Forest issues often concern large amounts of money, long time frames, huge areas of land and diverse livelihoods. This report draws the main findings from a series of six country studies from Costa Rica, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe and from a review of international policy initiatives.

India's biodiversity is rich, often unique and increasingly endangered. India is one of the twelve megadiversity countries in the world, that collectively account for 60-70 percent of the world's biodiversity. Its ten biogeographic zones represent a broad range of ecosystems.

This book offers the first comprehensive examination of revolutionary changes occurring in the management of India's forests. It also explores the historical roots of deforestat-ion, the alienation of tribal peoples, and their reentry into resource management. The institutional, economic, ecological, and political implications of this historic transition in forest control are critically discussed.