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JOINT FOREST PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT |
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What is JFPM? |
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JFPM means Joint Forest Planning and Management. It is comprehensive scheme of the forest department to partner with and involve local village communities in the conservation and Sustainable Management of forests. This involves the formation of Village Forest Committees (VFCs) to formally enter into partnership agreements with the forest department for planning and implementing various forest protection, conservation and development programmes. This is done based on a Management Plan (MP) that the villagers evolve in collaboration with the forest department and various government and non-government agencies. |
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Why was JFPM initiated? |
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Over the decades there has been an alarming decrease in forest cover in India . This was due to continuous encroachment and destruction of forests for agriculture, timber, mining industrial development, water resources development, power generation, urban development, etc. Forest management being oriented towards exploitation of forests for their commercial value, excluded the involvement of local communities and neglected their interests. This disturbed the strong sense of ownership and protection of forests that existed amongst local communities, and made their survival difficult due to decreased access to forest resources. |
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How do Government Policies support JFPM? |
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The National Forest Policy 1988 envisages involvement of people in the protection and development of forests. Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, in letter dated 1st June 1990 has issued guidelines to the State Governments for involving village communities and voluntary agencies in the regeneration of degraded forest lands. |
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Karnataka is one of the earliest states to issue a Government order (G.O) on Participatory Management. The state has issued a G.O. in 1993 adopting JFPM policy to involve local community in protection and management of degraded forests having canopy density upto 0.25 and also provide 50% share in forest produce to the VFCs from JFPM areas. While implementing this Government order, it was felt that certain amendments to the order were found necessary and amendments to the G.O. were brought in during 1996 which provided co-membership for the spouses and also removed the limitations of canopy density of forest for JFPM in the forest areas which are predominantly inhabitated by the tribals. Karnataka Forest Act (KFA) has also been amended to provide statutory back-up to the JFPM programme. State Government had issued a comprehensive revised Government order in 2002 to overcome the operational problems encountered in the field and also enhanced the proportion of share from 50% to 90% in respect of Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) and 75% in plantation assets. |
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Which areas come under JFPM? |
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- Degraded forest lands, where the canopy density is 0.25 and less.
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- Reserved forests that are predominantly inhabited by tribal people or are in the vicinity of areas where forest-dependent tribal people live or which they traditionally depend upon for their livelihood or which they culturally identify themselves with, may also be subjected to JFPM involving the tribal irrespective of the density of the canopy cover of the forests.
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- Government waste lands and other lands under the control of the Revenue department transferred for the purpose of JFPM to the Forest Department.
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- Roadsides, canal banks and tank foreshores and other non-forest lands under the control of the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD).
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Whether protected areas (PAs) come under JFPM? |
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National parks and Wild life Sanctuaries do not come under JFPM. However, Eco-Development Committees (EDCs) could be formed for PAs where there is no sharing of forest produce with the EDCs. |
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What is the progress of JFPM? |
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During the past 18 years, department has constituted around 5200 VFCs/EDCs in the state bringing nearly 3,40,000 ha of degraded forests under JFPM. However, there are still large extents of degraded forests, which need to be brought under JFPM. Besides the existing VFCs are to be strengthened and made more effective. |
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What is the Impact of JFPM? |
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Impact of formation of VFCs in the afforestation programme has been very good, as well thought and well developed institutions are substantially contributing towards sustainable management of forest resources. A recent study by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore regarding performance of the VFCs indicates that 30 percent are good, 37 percent are moderate and 33 percent feel no change. The lessons learnt from past experiences on a number of issues like benefit sharing, equity, poverty, gender, empowerment, incentives, NTFP rights, Income Generating Activities etc., need to be addressed to make VFCs viable and sustainable. |
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![F.A.Q [Frequently Asked Questions]](../images_forest/main_FAQ.jpg){kind=small}
