Question

Which was the first state
to adopt the programme of joint forest management?

Answer 1

Government of India on June 1, 1990 issued guidelines to the state governments for involving local communities in the protection and development of the degraded forests. Based on this,the JFM programme has now been widely adopted in twenty two states of the country. These states are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. As per information received by the Ministry from the various State Governments as on 1.1.2000, there are 36130 JFM Committees managing 10,248,586.41 ha. of forests under the JFM programme in these 22 states of the country. The primary objective of JFM is to provide a visible role to the local communities in planning, management and protection of forests and to give them a share in the benefits from these forests. On operational parameters, JFM is a concept of developing partnership between forest department and fringe forest user groups on the basis of jointly defined roles and responsibilities. JFM in India is gradually emerging as a powerful tool of sustainable forestry. It recognises the livelihood and sustenance needs of the people through the principle of ‘care and share’. The concept of JFM has been interpretted in various ways but the basic element in this concept is to establish grass-root community based institutions for protection and management of the forests. The programme aims at empowering local people for their active participation as partner in the management of forest resources and sharing the benefits derived from its protection and management. The JFM approach optimises the returns, minimises conflicts and links the forestry development works with over all development of the land based resources. It also aims at acquiring technical and managerial capability available at the grassroot level.