Problems and prospects of community forestry: Some insights from three case studies in western India

Abstract

Most of the village common lands in India are hightly degraded and suffer from whant Garret Hardin called the tragedy of the commons. The productivity of these lands is far below their potential. The unabated erosion and wanton mususe of those laonds over the years have led to environmental degradaton. Realizing the need to rehabilitate those lands. Government of India (GoI) and many non-govenmental organisations (NGOs) are also now engaged in the task of afforestation of India's village common lands through a variety of community frestry programmes (CFP). This paper presents the main results and insights from these case studies of CFP conducted in teh State of Gujarat. The specific objectives of the case studies were to find out the major constraints in implementing CFP: to examine the roles played by the Govt and the NGOs in CFP: and to determine the prospects of CFP. The case studies document and analyse the experience of three different organizations namely, Aga Khan Rural Support ...