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Abstract:
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"Achieving sustainable management of common property resource along with good governance dominates in today's forest management agenda of country like India , but what does it mean practice? This paper examines some of the key models from forestry sector, which provides examples of management of commons along with good governance. Forestry's inclusive focus, linking local to national and global; the centrality of the issue remains tenure and collective rights especially in the backdrop of community forestry management.
"The paper analyses multiple and dynamic meaning of forest as common property resource and it's linkages with good governance. The impact of changing levels of forest governance is evident at several ends: participation has changed power balance; relationship between state and civil society has created significant space for community; and new models have emerged from relationship between state, civil societies and communities. Based on the analysis of selected Indian policies and plans, changing levels of governance has been traced. The case of community forestry in India demonstrates mutually supportive roles that can be played by 'supply side' policy changes and 'demand side' increased participation, responsibility and accountability from below. Community forestry, offers experience with variety of pro-poor growth strategies and shades of governance. In this evolution process four main trends are discerned: increasing importance of non-state actors in commons, rise of new socio-economic groups, multi scalar policy process; and the increasing involvement of legal and judicial arena. The involvement of an increasing number and variety of actors poses serious challenges. The diversity of India in terms of nature of forest resource, actors, their capacity and interests, power positions along with political interests has increased complexity and imbalances. To address these issues changes in the behaviour of non-state actors, linkages between institutional reform and policy and capacity building implications are imperative."
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