Joint Forest Management ( JFM) is an approach and program initiated in the context of the National Forest Policy of 1988 wherein state forest departments support local forest dwelling and forest fringe communities to protect and manage forests and share the costs and benefits from the forests with them. Communities organize themselves into a JFM Committee to protect and manage nearby forests, guided by locally prepared byelaws and micro plans. The key element in JFM is that communities have the power to manage the use of forests by members and also exclude non-members. The benefits to them is direct access and control on the use and sale of most NTFPs and a share in the income from timber as well as other intangible benefits from local ecosystem services – like water recharge, pollination, wildlife habitat etc. Thus involvement of communities in conservation of forests and wildlife is of paramount interest.

Joint Forest Management often abbreviated as JFM is the official and popular term in India for partnerships in forest movement involving both the state forest departments and local communities. The policies and objectives of Joint Forest Movement are detailed in the Indian comprehensive National Forest Policy of 1988 and the Joint Forest Management Guidelines of 1990 of the Government of India.

Recognition in the National Forest Policy of I988 that communities are central to forest protection and management led to the JFM Circular of June 1st 1990, and the subsequent 2000 and 2002 Guidelines, which provided the framework for state level rules, resolutions, and guidelines for JFM. The Panchayati Raj Act, PESA, and the FRA of 2006 further expanded the rights and responsibilities of local communities’ vis-à-vis forests.

Although schemes vary from state to state and are known by different names in different Indian languages, usually a village committee known as the Forest Protection Committee (FPC) and the Forest Department enter into a JFM agreement. Villagers agree to assist in the safeguarding of forest resources through protection from fire, grazing, and illegal harvesting in exchange for which they receive non-timber forest products and a share of the revenue from the sale of timber products.

Origins

Joint forest management is concept of developing relationships between fringe forest groups and forest department on the basis of mutual trust and jointly defined roles and responsibilities for forest protection and development. Joint Forest Management originated in West Bengal in 1980's in Asia and Africa . The major hardwood of Arabari is sal, a commercially profitable forest crop. Ajit Kumar Banerjee, a silviculturalist, working for the Forest Department as the Divisional Forest Officer, was conducting trials which were constantly being disturbed by grazing and illegal harvesting by the local populace. At the time there were no initiatives for sharing of forest resources between the government and the locals, with the government considering many of the locals no more than "thieves". The forest official, against the suggestions of his co-workers, sought out representatives of eleven local villages and negotiated the terms of a contract with an ad hoc Forest Protection Committee. The initial program involved 612 families managing 12.7 square kilometres of forests classified as "degraded". 25% of profits from the forests were shared with the villagers. The experiment was successful and was expanded to other parts of the state in 1987. JFM is still in force at Arabari.

A few years later, Joint Forest Management was employed in the state of Haryana to prevent soil erosion and deforestation. In 1977, villagers were persuaded that instead of grazing on erosion-prone hills, building small dams would help agricultural output on areas currently under cultivation. The program led to reforestation of many hills in the state.However,officially the state of Odisha remains the first to pass the first resolution for JFM.

Basis for Joint Forest Management

National Forest Policy 1988?

The primary and most significant basis for JFM is provided by the National Forest Policy of 1988.

The basic objectives as stated in the NFP 1988 are:

•  Maintenance of environmental stability through preservation and, where necessary, restoration of the ecological balance that has been adversely disturbed by serious depletion of the forests of the country.
• Conserving the natural heritage of the country by preserving the remaining natural forests with the vast variety of flora and fauna, which represent the remarkable biological diversity and genetic resources of the country.
•  Checking soil erosion and denudation in the catchment areas of rivers, lakes, reservoirs in the “interest of soil and water conservation, for mitigating floods and droughts and for the retardation of siltation of reservoirs.
• Checking the extension of sand-dunes in the desert areas of Rajasthan and along the coastal tracts.

Central MoEF Guidelines

Taking the lead from the National Forest Policy 1988, as well as the earlier experiments of people participation in forest management in West Bengal, Gujarat, Orissa, Haryana etc., the June 1st 1990 guidelines provided the basis for initiating Joint Forest Management in forest lands. The initial focus in the 1990 guidelines was on degraded forest areas.

As on 1.1.2000, approximately 10.24 million ha of forests lands were being managed under JFM programme through 36,075 committees (21.02.2000 Guidelines). Ten years after the initial JFM order, the MoEF issued guidelines on, for strengthening JFM, covering four main aspects.

Signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), outlining the short term and long term roles and responsibilities, implementation of work programme, pattern of sharing of usufructs and conflict resolution.

Suggesting a Relationship with Panchayats, that lets JFM Committees benefit from the administrative and financial position and organizational capacity, while maintaining the “separate non-political identity of the JFM Committees as ‘guardian of forests’ ”. Secondly, benefits from NTFP sales should be shared with all members of the gram sabha including the JFM committees.

What is an Eco-Development Committee

An Eco-Development Committee (EDC) is similar to JFMCs, but meant for villages in Protected Areas and their buffer zones. Their setup, working, role, responsibilities, powers, funds etc. are as per the state level orders. Their area of operation is restricted to protected Areas, and forest and non-forest areas near protected areas. EDCs are set up with twin objectives – to protect wildlife and other biodiversity, and also undertake eco-development activities in the villages.

Rationale for JFMC/EDCs

These JFMCs/EDCs are constituted so that:

•  The investment climate in forestry sector is enhanced as rural communities participate in forest protection and management.
•  Rural communities are equal partners in the protection and management of forests
• They control the management of forest lands and community lands by both members and non members.
• They get a say in the objectives of management of their local forests
•  They are motivated to contribute their time, effort and knowledge via the mechanism of the JFMC/ EDC and their representatives in the Executive Committee to protect and manage the forest.
•  They derive direct benefits from sustainable use of the forest
•  They get a significant share in the returns from timber both for self-use, as well as for reinvestment in the forest.
• To develop local leadership for bigger role in future.

Setting up a JFMC: Membership and Registration

All adult members residing within the revenue boundaries of the area where a JFMC is being proposed are eligible and must be made members. The area could be a village or group of villages, a hamlet, or a combination of whole villages and hamlets of other villages, depending on location and historical relations and forest use patterns

Membership criteria are as per the JFM resolution of the state. State should “Provide quote from resolution”

Membership for a JFMC is open for all members of the gram sabha – i.e. voting adults. (in some states membership is open to one male and one female member of each household).

The facilitator (Forest Guard or representative from Forest Department) should make an attempt to inform all adults about the process of setting up a JFMC, the rationale of membership and emphasize that all families are eligible and should be made members. Assistance may be sought from the panchayat and NGOs and other community based groups – e.g. mahila dals, youth groups, SHGs and any individuals or groups that had earlier tried to protect the forest.

Conflict Resolution

Forests are the most valuable Natural Resource, which have been nurturing the need and greed of man since time immemorial. They are the source of timber, water, fuel and fodder and are looked upon as the most critical link in photosynthesis and as a repository of biodiversity having an immense importance for global eco-systems. While the need based utilization conforms to the norms of sustainable utilization, greed often leads to unsustainable extraction leading to degradation of the resource as well as generating more conflicts.

In the process of sustainable management of forests and natural resources, one can’t deny the role of local communities who are dependent upon them for their livelihood. These communities have been managing these resources in their own traditional and indigenous ways. Today, the collaborative management of the natural resources has increased the number of stakeholders in this sector, which is not limited to the foresters and the villagers, there are many others. This has increased the possibilities of conflicts.

Externally Aided Projects and schemes of Central and State Governments are implemented through JFM approach including the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, the National Afforestation Programme (NAP).

 Recently the concept of JFM plus is gaining momentum by including the livelihood concerns of the communities in addition to conservation and management of forests. This concept also addresses the drivers of degradation while gainfully providing employment to the people.

The approach has also been envisaged in the recently launched Green India mission which proposed to increase quality of forest cover in 5 million ha and increase in forest cover in another 5 milllion ha. The JFMCs is one of the overarching institutions in the implementation of the scheme together with other institutions especially in non forest areas. The regform agenda in GIM implementation has also brought out further strengthening of JFMCs by revamping them as bodies of Gram Sabha.

Current status

After the initial successes in West Bengal and Haryana, the JFM schemes received national importance in the legislation of 1988 and thrust in the Guidelines of 1998. As of 2000 27 states of the Indian Union had various JFM schemes with over 63,000 FPCs involved in the joint management of over 1400,000 km² of forested land. In 2010 the areas increased to 2460000 km2 was managed by more than 112896 committees with around 14500000 families getting benefit from JFM programme.