Forestry is the second largest land-use in India after agriculture, and an estimated 275 million people in rural areas depend on forests for at least part of their livelihoods. This study focusing mainly on community-based forestry outside protected areas, indicates that forests offer vast potential for poverty reduction and rural economic growth in India while also supporting critical national conservation goals. It debates the continued evolution of joint forest management in India by presenting research conducted within India and relevant examples from other regions.

Forestry is the second largest land-use in India after agriculture, and an estimated 275 million people in rural areas depend on forests for at least part of their livelihoods. This study focusing mainly on community-based forestry outside protected areas, indicates that forests offer vast potential for poverty reduction and rural economic growth in India while also supporting critical national conservation goals. It debates the continued evolution of joint forest management in India by presenting research conducted within India and relevant examples from other regions.

Recent trends show that the proportion of what we call the

The purpose of this article is to describe and evaluate the ecotourism project at the Periyar Tiger Reserve (Thekkady), in Kerala, India. The Ministry of Environment has undertaken to promote local community participation in forest management, through the

This paper examines the main ways in which Payments for Environmental Services (PES) might affect poverty. PES may reduce poverty mainly by making payments to poor natural resource managers in upper watersheds. The extent of the impact depends on how many PES participants are in fact poor, on the poor’s ability to participate, and on the amounts paid. Although PES programs are not designed for poverty reduction, there can be important synergies when program design is well thought out and local conditions are favorable.

The International Union for the Conversation of Nature (IUCN) is the lead organization in the selection, establishment and management of protected areas. In order to accomplish its advisory management function, IUCN maintains a worldwide list

Livestock depredation by the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is an increasingly contentious issue in Himalayan villages, especially in or near protected areas. Mass attacks in which as many as 100 sheep and goats are killed in a single incident inevitably result in retaliation by local villagers.

The policy discourse on management of protected areas (PAs) has come a long way from purely conservationist strategies to participatory approaches. In between these two there is a wide range of options that combine different elements of resource sharing, market regulation and privatization.

As a young man, David Western spent four years herding cattle and goats with red-robed Masai tribesmen in the Kenyan bush. There, he found something remarkable. While cattle grazing is believed to lead to deforestation and the destruction of wildlife, Western learned what the Masai already knew: his cattle fertilized the land and actually improved its diversity.

Concepts of environmental conservation and management are directly linked to the practice of development. Development has been seen as not only an instrument to increase production, but also to remove poverty. But anti-poverty schemes in India have not been sustainable and are conditioned by the kind of finance available for their implementation.

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