This presentation by CIFOR scientist Kiran Asher provides information on interventions in hilly/mountainous landscapes in India, which have two main objectives: poverty alleviation and increasing forest cover. The interventions cover watershed restoration, infrastructure development for the local communities to support eco-restoration and eco-development, social forestry program and agroforestry.

1. Conservation and forest development in
hilly/mountainous landscapes of India
Kiran
Asher,
Ph.
D.
CIFOR,
Bogor,
Indonesia

2. § Governments and non-government
agencies promote policies for reforestation,
afforestation, forest management, and
agroforestry on sloping lands to:
• Mitigate soil erosion, water loss, land
degradation,
• Enhance specific ecosystem goods and
services (often for people downstream),
• Conserve biodiversity
• Promote sustainable development
Interventions on sloping lands in Asia:
Selected observations

3. • China: Conversion of Cropland to Forest
Program (CCFP)
• India: dam building, cash crop
production in the North and northeast,
biodiversity conservation in the south
and southwest
• Thailand: Water provision for lowland
rice cultivation
• Indonesia: Reforestation for PES,
timber production
Examples of interventions…

4. Conversion of Cropland to Forest
Program (CCFP) in China

5. Teesta River, Sikkim and West Bengal

6. Smallholder forest management in Leksono,
Wonosobo

7. Water for Rice Production, Thailand

9. Colonial Forest Legislation
§ 1865, 1894, 1927: Indian Forest Act (IFA)-
Forest control and management for timber
extraction. Forests designated as Protected
forests (PF) and reserve forests (RF)
§ 1878: Forest Act –communities could seek
concessions to use forests (for NTFPs such as
fuel, fodder, etc) in Village Forests (VF)
Forest Legislation in India

10. § 1952: National Forest Policy - Afforestation,
reforestation, regulation of shifting cultivation
(60% forest cover on of slopes,20% on plains),
§ 1988: National Forest Policy, manage forests to
provide fuel wood, fodder, timber and non-timber
forest products to meet the needs of local people
living adjacent to forests
§ Also encourage community or social forestry, and
“farm forestry” to meet local needs.
§ 1990: Joint Forest Management (JFM) rural forest
dependent communities to “partner” with Forest
Department to plant, restore and manage
degraded forests.
Forest Legislation in Independent
India

11. § Working Group on Forests, 11th Five Year Plan
(2007-2012): emphasis on the inclusion of other
natural ecosystems (including treeless areas and
trees outside forests) to forest cover to achieve
the targets set in 1988 National Forest Policy
(increase forest cover to 33% of national area).
§ It also recommended that tribal farmers should
take up farm forestry; support should be
provided to farmers for extension of agroforestry
and farm forestry so that the fuel wood demand
can be met from them
§ 2014 National Agroforestry Policy
Forest Legislation in Independent
India (contd)

12. § “sloping lands” not a category in Indian
policy documents
§ Indian policy recognizes hill areas,
mountain areas, uplands
§ Uplands of India (328.73 million hectares
or 16% of total geographic area are
located in
– the Himalayas (51.43 million hectares
– Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, and
– Vindhya Satpura Hills
Hilly and Mountain areas in India

14. § Complex biogeographies, social dynamics, and politics
especially in border areas
§ Multiple forms of agroforestry practices, swidden agriculture
§ complex property regimes mostly unconnected and illegible
to mainstream markets, and adherence to traditional forms
of social organization have been significant in marking upland
areas as ‘backward’. Eg Pahadi or ghati – often derogative
terms for upland peoples
§ Constitutional provisions for self governance, safeguards
against exploitation by way of prohibitions against land sale,
entry of non local people and ‘Scheduled Tribe’ status for the
citizens of these regions have been offered to most hilly or
upland regions of India.
Characteristics of Indian upland areas

15. Interventions in upland and hilly areas in
India
§ Watershed Development to arrest land
degradation and watershed restoration
§ Hill Area Development Programme and Western
Ghats Development Programme: infrastructure
development for the local communities to focus
on eco-restoration and eco-development.
§ Farm Forestry Programmes, and later social
forestry programs to grow trees to meet the fuel,
fodder, food needs of rural people
§ Agroforestry: multiple goals including increasing
forest cover, meeting subsistence needs, and
supplying commercial products

16. Interventions in upland and hilly areas in
India (contd)
§ Programmes to address the problems of shifting
cultivation (jhum) practices and reduce them
§ High investment infrastructure projects: large
scale public and private investments for mining
and hydropower. The plans to bring economic
growth and development to these ‘backward’
areas have led to “forest clearance” and large
scale official diversion of forest land in hill areas
for these non forest uses.
§ Conservation and Biodiversity Protection in
national parks, reserves, and state forests (most
of India’s forests)

17. Watershed
Development
Approach
l Objec&ve-­‐
Land
and
water
resource
management
for
sustainable
produc&on.
l Approach
used
in:
– Drought
Prone
Area
Program
– Integrated
Wasteland
Development
Project
– Na&onal
Watershed
Development
program
in
rainfed
Areas
– Hill
Areas
&
Western
Ghats
Development
Program
l World
Bank,
SDC,
DANIDA,
DFID
&
others
have
been
involved.
l User
Communi&es
are
involved
in
planning,
implementa&on
and
monitoring
of
all
ac&vi&es
under
the
program.
l Afforesta&on
&
Forest
Management
make
important
measures
of
the
programs.

18. North Eastern Region Community
Resource Management Project for
Upland Areas
l Joint Program between North East Council,
International Fund for agriculture Development and
ICIMOD. Designed from 1994-1997.
l Project villages selected on the criteria such as
dependence on jhum, small farm acreage, rainfed
cultivation and prevalence of disadvantaged families.
l Objective was to improve livelihoods through better
management of natural resources.
l Reduction in area under jhum cultivation,
development of terraced and irrigated lands and
uptake of diversified cropping particularly
horticultural crops have been some of the
achievement of the program.

19. Local involvement in Forest Management
l Na&onal
Commission
on
Agriculture
(1976):
“Trees
for
rural
demands
to
be
grown
on
the
land
available
to
village
people.”
Thus
emanated
the
term
'Social
Forestry'-­‐
to
take
pressure
off
the
forests
&
makes
use
of
fallow
and
degraded
lands.
Schemes
under
social
forestry:
- Farm
forestry-­‐
prac&ced
non-­‐commercially
on
private
lands
for
soil
conserva&on,
as
wind
shelters,
etc.
- Community
Forestry-­‐
trees
planted
&
protected
by
the
community
on
its
land
- Agroforestry-­‐
trees
in
combina&on
with
agricultural
crops
on
marginal
private
lands
- Extension
Forestry-­‐
plan&ng
of
trees
on
sides
of
roads,
canals,
railways,
etc.

20. Local Involvement in Forest
Management
l Na&onal
Forest
Policy
1988
acknowledged
the
need
for
people's
par&cipa&on
on
forestry
related
programmes.
l MoEF
Guidelines
in
1990
for
the
involvement
of
communi&es
in
regenera&on
of
forests
through
Joint
Forest
Management
(JFM).
l Green
India
Mission
in
2013-­‐
land
improvement
through
village
level
ins&tu&ons.

21. Rice paddies on terraces, Sikkim, India

22. Small holder farm, Dzongu, N. Sikkim

23. Thank you