Why Local Resources Management Institutions Decline: A Comparative Analysis of Van (Forest) Panchayats and Forest Protection Committees in India

Ballabh, Vishwa; Balooni, Kulbhushan; Dave, Shibani

doi:10.1016/s0305-750x(02)00126-2

Cited by 59 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Ito et al (2005) found that awareness of community forestry management in Nepal was least where NGOs were not involved. Ballabh et al (2002) found that outside actors can help in resolving conflicts. Saigal (2000) points towards the role of NGOs in the documentation of the program and in the encouragement of participation of vulnerable groups.…”

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Making it last? Analysing the role of NGO interventions in the development of institutions for durable collective action in Indian community forestry

Barnes

Laerhoven

2015

Environmental Science & Policy

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Institutional design India a b s t r a c tCommons scholarship seems preoccupied with self-governance. It focuses on showing that common pool resource (CPR) appropriators do not always need outsider-assistance in order to stay clear of the tragedy of the commons. However, at the same time we observe the presence of a large number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that consider community organisation -i.e. the organisation of collective action in community institutions -their core business. In this research we firstly develop and apply a framework to analyse the activities of 20 NGOs in India and compare these to indicators for collective action in a community-led CPR governance context, derived from the commons literature. Secondly, we assess variation in NGOs' approaches to institutional change, by developing and applying a typology that distinguishes between (i) perspectives that see institutional change as predominantly determined by structure (institutional design) or agency (institutional crafting), respectively, and between (ii) perspectives that perceive institutions as either subjective or objective to the institutional change agent, respectively. Our results show that NGOs do not get involved in activities aimed at influencing functioning collective action such as crafting or designing rules. They do involve themselves in activities aimed at strengthening durable collective action such as forest management trainings. Furthermore, all NGOs show a predominantly subjective approach to institutional change. Their long-term focus puts the communities themselves firmly in the institutional change agent position. The results along the design-crafting dimension show more diversity and dynamicity. Eight NGOs in our sample take a strong institutional crafting approach to their work, whereas only three focus predominantly on institutional design and nine show elements of both crafting and designing. The majority of the NGOs highlighted how their approach can change depending on the stage in the intervention. Our results highlight the dynamic and diverse institutional settings the NGOs operate in which both moderates their approach to institutional change and determines their choice of specific activities.

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Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Making it last? Analysing the role of NGO interventions in the development of institutions for durable collective action in Indian community forestry

Barnes

Laerhoven

2015

Environmental Science & Policy

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“…This resulted in the overall loss of autonomy and intensified conflicts within and among the MCs of the VPs (Ballabh et al 2002). Furthermore, there is a quantitative and qualitative decline of once dense and well-managed VP forests in the Kumaon hills of the central Himalayas (Balooni et al 2007).…”

Section: Aftermath Of Van Panchayatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A drastic increase in their formation coincided with the appearance of JFM (Nagahama 2013). They have been cited as successful examples of people's involvement in forest management (Ballabh et al 2002) and the longest standing example of JFM (Gairola and Negi 2011 as the new data becomes available. See Table 3 below.…”

Section: Aftermath Of Van Panchayatmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Van Panchayat Movement and Struggle for Achieving Sustainable Management of the Forest : A Case Study of Uttarakhand in North India

Nagahama

Satya²,

Saito³

et al. 2017

SDRP-JESES

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ABSTRACT:During the nineteenth century, the denial of customary rights of people by the British colonial forest department, led to conflict with the local society. Our study shows how this conflict paved the way for the origin of van panchayats (VPs) in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand at the beginning of the twentieth century. The objective is to analyze such conflicts and see how VPs appeared and eventually evolved into people's participatory forest management. VP as a system was institutionalized in 1931. The end of the British Empire and the emergence of independent India (1947) began a new era in the history of forest management. Several experimental attempts were undertaken. VP rules were revised and amended to accommodate the evolving changes in the relationship between local villages and the state Forest Department. This led to the birth of the system of joint forest management (JFM) in early 1990s. In one sense, VP could be regarded as a people's movement for the restoration of customary rights, which eventually resulted in the Forest Rights Act of 2006. This Act substantially restored people's sovereign rights over forest, independent of either the state or Forest Department interference. Nevertheless, struggle for full empowerment of local villages over their surrounding forests and other resources continues.

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“…They are collectively referred to as the general body (hereafter, GB) that selects the Management Committee (hereafter, MC) members through a democratic process. The VPs are best examples of age-old institutions [7,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Commons Use in India: A Case Study of Van Panchayat in the Himalayas Reveals People's Perception and Characteristics of Management Committee

Nagahama¹,

Saito²,

Masuda³

et al. 2016

eer

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Van (forest) Panchayat (hereafter VP) is one of the largest and most diverse experiments in common property resource management in the Himalayan ranges of the state of Uttarakhand, India. The idea of establishing VP originated in conflicts between people and the British authorities for controlling resources. The people of this region are dependent on the utilization of forest products, such as firewood and non-timber forest products for their livelihood. In this study, a field survey was carried out on VP in the village, named "D" village of Tehri-Garhwal district in the state of Uttarakhand, in order to investigate VPs impact on people's livelihood with a focus on the participation of the people in forest management. Two study objectives were examined as follows: first, to clarify the people's perception under the VP, and second, to reveal the characteristics of the VP management committee (MC), which is directly responsible for managing the community forests. We used the semi-structured interview approach to determine the villagers' perception for the VP activities and condition of the community forest. Results revealed people's satisfaction with the condition of the VP and common utilization of the forest resources. In case of the MC, people did not appear to show an overall interest such as not joining the meetings and activities. The reason for this can be related to the organization of the MC that was functioning for more than 20 years with the same leadership and almost unchanged MC members. To summarize, people's participation in the forest utilization was not only dependent on their own personal contribution towards VP activities, but also more importantly, on their involvement in the forest management via the MC.

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Why Local Resources Management Institutions Decline: A Comparative Analysis of Van (Forest) Panchayats and Forest Protection Committees in India

Cited by 59 publications

References 2 publications

Making it last? Analysing the role of NGO interventions in the development of institutions for durable collective action in Indian community forestry

Making it last? Analysing the role of NGO interventions in the development of institutions for durable collective action in Indian community forestry

The Van Panchayat Movement and Struggle for Achieving Sustainable Management of the Forest : A Case Study of Uttarakhand in North India

Forest Commons Use in India: A Case Study of Van Panchayat in the Himalayas Reveals People's Perception and Characteristics of Management Committee

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