Working Papers

The State of Gujarat has a very poor forest cover both in terms of size and quality. It has only about 9.6 per cent of its total geographical area recorded as forestland. Only about 64 per cent of the recorded forestland has an actual forest cover. Further, only about 50 per cent of the actual forest cover is in the form of dense forest, i.e., having a crown density of 40 per cent or more. The remaining forest cover is only in the form of open forest, i.e., having a crown density of 10 per cent or more but less than 40 per cent. In the wake of the National Forest Policy 1988 and further guidelines from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India in June 1990, the Forest Department of Gujarat passed a resolution in March 1991 to rehabilitate the degraded forestlands through Joint Forest Management (JFM) by involving village communities and voluntary organisations. The actual forest cover of Gujarat has, however, increased only by about 5.6 per cent during 1991-97. Most of this increase in forest cover has taken place in just one district, namely, Kachchh. In the remaining districts, the forest cover has either decreased or increased by a very small magnitude. There are many policy level and managerial issues that need to be sorted out to promote JFM in Gujarat at a faster pace. Some of these issues are related to (i) the process of approval and signing of the agreement by the Forest Department, (ii) provision of technical guidance, (iii) sharing arrangements in final harvest, (iv) right of withdrawal by the Forest Department, (v) availability of funds, (vi) lack of co-operation among stakeholders, (vii) membership criteria, and (viii) participation by people in decision making.