Joint Forest Management (JFM) was introduced in India in 1990 and was gradually adopted by various states. The concept of peoples' participation was new for both Forest Department officials as well as the villagers. Therefore, the success of the program was initially very limited. SHODH tried to study one such successful effort in Buldhana, witnessing and reporting the experiment right from its inception in November 1996 to April 1999.

The study tried to assess the extent of dependence of the people on forest produce and the measures adopted by the local population and the Forest Department to meet the requirement of non-timber forest products for immediate needs and for income generating employment opportunities. It was found that the reasons behind people's ready acceptance to the proposed JFM scheme was the assurance of fulfilling present needs while providing for the future. The study helped in understanding several other aspects of community management like access to the resource, boundary rules and allocation, ability and skills in the use, measures used for preservation, methods adopted for regeneration of the resources, importance of cultural aspect and attitudes of the people, role of assurances, and conflict resolving techniques.

Study Funding : SHODH: The Institute for Research and Development, Nagpur

Study Output : Working paper and paper presented at IASCP 2000.