Community Forest Management: A Casebook from India (Oxfam Development Casebook Series)

Forests throughout India are under threat from modern enterprises such as logging, dams, mines and irrigation schemes, and also from a breakdown in traditional forest-protection systems. Local communities, traditionally dependent on forests, find their livelihoods under chronic strain.This book tells the story of a forest-protection movement, Friends of Trees and Living Beings, in the state of Orissa, which has grown from spontaneous local action in the mid-1970s into a network of forest-management organizations with respected expertise and widespread influence.The authors analyze the successes and weaknesses of the movement, setting its achievements in the context of national, legal, and policy frameworks, and drawing on candid interviews with villagers, activists, staff and forestry officials. They consider the cultural, ethical, and political dimensions of the movement, the tensions inherent in its expansion, and the lessons to be learned by policy makers and funders.