NEW DELHI: The Centre has asked the state governments to prepare action plans with defined timelines to oversee the management of community forest resources (CFR) stipulated under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) have jointly written to the chief secretaries of the states and UTs, emphasising the need to utilise resources available through government schemes, including forestry funds, to develop the management plans. This newspaper has seen the letter.
CFR is a distinct category of rights established under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. Under Section 3(1)(i) of the Act, a village or community has traditionally used forest resources as customary common land within its traditional or customary boundaries, which may include reserved and protected forests, and other protected areas.
The idea of community forest rights under the FRA empowers communities to create sustainable management plans, which the forest department would use to prepare its working plans. Lack of awareness among gram sabhas and resistance from forest officials have hindered the implementation of these provisions, according to studies.
Individual forest rights, granting legal rights over land to forest-dwelling families, have seen better success. In 2023, in response to bureaucratic resistance, the Centre has amended rules to shift from community-led planning to officials-led planning. Now, gram sabhas must formulate plans based on the forest department’s working plans. To facilitate this process, a district-level CFR monitoring committee has been created.
This committee will act as a facilitator for coordination between the forest department and gram sabhas to promote sustainable forest management through participatory approaches. In their letter, both the ministries urged states to prepare community forest resource management plans through convergence of resources available under central and state schemes, including forestry funds. This approach is crucial as CFR areas are often situated within larger forest landscapes. Interventions supported through forestry funds at the landscape level can enhance CFR management.
