In India forest protection initiatives by communities were taken up way back in the 1930s. Community initiatives to preserve forests began following threat to the livelihood of villagers due to severe scarcity of forest products caused my massive degradation. The aim of these communities, however, is not to completely prohibit access to forests but rather to control and regulate it.
Community forest development and management became an organized initiative with the formulation of the National Forest Policy in 1988 which empowered local communities in the protection and development of forests. A direct outcome of the National Forest Policy, 1988 was the Joint Forest Management Program (JFM or JFMP) instituted in 1990 by the Government of India.
Not by ‘policing’ alone
The policy came into effect with the realization that the forests cannot be protected by “policing” alone, but by involving the village communities in the task of protection. It was based on the concept that the traditional rights and socio-cultural values of such communities should be honoured and respected.
But most successful community forestry types in India are typically collaborations between local villagers and non-governmental organizations in which the government is not directly involved. In this system the villagers stand to receive a much larger share of the proceeds from the forest resources.
“Sacred groves” of India
Another successful segment is forest fragments of varying sizes popularly known as the “sacred groves” of India, which are protected for local deities and contain great biodiversity and many rare flora in small forested regions.
As protecting the community is based on religious connotations, hunting and logging are usually prohibited. Collection of honey and deadwood are sometimes allowed on a sustainable basis. Such groves are normally protected by local villagers with the help of NGOs. Members of the community take turns to protect the grove.
Legislation
Every state has different legislation in relation to community forests, with the state government retaining some administrative control over matters like staff appointment, and penalization of offenders. Such forests typically conform to the IUCN Category VI Protected Areas, but protection may be enforced by the local communities or the government depending on local legislation.
As of September, 2003 all the state governments had initiated the JFPM, and many had passed appropriate legislation as well. According to the 2002-03 Annual Report of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, there were 84,000 JFM committees which controlled 170,000 square kilometres of forest in India.
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You mention the “sacred groves” of India. We lived in Meghalaya, North East India for a few years and “sacred forests” are an integral part of their culture / or Khasi religion. Thankfully the people of the region have this concept built into their culture. I hope that the idea of sacred forests get renewed with each generation, if not, then this preservation will die.
I wonder what tribes, communities have sacred forests? what percentage of the forests in India are sacred?
We had the opportunity to visit some of the se sacred forests… it would be like visiting a national park in the USA.
I know that in the Sundarbans in the State of West Bengal, “Banbibi” (lady of the forest) is worshipped by both Hindu and Muslim honey cutters and woodcutters for protection against the famous tigers of the forest. The local people believe that these tigers are incarnations of “Dakkhin Rai”, the demon king and an enemy of Banbibi.
Banbibi is also known as Bandevi or Bandurga.