The designation of Protected Areas (PAs) for biodiversity conservation had had negative implications for communities that derive their sustenance from such areas. Apart from restrictions on resource use, there have also been instances of people being displaced from areas that they had inhabited and that had been designated subsequently as PAs.

The involvement of local communities in protecting and conserving forests has become a priority concern with aid agencies, governmental departments, NGO's and others concerned with biodiversity conservation, to the extent that participatory forest conservation has become a buzzword in conservation circles.

The National Forest Policy (NFP) of 1988 marked a watershed in the way forests were perceived by the State Forest Departments.

The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), formulated from 2000 to 2003, was envisaged as a comprehensive action plan for conserving biodiversity in India, that would adequately reflect the aspirations of the hitherto marginalised peoples who have a direct stake in biodiversity conservation.

There is an increasing interest in community-based forest management as a potential approch for improving forest governance. India is among the few countries in the world where such an approach - called Joint Forest Management (JFM)-has not only been successfully introduced but also achieved large-scale implementation, covering 18% of all state forests.

This article empirically demonstrates that the European and US globalisation and capitalism in agriculture, food and the agro-industry since the mid-20th century have been supported and powered by subsidies (which at present is 50 per cent of the value of agricultural production in Europe and the US) and technological advances in the cultivation of

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