OVER the past decade, "social forestry" has become a catchword among the policymakers, environmentalists and development professionals. However, it has not made much headway in becoming a people's programme and continues to be a government initiative. It is now recognised that apart from being an afforestation venture, it involves a series of interrelated activities which culminate in a flow of benefits directly or indirectly to the community. The book, therefore, argues for a "bottom-up" development pattern of decentralising in decision-making by encouraging local institutions and groups to participate in the process of programme planning and implementation.

"Social forestry," says the book, "is not merely a plantation activity, but a process of socio-economic change, with continuous participation of local people at all levels of programme implementation". The book provides detailed information on various models of social forestry adopted by 6 states (Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) by analysing experiences during programme implementation. Even though the government adopted an uniform policy to generate social forestry programmes, statewise variations exist due to specific factors like local agro element conditions, the availability of land, etc.

In explaining the various models, the authors deal with the basic principles and strategies adopted by the state, inter alia, in the context of project objectives, extent, and status of land available, programme components and targets, physical achievements and varied organisational and management strategies. They identify the variations in approach and the common components of the models. For example, the states varied widely due to the availability of different categories of land, which in turn governs the selections of the models.

Due to the meagre availability of community lands, in West Bengal, UP and Gujarat, afforestation activities are on private land and in farm forestry, while, on the other hand, Tamil Nadu emphasises "tank foreshore" plantations because there are a significant number of tanks in the area (38,000 tanks spread over 558,000 ha).

Although the stated objective of social forestry is to enable people develop plantations of forest species to meet the requirements of fuel, fodder and timber, the book points out that there is a divergence between the felt need of the people and the national priority. As the fuel and fodder needs of the people was linked to deforestation, policymakers assumed that, given government support, people would willingly invest their labour and capital in raising them. This was inept planning: farmers prefer to plant income-generating trees, because fuel and fodder are collected free. The authors suggest that a balance between the 2 requirements has to be met, while deciding on species mix and utilisation of land resources for various models.

While discussing the management strategies, and land use, the book tends to overlook a fine distinction between Common Property Resources (CPR) and open access lands. As an institution, it is important to distinguish between them. The CPR belongs to the community as a whole in which the members of a group follow locally accepted rules and norms. In an open access situation, no single individual has a definite claim over the benefits of the resources.

In the section on people's participation, the authors examine the various dimensions of local involvement in decision-making, programme implementation, cost-benefit analyses, etc. It would have been more informative had they dealt with particular participatory institutions evolved in the respective states -- van panchayat in UP, pani panchayat in Maharashtra, Forest Protection Committees (FPCs) in West Bengal, and their role in social forestry programmes. Such examples provide scope for replication. For instance, with the success of the people's initiatives in Sukhomajri, many villages in the lower Shivalik range have adopted the model with a difference, since they are exogenously developed institutions.

The authors are silent about why women's participation in community forestry has been a success story in Madhya Pradesh than in any other state. While claiming to be analytical, they seem to be more descriptive while dealing with such issues. However, the volume is a simple presentation of a mass of complex issues aided by empirical data and facts. The book is not merely a treatise on social forestry but also an analytical reference manual of various models.

---Pampa Mukherjee is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.