While the choice regarding a form of institution for governing the commons depends upon ideological, political, and social background of a given country state, its suitability is determined by factors important to sustainability, equity, and efficiency of commons. In case of common forests, apart from the institution's effect on forest condition and optimum resource use, shared understanding of social norms plays a crucial role. In India management regimes based on collective action are promoted by NGOs, by government programs like JFM, and at times are self-initiated/organized. This study was undertaken to study the equitability and efficiency of each of these institutions and examine the differences, if any, in forest management strategies adopted by user groups initiated through NGOs, JFM, and self organized groups.

For this purpose three villages from District Gadchiroli, each representing one of the three institutional set-ups were chosen. All the three institutional structures were found to have their own strengths and weaknesses. Thus a need for the synthesis of the three types of institutions to form more complex arrangements, in which forest areas are protected for multiple objectives, came out as one of the major conclusions. 

Project funding: South-Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE), Nepal.

Project Output: Working paper 3-03, 2003, © SANDEE

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