopy has become very dense.There is no restriction with regard to the collection of leaf litter, fruits, flowers, nuts, seeds, medicinal herbs etc. from the protected patch at any time of the year in all the three villages. However, people are not allowed to cut any green twigs, branches, leaves or bamboo shoots from the patch. In Hunasur, collection of fuelwood is allowed once a year during which from each household, a man and a woman are allowed while inKugwe, the villagers pay a nominal fee of Rs. 1/- every year for benefiting from the forest. Collection of bark of Cinnamomum is banned in Kugwe while collection of fruits of Tamarindus indicus and Garcinia morella (oil yielding fruit) for own use is permitted. Since the Kugwe forest is very old it supports a good number of timber yielding trees and villagers need of timber is met with through payment of Rs.5 to the committee. However the timber so obtained is not for sale. |
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Conflict Resolution Mechanism |
| In case of misuse, in all the villages, penalty is decided depending on the nature of offence. Generally, first time offenders are warned and repeated offences are penalised. For eg. In Hunasur, people caught extracting green wood or leaves are penalised more and in Kugwe, carts, implements And biomass are confiscated and a penalty as high as Rs. 1000/- is imposed. |
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Problems Faced by Institution |
| Meeting requirements of fuelwood and leaf manure are key problems faced by people in these villages. The fuelwood requirement (calculated based on per capita requirement of 1.67kg/yr for North Karnataka, Ravindranath and Hall, 1995) in all the villages is greater than the harvestablebiomass. Regarding other NTFP's there is shortage of fencing material. The villagers collect poles by cutting trees in the plantations and also from the wastelands. As a consequence of people cutting trees in wastelands, the creepers yielding soapnut have perished with no props to grow on. The villagers now have to buy soapnut from outside. In Hunasur some flower yielding tree species have been cut. |
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Changes in the Institution over time |
| The existing community management systems were wholly initiated by local communities in response to degradation leading to biomass scarcity and fear of loss of community resource to Forest Department or encroachment. These management systems have had their ups and downs. Each village has adopted its own distinct approach for protection. All communities have evolved very strict rules for extraction of biomass.As a result of community protection in these villages, there is adequate biomass now to cater to the community needs, if extracted within sustainable limits |
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Purpose |
| Conservation and sustainable use of community managed forests |
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Country |
| India |
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Region |
| Villages: Alalli, Hunasur and Kugwe in Sagara taluk of Shimoga district in the Western Ghat region of Karnataka, South India. |
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