Joint Forest Management (JFM) and Role of NGOs: Cases from Rajasthan, India

"Despite various weaknesses, joint forest management (JFM) has become a dominant forest management mechanism in India during last two decades, and has spread across the country. Although a sizeable literature exists on JFM, little attention has been paid to understanding the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in strengthening JFM as an institution for common-pool resource (CPR) management. Based on a comparative analysis of four JFM committees from Rajasthan, two of which were supported by an NGO and the other two by the forest department of the government, this paper highlights the critical role that NGOs can play in making JFM successful. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of several institutional aspects of these committees, and discusses the factors that enabled the NGO-supported institutions to perform better than the other ones. Finally, it argues for an effective integration of NGOs in JFM implementation, and also recommends nesting of JFM within the Panchayati Raj Institutions."