Integrating National Forestry Initiatives in India with International Climate Change Policy

background

This study reviews forest policies in India (eg. 1988 Forest Policy, 1990 Joint Forest Management, and 2006 Recognition of Forest Rights) and their impacts to assess how they can complement and inform international climate change mitigation instruments. It also seeks to determine how communities can sustain their system of forest management and retain/obtain rights to land and resources under these instruments.

Conclusions & Takeaways

The overriding priorities for India are economic and social development. Additionally a regular flow of NTFPs is more valuable to communities than a share in timber; NTFPs are the greatest factor in achieving increased income.  A major limitation of some of the modeling studies is that they fail to consider any of the relevant socio-economic dimensions and on the ground realities and do not focus on long-term sustainability. There is a need to heed the experiences from India’s evolving forest policies, particularly those concerning land tenure and resource rights, which lack specificity within international mechanisms and allow for the active engagement of rural communities.