The Paradox of Poor People and Rich Forests: Can Joint Forest Management Bridge the Gap? A Case Study from Adilabad District, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

This thesis is about people and forests, participation and sustainability. The two key questions it tries to answer are: First, does local people's participation in forest management make a difference to the ecology of the land and to the livelihoods of inhabitants? Second, if human life and natural resources improve as a result of the participatory process, could these improvements be sustained over time by local communities without dependence on government support and external subsidy? The research was conducted in a cluster of three villages in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh, India to gain ecological, social, financial, and institutional perspectives ofjoint forest management. The district is home to a large population of indigenous people, in particular the Gonds, as well as to a group of rebellious political extremists who want to overthrow the government. Fieldwork was conducted during 1998 and 1999 using participatory rural appraisal techniques combined with conventional vegetation sample plots, financial cost-benefit analyses, socio-economic surveys, and satellite imagery. Wherever possible, local people were involved with the research. The research notes that with extraordinary social mobilisation of rural communities, innovative institutional mechanisms to involve people, and large amount of financial resources spent, joint forest management has achieved part success. The biggest success is in forest ecology: people's participation has improved forest cover, biological diversity, and natural regeneration in Adilabad district. Consequently, the financial value of forests in Yapalguda and Kishtapur (where community protection was in place) was twice that of Borigam (where such protection did not exist). JFM has been least successful in matters of social equity and gender. The rich have gained more than the landless and the small landholders in the employment generated through JFM. And despite representation to women, youth, and other factions, there is no evidence that their voices have been heard by leaders of the village forest protection committees (known locally as the VSS). Public participation has had some positive impact on the behaviour of field-level forest staff, but the forest department remains top-down, hierarchical, and militaristic in its style of functioning. The research concludes that public participation does make a difference to forest ecology and to the livelihoods of people living on the forest fringe. However, people's participation in JFM in Adilabad has been mainly for material gain: wage employment. So long as they were paid, people contributed their labour; but they had little or no stake in the participation process. Officially Andhra Pradesh has made the transition from JFM to CFM (community forest management) since October 2002, but as long as external agencies drive forestry reforms and rampant corruption prevails in forest management, the sustainability of JFM or CFM will remain in doubt.