Key Role For Ngos In Social Forestry

Indias depleting forest cover has been worrying environmentalists no end. And with just reason. Consider these figures. According to a survey conducted in 1995 by the ministry of environment, only 19.31 per cent of Indias land is forest. Contrast this to 10 years ago, 23 per cent of the land was forest.

Afforestation programmes launched by the government have continuously run into rough weather with the very methodology used being debated whether to go in for scientific forestry or subsistence forestry.

Indias forest policy owes its origin to Sir Dietrich Brandis who took over in 1864 as the Inspector General of Forests. At his instance, the practice of scientific forestry began. Indian forests were surveyed and classified as reserved and protected and were conserved fairly well. Post-Independence, the policy was revised and the national forest policy of 1952 proposed that at least 33.3 per cent of Indias total land area should be forest the proportion aimed at being 60 per cent in hilly areas and 20 per cent in the plains.

 

However, between 1952 and 1973, the rising population led to an increased demand in forest products. More and more forest land was reclaimed for cultivation, river projects and industrial estates. In 30 years, more than four million hectares has been deforested. Thus it became imperative to frame another forest policy. The Forest Conservation Act of 1980 not only had to look at greening the deforested land but take into consideration the subsistence needs of the poor who lived off the forest. Several afforestation programmes were launched the most important being social forestry, which included strip plantations on road, rail and canal sides, villages, rehabilitation of degraded forests and farm forestry. It was most successful in West Bengal and to some extent in Gujarat, where government land was allocated to tribals and others who had no land. They were given full rights to the use of the land and profits from it. The project was supported by the World Bank.

Eva Cheung Robinsons book begins with an analysis of social forestry in the country. By and large, everyone now acknowledges that the social forestry programme has been a failure in most states. Some analysts have even veered around to the view that even in the two states where the programme was considered a success West Bengal and Gujarat it was not really so. Robinson elaborates on this, pointing out that only the target for farm forestry was exceeded in these states while the other two components of the programme community woodlots and bund/strip plantations - struggled to achieve their goals.

Robinson feels that the bureaucratic approach of the forest officials a colonial hangover is one of the main reasons for the programmes failure. She gives an instance based on her experience in Andhra Pradesh. Small farmers in this state found it difficult to access seedlings since each was asked to submit a written request to the district office for the number and species of seedlings required. By the time these free seedlings were collected by the farmer, he would have spent a lot in travel. Scarce wonder there was hardly any peoples participation in the programme, observes Robinson.

What then is the solution? The government for its part has gone on to experiment with joint forest management techniques. But Robinson suggests alternative strategies based on her experience. She spent four years in Andhra as the programme co-ordinator for a multi-facted agroforestry programme working with 25 Indian NGOs. In this book, she presents the case studies of three voluntary groups working in semi-arid regions in Andhra Pradesh and how they achieved success. The three grassroots organisations KIPDOW (Kadri Integrated and Participatory Development of Watersheds), RHGBMSS (Rayalaseema Harijana Girijana Backward and Minorities Seva Samajam) and GORD (Gandhian Organisation for Rural Development were in an advantageous position since they were already in close contact with the people of the region. Each thus developed forest strategies appropriate to the local context.

Thus, Robinson concludes that if afforestation targets have to be met, the voluntary sector has to play a catalytic role in reclaiming indigenous concepts of subsistence forestry. The book is written quite lucidly and Robinson argues her case well. It is also a timely book since the debate about Indias forest programme is still raging.