Conservation and forest development in hilly/mountainous landscapes of India

Kiran  Asher,  Ph.  D.    CIFOR,  Bogor,  Indonesia  

§  Governments and non-government agencies promote policies for reforestation, afforestation, forest management, and agroforestry on sloping lands to: •  Mitigate soil erosion, water loss, land

degradation, •  Enhance specific ecosystem goods and

services (often for people downstream), •  Conserve biodiversity •  Promote sustainable development

Interventions on sloping lands in Asia: Selected observations

•  China: Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program (CCFP)

•  India: dam building, cash crop production in the North and northeast, biodiversity conservation in the south and southwest

•  Thailand: Water provision for lowland rice cultivation

•  Indonesia: Reforestation for PES, timber production

Examples of interventions…

Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program (CCFP) in China

Teesta River, Sikkim and West Bengal

Smallholder forest management in Leksono, Wonosobo

Water for Rice Production, Thailand

Colonial Forest Legislation §  1865, 1894, 1927: Indian Forest Act (IFA)-

Forest control and management for timber extraction. Forests designated as Protected forests (PF) and reserve forests (RF)

§  1878: Forest Act –communities could seek concessions to use forests (for NTFPs such as fuel, fodder, etc) in Village Forests (VF)

Forest Legislation in India

§  1952: National Forest Policy - Afforestation, reforestation, regulation of shifting cultivation (60% forest cover on of slopes,20% on plains),

§  1988: National Forest Policy, manage forests to provide fuel wood, fodder, timber and non-timber forest products to meet the needs of local people living adjacent to forests

§  Also encourage community or social forestry, and “farm forestry” to meet local needs.

§  1990: Joint Forest Management (JFM) rural forest dependent communities to “partner” with Forest Department to plant, restore and manage degraded forests.

Forest Legislation in Independent India

§  Working Group on Forests, 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012): emphasis on the inclusion of other natural ecosystems (including treeless areas and trees outside forests) to forest cover to achieve the targets set in 1988 National Forest Policy (increase forest cover to 33% of national area).

§  It also recommended that tribal farmers should take up farm forestry; support should be provided to farmers for extension of agroforestry and farm forestry so that the fuel wood demand can be met from them

§  2014 National Agroforestry Policy

Forest Legislation in Independent India (contd)

§  “sloping lands” not a category in Indian policy documents

§  Indian policy recognizes hill areas, mountain areas, uplands

§  Uplands of India (328.73 million hectares or 16% of total geographic area are located in – the Himalayas (51.43 million hectares – Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, and – Vindhya Satpura Hills

Hilly and Mountain areas in India

§  Complex biogeographies, social dynamics, and politics especially in border areas

§  Multiple forms of agroforestry practices, swidden agriculture

§  complex property regimes mostly unconnected and illegible to mainstream markets, and adherence to traditional forms of social organization have been significant in marking upland areas as ‘backward’. Eg Pahadi or ghati – often derogative terms for upland peoples

§  Constitutional provisions for self governance, safeguards against exploitation by way of prohibitions against land sale, entry of non local people and ‘Scheduled Tribe’ status for the citizens of these regions have been offered to most hilly or upland regions of India.

Characteristics of Indian upland areas

Interventions in upland and hilly areas in

India

§  Watershed Development to arrest land degradation and watershed restoration

§  Hill Area Development Programme and Western Ghats Development Programme: infrastructure development for the local communities to focus on eco-restoration and eco-development.

§  Farm Forestry Programmes, and later social forestry programs to grow trees to meet the fuel, fodder, food needs of rural people

§  Agroforestry: multiple goals including increasing forest cover, meeting subsistence needs, and supplying commercial products

Interventions in upland and hilly areas in

India (contd) §  Programmes to address the problems of shifting

cultivation (jhum) practices and reduce them §  High investment infrastructure projects: large

scale public and private investments for mining and hydropower. The plans to bring economic growth and development to these ‘backward’ areas have led to “forest clearance” and large scale official diversion of forest land in hill areas for these non forest uses.

§  Conservation and Biodiversity Protection in national parks, reserves, and state forests (most of India’s forests)

Watershed  Development  Approach  

l  Objec&ve-­‐  Land  and  water  resource  management  for  sustainable  produc&on.  

l  Approach  used  in:  –  Drought  Prone  Area  Program  –  Integrated  Wasteland  Development  Project  –  Na&onal  Watershed  Development  program  in  rainfed  

Areas  –  Hill  Areas  &  Western  Ghats  Development  Program  

l  World  Bank,  SDC,  DANIDA,  DFID  &  others  have  been  involved.  l  User  Communi&es  are  involved  in  planning,  implementa&on  and  

monitoring  of  all  ac&vi&es  under  the  program.  l  Afforesta&on  &  Forest  Management  make  important  measures  

of  the  programs.  

North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project for

Upland Areas

l  Joint Program between North East Council, International Fund for agriculture Development and ICIMOD. Designed from 1994-1997.

l  Project villages selected on the criteria such as dependence on jhum, small farm acreage, rainfed cultivation and prevalence of disadvantaged families.

l  Objective was to improve livelihoods through better management of natural resources.

l  Reduction in area under jhum cultivation, development of terraced and irrigated lands and uptake of diversified cropping particularly horticultural crops have been some of the achievement of the program.

Local involvement in Forest Management

l  Na&onal  Commission  on  Agriculture  (1976):    “Trees  for  rural  demands  to  be  grown  on  the  land  available  to  village  people.”  Thus  emanated  the  term  'Social  Forestry'-­‐  to  take  pressure  off  the  forests  &  makes  use  of  fallow  and  degraded  lands.  Schemes  under  social  forestry:  

-  Farm  forestry-­‐  prac&ced  non-­‐commercially  on  private  lands  for  soil  conserva&on,  as  wind  shelters,  etc.  

-  Community  Forestry-­‐  trees  planted  &  protected  by  the  community  on  its  land  

-  Agroforestry-­‐  trees  in  combina&on  with  agricultural  crops  on  marginal  private  lands    

-  Extension  Forestry-­‐  plan&ng  of  trees  on  sides  of  roads,  canals,  railways,  etc.  

Local Involvement in Forest

Management

l  Na&onal  Forest  Policy  1988  acknowledged  the  need  for  people's  par&cipa&on  on  forestry  related  programmes.  

l  MoEF  Guidelines  in  1990  for  the  involvement  of  communi&es  in  regenera&on  of  forests  through  Joint  Forest  Management  (JFM).  

l  Green  India  Mission  in  2013-­‐  land  improvement  through  village  level  ins&tu&ons.    

Rice paddies on terraces, Sikkim, India

Small holder farm, Dzongu, N. Sikkim

Thank you