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A "Common Important Forest" inIndia is a forest governed by local communities in a way compatible withsustainable development. Such forests are typically calledvillage forests orpanchayat forests, reflecting the fact that the administration and resource use of the forest occurs at the village andpanchayat (an elected rural body) levels. Hamlets, villages and communities of villages may actually administer such a forest.[1] Such community forests are usually administered by a locally elected body, usually called theForest Protection Committee,Village Forest Committee or theVillage Forest Institution. Such committees are known asVan Panchayats in theKumaon Division ofUttarakhand,Forest Co-operative Societies inHimachal Pradesh andVan Samrakshan Samitis inAndhra Pradesh. Legislation pertaining to communal forests varies from state to state, but typically the state government retains some administrative control over matters like staff appointment, and penalization of offenders. Such forests typically conform to theIUCN Category VI Protected Areas, but protection may be enforced by the local communities or the government depending on local legislation.Maharashtra is the state with the most forest land whileHaryana has the least.
Many village communities in India have traditionally used forests on a sustainable basis. However, theBritish Rule in India introduced several legislations in the 19th century curtailing the rights of local people from using forest resources. These included theForest Act, 1865 andForest Policy, 1894. While some of the legislation was enacted in a bid to enact restrictions on forest usage for the purpose of sustenance, it was also motivated partly because such legislation provided a legal basis for the British Raj to acquire valuable forest resources liketimber for crucial initiatives like theIndian Railways. The British completely changed the way Indian forests were before.
Such abrupt curtailment of rights caused protests in forest-dwelling communities in India, especially in the heavily forestedKumaon region, and in what is present dayUttarakhand. The issues of such communities were addressed in theIndian Forest Act, 1927, which initiated the development ofvillage forests for sustainable use by villagers dwelling in or on the fringes of the forest. TheVan Panchayat Act of 1931 further expanded the idea of local administration and management of forests, even though the first Van Panchayats were formed as early as 1921.[2]
Following theindependence of India in 1947, theGovernment of India instituted theNational Forest Policy, 1952 which classified forested areas into:Protected forests areas,National forests,Village forests andTree landsCommon Trees Between living places of People. Laws regarding village forests were based on the state legislature. Numerous state laws and acts regarding communal forests were enacted before 1990, including theUP Van Panchayat Rules in 1976, and theOrissa Village Forest Rules in 1985.
However, such communal forest development and management came to the forefront only after theNational Forest Policy, 1988. The National Forest Policy strongly suggested the idea of empowering and involving local communities in the protection and development of forests. A direct outcome of the National Forest Policy, 1988 was theJoint Forest Management Program (JFM or JFMP) instituted in 1990 by the Government of India. It was started on a pilot project basis inWest Bengal as early as 1971, and again in the late 1980s with considerable success.[3]
The JFPM calls for the existence of an electedvillage level organisation (VLO) which would actively administer and maintain the communal forest. Such an organization is sometimes an existing elected body, like thegram sabha, orgram panchayat. However, a new body is usually elected for administrative purposes, usually referred to as theForest Protection Committee (FPC), but known as theVan Panchayat in the Kumaon region.[4]
As of September, 2003 all 28 state governments had initiated the JFPM, and many had passed appropriate legislation as well. According to the 2002-03 Annual Report of theMinistry of Environment and Forests, there were 84,000 JFM committees which controlled 170,000 square kilometres of forest in India.[5]
The introduction of the protected area categorycommunity reserves under theWildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002 has introduced legislation for providing government protection to community held lands. While this does not pertain to communal forest sites, communally owned forests may be candidates for protection under such legislation. (SeeConservation reserves and community reserves of India)
Typically, communal forests are formed in two ways:
Other forms of communally managed forests exist in India, but do not enjoy any form of legal protection if the Government of India is not a collaborator.[6] The two major forms of such communal forests are:
In North East India community forest management is most prevalent, where people are managing their forest resources since time immemorial. Mostly these communities manage these forests for variety of reasons, including resource enhancement and/or maintenance, countering ecological threat, expressing religious sentiments, cultural concerns and/or continuing traditional systems, political expression and managing biodiversity concerns.[8]
Funding for such communal forest management and staff training usually comes from theGovernment of India, but often comes from external non-governmental agencies. Notably, theWorld Bank has put forward several large loans for the purposes of accomplishing such projects, including a statewide co-operative drive inAndhra Pradesh in 2002. This project was, however, criticized for lacking transparency and focus.[9]