Bhaskar Sinha

Impact of forest policies on timber production in India: A review

Until the 20th century, forest policies across the globe focused primarily on effective forest utilization for timber production. Subsequent loss of forest land prompted many countries to review and amend such policies, in an attempt to incorporate the principles of conservation and sustainable forest management. One of the countries to implement such changes was India, which introduced new policies, acts and programmes to regulate forest conversion and degradation, beginning in the 1980s. These policies, acts, and programmes included the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, the National Forest Policy of 1988 and the Hon. Supreme Court Order of 1996. All of these regulations affected the timber supply from government forest areas, and created a huge gap in timber supply and demand. Currently, this deficit is met through imports and trees outside forests (TOFs). Timber production from government forest areas is abysmally low (3.35% of total demand) compared to potential timber production from TOFs, which fulfil 45% of the total timber demand in India. This implies that TOFs have immense potential in meeting the growing timber demand; however, they have not been fully utilized due to discrepancies in state level TOFs’ policies. The present paper provides a review of different forest policies, acts and guidelines in relation to timber production in India, and provides specific recommendations in order to maximize timber production in the context of increasing demand for timber products.

The Concept of Sacred Linked to Biological Resource Management in the Himalayan Culture

There is a wide recognition throughout the globe and across disciplines that regions of ecological prudence exhibit a symbiotic relationship between habitats and culture (Arizpe, 1996). This explicates that culture and environment are complementary in various stages of evolution. Traditional societies have co-evolved with their environment, modifying nature but actively maintaining it in a diverse and productive state based on their indigenous knowledge, socio-cultural practices and/or religious beliefs since antiquity (Gadgil and Berkes, 1991; Ramakrishnan, 1998). However, these traditional societies are no longer immune to the changes occurring in the world with time. The predominant culture of over-consumption of natural resources is making a dent into these societies, resulting in erosion of their time-tested and valued institutions. At present, when the social fragmentation reaches to the family level and individual interests get priority, the community functions take a back seat. Further, access to information is no more a limiting phenomenon in this era of information technology; as a result it has been observed that the heterogeneity of the culture that evolved in isolation is being increasingly homogenized (Robertsons, 1992). Such a distortion has been noted in the Himalayan societies too.

Institutional Imperatives for Promoting Trees Outside Forests (TOFs) to Enhance Timber Production in India

In India, Trees Outside Forests (TOFs) are defined as trees growing outside government recorded forest areas (RFAs) and include trees growing on private lands, farms, community lands, along roads, canals and railway lines and urban areas. With time, TOFs have been recognized as an important resource in provisioning domestic timber and in contributing to the country’s forest cover, growing stock, carbon sequestration and livelihood opportunities for the rural poor. Although being such an important resource, TOFs have no defined government authority or a national level policy for its management, unlike RFAs. Every state in the country has a different TOF regulation, especially in terms of felling, transit regulations and market facilities. The present study analyzed the implications of existing regulations and institutional mechanisms that encourage or discourage farmers to take up TOFs for timber production in two states of India; Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. The study was comprised of a review of existing policies, regulations and guidelines related to timber production from forests and TOFs across the country followed by a field survey of 286 respondents from 24 villages spread across four districts and two states. It was found that cumbersome TOF regulations for felling and transit of trees and lack of proper market linkages for farm-grown timber were major deterrents towards adoption of tree growing by farmers. We conclude that uniform and simplified policy for management of TOFs, along with developed market linkages, can boost tree growing on private lands, thus increasing timber production. Further, linking this with programmes like REDD + can create an additional sink for carbon which would also help the country in meeting its international commitments and provide additional financial incentives.

Application of Remote Sensing in Assessing the Impacts of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), in Ratlam District, Madhya Pradesh, India

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, (MGNREGA) is the first ever demand-driven livelihood act that guarantees 100 days of employment in every rural household. It also aims to achieve sustainable livelihood by addressing the causes of chronic poverty as well as strengthening of the natural resource base. The assets created under the MGNREGA related to water and soil conservation and management have contributed to an increased availability of water for sustainable agriculture especially in the semi-arid and arid regions. Dug well at the farmer’s land, locally known as Kapil Dhara, is one of the highly demanded assets created under the MGNREGA in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Dug wells have benefitted the rural population in form of increased irrigated area, crop productivity, and cropping intensity. An integrated approach based on remote sensing (RS) and field survey was used to assess the impact of dug wells toward change in cropped area and cropping intensity. Six sampling units representing one/two micro-watershed has been randomly selected for in-depth study. Interpretation of RS data has shown that there has been an increase in double crop area after the MGNREGA intervention in five selected sampling units spread in two blocks of the Ratlam district. Watershed with diverse water recharge activities recorded comparatively higher impact of dug wells as compared to watershed that had lesser associated water recharge activities. The analysis further revealed that application of RS and watershed approach in planning can enhance sustainability of assets created under the MGNREGA.

Ecosystem services valuation for enhancing conservation and livelihoods in a sacred landscape of the Indian Himalayas

Sacred species/groves/landscapes have played an important role in conserving biodiversity based on the socio-cultural practices in different parts of the world including India. It has been observed in recent times that these sacred entities are facing degradation. The current study conducted in Hariyali sacred landscape (HSL) in Garhwal Himalayas is to evaluate and rank the ecosystem services based on people’s perceptions so that people can be sensitized about economic, ecological and cultural significance of the landscape. Contingent valuation method (CVM) was used for calculating willingness to pay (WTP) for different ecosystem services. One hundred and forty respondents were grouped into core villagers, nearby villagers and outsiders. The study revealed that local people identified six direct and seven indirect ecosystem services with HSL. The perceived benefits from all ecosystem services were ranked highest by the respondents of nearby villages. However, WTP for conservation of the landscape was lowest by them (nearby villagers). Such discrepancy between the perception and WTP is significantly attributed by the difference in education and rights related to rituals and access to resource use. A careful intervention to integrate the adjoining villages in the rights and ritual related to temple and to evolve a more transparent way to manage the funds generated from religious offerings and Government, may lead to higher participation and WTP for conserving the landscape.