Jagmohan Sharma , Madan Prasad Singh

Abstract

Forest-fringe communities usually depend on forest to meet their day-to-day sustenance and biomass needs. More than a third of notified forests in India are being managed under joint forest planning and management (JFPM) programme involving forest-fringe communities and state forest departments. These jointly managed forests have degraded due to over-use in the past. At present the focus of management in such jointly managed forests is on their rejuvenation and rationalized use. By implication, in the long term JFPM is carbon positive approach, and biodiversity conservation and livelihoods strengthening are its byproducts. REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus) envisions the same with added incentives from tradable carbon units that would improve the flow of revenue benefits for forest-fringe communities. Under the emerging REDD+ scenario, JFPM is likely to provide a ready foundation to initiate REDD+ that is likely to enhance the resilience of forests as well as communities in face of climate change. Forest management under REDD+ regime is not likely to be much different from that under JFPM at the ground level however its administration is expected to involve several anticipated issues and other completely new issues. The present study looks at the present forest management regime under JFPM to assess the opportunity for forest-fringe communities to participate in REDD+ programme.

Keywords

Communities, Deforestation, Forest Degradation, Joint Forest Management, REDD+

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Madan Prasad Singh ¹, Sanjay Singh ²

Affiliations
1 P.O. New Forest, Dehradun (Uttarakhand), IN
2 Institute of Forest Productivity, Ranchi, IN

Abstract

Forest department in Jharkhand undertook large scale plantations in the forestland. Trees planted on forest lands for primarily environmental benefits are being managed as per the needs of local people who have rights in those forests. These plantations have enhanced the forest cover by 942 Km² between 2001 and 2011. These plantations created all over the state provided an excellent opportunity to evaluate the growth performance of timber species in field conditions. This paper presents the growth performance of timber species under plantation forestry in different agroclimatic conditions (subzones or regions) in the state of Jharkhand. The scientific understanding of growth performance of these species would help the entrepreneurs and forest department in exploring the different combination of species for economic viability as well as ecological benefits. There is nearly 2.5 million ha fallow agricultural land area available for tree planting under private forestry in Jharkhand. However, among other support systems for tree cultivation on such lands, the choice of species and management practices are important component for tree growers.

Keywords

Forest Plantations, Growth Performance, Timber Species, Agro-Climatic Zones, Jharkhand.

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