Forests are an important source of subsistence and livelihood of a large part of the population in the developing world. In some parts they have turned out to be a source of successful development. Understanding this decentralization in the management of the resource has been introduced in countries like India. However, there are many region of the country that are heavy forested but remain poor and Gadchiroli district is one of them. This eastern district of Maharashtra State has over 60 percent of its geographical area under forest cover and contributes 30 percent to the total revenue of the state generated from just three major forest products, namely timber, bamboo and fuel wood. Despite this, the district is one of the poorest in the State with more than 55 percent of the population below poverty line. Under these circumstances can ‘forest’ become a driver of sustainable development, through creation of stakes for the larger forest-dependent community of Gadchiroli district? The objective of the study was, thus, to explore the potential of forest for sustainable development of the district; identifying missing links in policy, Acts, and rules to achieve participation, transparency, and accountability; and propose a resource management and development policy that is based on existing knowledge, and can be a basis for an action plan for sustainable development of the district, which may be useful for all forested tribal districts of India. The findings of the study were based on previous research studies carried out by Vrishamitra and SHODH in this district, secondary data, as well a short survey undertaken under the present study. It concluded that forests could become a source of development of the district. What is needed is coordinated effort from various agencies in collaboration with local communities to achieve this. The level of decision-making as well as execution should follow the sequence from local level to higher (district, state, national) level. Even if the existing provisions of Acts like the PESA, Biological diversity Act 2002, NREGS, etc were implemented in the right spirit, most of the hurdles in the sustainable development of Gadchiroli district would be removed.  Most importantly the study identified various areas/issues which need further research.

Collaborative study between Vrikshamitra: Friends of Trees and SHODH: The Institute For Research and Development

Study funding: Oxfam, Australia

Study output: Report (There is no copyright on this report. However, do inform us whenever it is   quoted)