8. Regenerating Forests Through People’s Participation: How Far Has the Joint Forest Management (JFM) Worked?

Abstract

Given the severity of natural resources’ degradation and the imminent threat to ecological security, various alternatives have been explored for the sustainable management of these resources. One such alternative includes involving communities through participatory ways to tap their agency for conserving resources like forests, water or land. Designed along participatory lines, the Joint Forest Management (JFM) happens to be the flagship programme for restoring degraded forests in India. Conceptually, only a tenuous relationship has been identified between participation and sustainable development. Participatory approaches manifest themselves either as the ‘means’ or ‘goals’ of development. In both types of participation, pitfalls are common for equity and efficiency outcomes of the intended programmes unless the process of participation is one of enabled nature. JFM, as a participatory intervention, emerges more as a top–down initiative with a rigid framework unable to break the inherent structural constraints for a more empowered process of forest regeneration. The available pieces of evidence, to a large extent, corroborate the theoretical contention that a participatory approach may not necessarily lead to improved outcomes for forest regeneration on a significant scale. This article, besides critically assessing the role of JFM, draws a few implications for its future strategies.