Local community attitudes toward forests outside protected areas in India: impact of legal awareness, trust, and participation

The success of long-term sustainable management of natural resources depends on local people’s support. Assessing local people’s attitudes, taking into account their needs, and respecting their opinions should become a management priority. In India, in the last 20 years, community needs and aspirati...

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Main Authors: Macura, B., Zorondo-Rodríguez, F., Grau-Satorras, M., Demps, K., Laval, M., García, C.A., Reyes García, Victoria
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/20870
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author Macura, B.
Zorondo-Rodríguez, F.
Grau-Satorras, M.
Demps, K.
Laval, M.
García, C.A.
Reyes García, Victoria
author_browse Demps, K.
García, C.A.
Grau-Satorras, M.
Laval, M.
Macura, B.
Reyes García, Victoria
Zorondo-Rodríguez, F.
author_facet Macura, B.
Zorondo-Rodríguez, F.
Grau-Satorras, M.
Demps, K.
Laval, M.
García, C.A.
Reyes García, Victoria
author_sort Macura, B.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The success of long-term sustainable management of natural resources depends on local people’s support. Assessing local people’s attitudes, taking into account their needs, and respecting their opinions should become a management priority. In India, in the last 20 years, community needs and aspirations in forest management were handled through Joint Forest Management with varying degrees of success. Recently, the Forest Rights Act (2006) was passed to recognize and vest forest rights in forest dwelling communities. This major policy development is still in implementation, but little is known about how this devolution process will affect people’s attitudes toward forests. In this paper, we analyze associations between attitudes toward state controlled forests (Reserved Forests) and (i) awareness about the Forest Right Act, (ii) attitudes toward the State Forest Department, and (iii) participation in forest management groups of mostly tribal forest dwellers in the district of Kodagu (Karnataka). We collected information with a structured questionnaire among 247 villagers living under three different land tenure and management regimes: (1) private coffee plantations, (2) Reserved Forest, and (3) National Park. The results of the multivariate analyses show that people are more likely to appreciate Reserved Forests if they have more knowledge about the Forest Rights Act and if they have positive attitudes toward the State Forest Department. A sobering result in our sample is that participation in formal forest management groups is negatively associated to attitudes toward Reserved Forests, suggesting the Joint Forest Management model doesn’t necessarily help the transition from coercion to consent. Increasing local people awareness about their rights and improving their relations with the formal forest stewards remain priorities for sustainable forest management to emerge in India.
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spelling CGSpace208702025-01-24T14:13:10Z Local community attitudes toward forests outside protected areas in India: impact of legal awareness, trust, and participation Macura, B. Zorondo-Rodríguez, F. Grau-Satorras, M. Demps, K. Laval, M. García, C.A. Reyes García, Victoria anthropology attitudes reserved forests national parks The success of long-term sustainable management of natural resources depends on local people’s support. Assessing local people’s attitudes, taking into account their needs, and respecting their opinions should become a management priority. In India, in the last 20 years, community needs and aspirations in forest management were handled through Joint Forest Management with varying degrees of success. Recently, the Forest Rights Act (2006) was passed to recognize and vest forest rights in forest dwelling communities. This major policy development is still in implementation, but little is known about how this devolution process will affect people’s attitudes toward forests. In this paper, we analyze associations between attitudes toward state controlled forests (Reserved Forests) and (i) awareness about the Forest Right Act, (ii) attitudes toward the State Forest Department, and (iii) participation in forest management groups of mostly tribal forest dwellers in the district of Kodagu (Karnataka). We collected information with a structured questionnaire among 247 villagers living under three different land tenure and management regimes: (1) private coffee plantations, (2) Reserved Forest, and (3) National Park. The results of the multivariate analyses show that people are more likely to appreciate Reserved Forests if they have more knowledge about the Forest Rights Act and if they have positive attitudes toward the State Forest Department. A sobering result in our sample is that participation in formal forest management groups is negatively associated to attitudes toward Reserved Forests, suggesting the Joint Forest Management model doesn’t necessarily help the transition from coercion to consent. Increasing local people awareness about their rights and improving their relations with the formal forest stewards remain priorities for sustainable forest management to emerge in India. 2011 2012-06-04T09:15:16Z 2012-06-04T09:15:16Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/20870 en Macura, B., Zorondo-Rodríguez, F., Grau-Satorras, M., Demps, K., Laval, M., Garcia, C.A., Reyes-García, V. 2011. Local community attitudes toward forests outside protected areas in India: impact of legal awareness, trust, and participation . Ecology and Society 16 (3) :10. ISSN: 1708-3087.
spellingShingle anthropology
attitudes
reserved forests
national parks
Macura, B.
Zorondo-Rodríguez, F.
Grau-Satorras, M.
Demps, K.
Laval, M.
García, C.A.
Reyes García, Victoria
Local community attitudes toward forests outside protected areas in India: impact of legal awareness, trust, and participation
title Local community attitudes toward forests outside protected areas in India: impact of legal awareness, trust, and participation
title_full Local community attitudes toward forests outside protected areas in India: impact of legal awareness, trust, and participation
title_fullStr Local community attitudes toward forests outside protected areas in India: impact of legal awareness, trust, and participation
title_full_unstemmed Local community attitudes toward forests outside protected areas in India: impact of legal awareness, trust, and participation
title_short Local community attitudes toward forests outside protected areas in India: impact of legal awareness, trust, and participation
title_sort local community attitudes toward forests outside protected areas in india impact of legal awareness trust and participation
topic anthropology
attitudes
reserved forests
national parks
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/20870
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