Community Based Resource Management ... 1 INTRODUCTION India’s forest management policies have been the centre of intense debate on environment and development for over last three and a half decades. Concern for the state of forests arises from the increasing awareness that forests are essential for sustainable development of not only the population living in and around forests but also as repository of nation’s valuable natural resources including genetic diversity. It is argued that the State has usurped the rights of local communities over a period of time leading to alienation of local population from the management of forests. On the other hand, forests under State management have suffered serious depletion due to relentless pressure from ever increasing demand from trade and industry and the tendency of the forest department to look upon forests as revenue earning resources (Khanna & Sama, 2001). The manifest failure of State and market mechanisms to promote sustainable and equitable natural resources management in developing societies has stimulated a search for community based alternatives (Agrawal & Gipson, 1999). It is argued that community based natural resource management (CBNRM) offers the best prospect for meeting conservation objectives while improving the condition of marginalised forest communities who are denied the fundamental right to substantive participation in decisions that impact on their well-being and livelihood. The basic assumption of CBNRM is that people who live close to a resource and whose livelihoods directly depend upon it have more interest in sustainable use and management than State authorities and distant corporations (Li, 2002). Our experience with social forestry and eco-development programmes proves the point. Attempts to solve the problem of deforestation and land degradation through social forestry floundered because the symptoms and not the causes were tackled. The social forests as recommended by National Commission on Agriculture could not be created for want of rights and B.P. Mai. 1 2 Community Based Resource Management ... titles. The principal purpose of social forestry was to build institutional capacity of communities so that they could undertake fuelwood and fodder plantations through self-help schemes. This did not happen (Saxena 1996). The plantations raised in degraded lands, strips along roads, railway lines and canals are mostly managed as government owned forests defeating the very purpose of social forestry programme. Even the much hyped Joint Forest Management (JFM) and its new face as National Afforestation Programme (NAP) also suffer from the same weaknesses of top-down planning and bureau-technocratic management processes. No wonder, therefore, the poor conservation outcomes of these intrusive resource management strategies have forced the policy makers to revisit the whole issue of participatory natural resource management. The key challenge today is to evolve a system of conservation and sustainable use of natural resources by creating appropriate institutions that would put to good use the potential for genuine motivation and practical knowledge of local communities in resource management (Rao & Gadgil. 1995). The factors which determine how local communities participate to manage their resources have not been studied adequately and its dynamics are still less understood. It is in this context that the study of Forest Management by Forest Panchayats (Van Panchayats in Uttaranchal) assumes importance. A Van Panchayat (VP) is a statutary body like that of Gram Panchayat (GP) created for the sole purpose of managing the forests devolved to it for meeting local needs and aspirations. Van or forest panchayats in Uttaranchal were constituted as early as in 1931, initially under the Scheduled District Act, 1874 and subsequently under section 28 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. Forest panchayats are the product of protracted negotiations and deliberations by Kumaon Forest Grievances Committee (KFGC) constituted by the then government of United Provinces (UP) in 1921 in the wake of an intense agitation by the people of hill districts against the policy of forest settlement restricting people’s rights and access to forest resources. Forest panchayats of Uttaranchal are thus the oldest local institutions of community B.P. Mai. 2 Community Based Resource Management ... 3 based forest management which have survived the vicissitudes of changing times and circumstances over nearly eight decades. The existing work on common property institutions has yet to develop fully a theory of what makes for a sustainable community based resource management (Agrawal, 2001). The focus on the institution of forest panchayat in this study is to examine whether it has the potential of meeting the conditions leading to efficient, equitable and sustainable use of the common property resources in the hilly areas of Uttaranchal. Objectives The specific objectives of the study are : (1) To understand the contextual issues concerning land and forest management in Uttaranchal; (2) To study the evolution of forest panchayats as community based forest management institutions in the hilly areas of Uttaranchal; (3) To analyse the powers and functions of forest panchayats and factors affecting their effectiveness as institutions of participatory common property resource management; and (4) To suggest measures for strengthening forest panchayats for sustainable development in the hilly and mountain areas. Methodology This study was taken up under the individual study scheme of NIRD during 2002-2003. This was supposed to be a quick and short study to understand the form and functioning of the forest panchayats of Uttaranchal. The methodology adopted was to glean through the published literature and also the records of the State Government, specially the department of revenue and forest to get an insight into the origin and evolution of forest panchayat institution in the State. This was supplemented with the structured discussion with some officers of the State Government connected with the management of forest panchayats as also forest panchayat functionaries B.P. Mai. 3 4 Community Based Resource Management ... themselves specially the forest panchayat sarpanches. Subsequently, few case studies of forest panchayats were added to get more insight on the functioning of forest panchayats and also to appreciate the real issues involved in their management. Thus, a combination of documentary research and case study approach has been used to capture the dimensions and dynamics of community based resource management exemplified by the working of forest panchayats. Survey of Literature Considering the fact that forest panchayats were formed during the second decade of the last century, it is amazing that it did not evoke interest among the forest researchers and the social scientists for a long time. This is a clear indication of the neglect suffered by the institution of forest panchayat for nearly four decades of their oblivious existence. Even the world renowned Chipko movement spearheaded by the noted social activists of Uttaranchal during the seventies and eighties did not resurrect forest panchayats to their rightful position. We will not go into the question of why it happened as that issue will be discussed in the subsequent sections of this report. Suffice to say here that the institution of forest panchayat was considered insignificant and information on forest panchayats was so suppressed from the public specially from the intelligentsia that they were not noticed. It was only after the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 imposed restrictions on the use of forest land for non-forestry activities and subsequent moratorium on felling above 1000 metres as imposed by the Supreme Court that forest panchayats started attracting official and academic attention leading to some studies and documentation work. Notable among the studies are by the State Planning Institute U.P (1983), Ballabh and Singh (1988), Saxena (1996), Rawat (1998), Tolia (1998), Agrawal (2001) and Sarin (2001). The study by State Planning Institute U.P. was carried out in the context of the proposed amendment to Forest Panchayat Rules 1976. The study dwelt on the management aspects of the forest panchayats by treating it a programme of the government. The study typically focused on the B.P. Mai. 4 Community Based Resource Management ... 5 compliance of the various provisions made in the Forest Panchayat Rules 1976 and the study found that an average annual income earned by forest panchayat over 12 year period was Rs. 1136. It concluded that the forest panchayats have failed in achieving the objective of planned development of forest resources due largely to lack of fund and non-cooperation of the people. The study also found that there were 4290 forest panchayats in the five hill districts of Almora, Nainital, Pithoragarh, Pauri Garhwal and Chamoli. There were no panchayats in Tehri, Uttarakashi and Dehradun districts. The total area covered by these panchayats in 1983 was 241800 ha. Tolia (1998) in his monograph on Land, Forests and Village Community has made a broad sweep of the issues connected with the management of common property resources, land and forest management, genesis of forest panchayats and suggestions for their strengthening. He observed that forest panchayats suffered from an overall neglect not only by the forest department but also from the revenue department. He has suggested for converting it as one of the functional