Sustainable forest management has been recognized as an important aspect of sustainable development during Earth Summit in 1992 at Rio because a large proportion of human population is directly/indirectly dependent on forests and the forests also provide a number of goods and services that are essential for human society.

Root to Canopy: regenerating forests though community-state partnerships provides comprehensive coverage of the changes made in the Indian forestry sector during the last decade with respect to Joint Forest Management. The book covers the evolution of JFM in India, the experience of each state, and emerging issues.

This paper is based on three case studies, each belonging to one of the three types of institutional structures: self-initiated, NGO-promoted, and government sponsored JFM. The basic objectives of three instutitional structures have been strengthening ecological security and meeting the subsistence biomass needs of the local people.