An Analysis of People’s Participation in different Stages of Joint Forest Management Programme in Himachal Pradesh

Joint Forest Management (JFM) is an effective strategy to involve people in the regeneration and management of forests. Forest Rights Act, 2006 provided an excellent framework to manage community forest resources with the help of gram sabha and link it to other developmental schemes. It was observed that forestry programmes failed to draw people participation. The present study was an attempt to investigate the level of people participation in JFM in Himachal Pradesh. There was a moderate level of participation of cent at an overall level. People participation was found to be highest in the maintenance stage (61.53 percent), followed by the planning stage (60.29 percent) and the implementation stage (51.32 percent). A focus on income and work activity with incremental profits is needed to increase people's participation in JFM operations. The involvement of formal and informal organisations can be extended to increase awareness of the importance of such programmes.