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Local institutions as mediators of the impact of markets on non-timber forest product extraction in central India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2009

RUCHA GHATE ,
DEEPSHIKHA MEHRA  and
HARINI NAGENDRA
RUCHA GHATE*
Affiliation:
SHODH, The Institute for Research and Development, 50 Kinkhede Layout, Bharat Nagar, Nagpur 440033, Maharashtra, India
DEEPSHIKHA MEHRA
Affiliation:
SHODH, The Institute for Research and Development, 50 Kinkhede Layout, Bharat Nagar, Nagpur 440033, Maharashtra, India Department of Humanities, Shri Ramdeobaba Kamala Nehru Engineering College, Katol Road, Nagpur-440013, Maharashtra, India
HARINI NAGENDRA
Affiliation:
Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change (CIPEC), Indiana University, 408 N Indiana Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47408, USA Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), 659 5th A Main, Hebbal, Bangalore 560024, India
*
*Correspondence: Dr Rucha Ghate Tel: +91 712 2555625 Fax: +91 712 2549521/2563356 e-mail: ruchaghate@gmail.com
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Summary

Non-timber forest product (NTFP) extraction contributes significantly to household incomes across India. This study aimed to understand the relationship between market proximity, NTFP dependence and forest condition, and assess how it is mediated by local forest institutions. Three villages with different degrees of access to markets for sale of forest products, in an area of high poverty and forest dependence in the dry tropical forest belt in central India, were examined. The village with the greatest access to the market had a greater proportion of income coming from non-forest sources, the least dependence on NTFP harvest and the most degraded forests. The strongest forest institution was found in the village closest to the market, owing largely to its access to support from the Forest Department. This emphasizes the extreme vulnerability of forest villages located distant from local markets, which are forced to depend on forests for most of their livelihood and income requirements, and left to deal with degrading forests in the absence of technical and financial support from the Forest Department. There is a critical need to strengthen local institutions for sustainable forest management in such villages, and to provide them with alternate sources of income generation.

Keywords

biodiversityforest dependencejoint forest managementlocal institutionsMaharashtranon-timber forest productsIndia
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 51 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2009

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