INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANIZATION

TITLE

SERIAL NUMBER

COMMITTEE

SUBMITTED BY

ORIGINAL LANGUAGE

SUMMARY

ITTO PROJECT DOCUMENT

OPERATIONAL STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY DEVELOPMENT WITH COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN INDIA

PD 37/00 Rev.l (F)

REFORESTATION AND FOREST MANAGEMENT

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

ENGLISH

The purpose of the project is to operationalise, through actual implementation on a pilot scale, an appropriate set of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management in eight selected forest management units (Forest Divisions) in the state of Madhya Pradesh, representing the diverse situations encountered. The development objective ofthe project is to create conditions for, and thus help achieve, sustainable forestry development in the state of Madhya Pradesh, which in tum will serve as a model to be replicated in the rest of the country.

The specific objectives of the project, therefore, are: (i) to develop and operationalise a functioning system ofC&I for sustainable forestry development with community participation, and (ii) to establish institutional capability for implementing C&I for sustainable forestry development.

These specific objectives will be achieved through the project outputs envisaged, namely: a well defined C&I system for SFMlSFD in the State of Madhya Pradesh and for selected FMUs within the State; a (medium to long term) C&I plan for the State; manuals and guidelines for operationalising C&I for SFMlSFD; eight pilot FMUs selected and established and C&I implemented therein; a fully established expert Forest Management Information System; increased commitment for SFMlSFD at the national level; development of necessary human resources, strengthened institutional system and establishment of participatory arrangements for implementing C&I for SFMlSFD; a viable system of forest valuation; planning and action for C&I related research and technology development; and a system for monitoring and evaluation of C&I implementation.

EXECUTING AGENCY

COOPERATING GOVERNMENTS

DURATION

APPROXIMATE STARTING DATE

BUDGET AND PROPOSED SOURCES OF FINANCE

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF FOREST MANAGEMENT (IIFM)

48 MONTHS

TO BE DETERMINED

Source

ITTO Gov't of India

TOTAL

Contribution in US$

594,678 632,300

1,226,978

Local Currency Equivalent

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

PART I. CONTEXT

1. Origin

Background

This project stems from a pre-project: Sustainable Tropical Forest Management through Community Participation in India (PD 8/99-F), supported by ITTO, which was implemented between October 1999 and April 2000. The outcome of the pre-project clearly indicated the urgent need for a larger initiative, to be undertaken in a phased manner, as elaborated in this document.

Additionally, a number of recent events at the global, national and state levels have served to highlight the urgency and importance of the proposal presented here. These include: the reports of IPF (1996 and 1997), Antalya Declaration of the Xlth World Forestry Congress (1997), Report on Global Environmental Outlook 2000 of UNEP (1999), Report of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development (1999), National Forestry Action Plan- India prepared by MOEF (1999), Draft Report of the Chandi Prasad Bhat Committee appointed by the Government of India on Forestry Sector Action Plan for the next 20 years (March, 2000), the National Task Force on Sustainable Forest Management appointed by Govt. of India and convened by IIFM (2000), State Forestry Action Plan of Madhya Pradesh (1997) and reports relating to the World Bank supported Forestry Project in Madhya Pradesh (1998,1999).

All of these have emphasized the need to halt deforestation and forest degradation and stressed the urgency in undertaking consistent measures of sustainable forestry development.

Global Concern

Following the Earth Summit, and as envisaged in the Forest Principles (1992), a number of initiatives were taken up at various levels to support sustainable forest management practices and to promote sustainable forestry development. The need for developing and implementing strict criteria and indicators for SFM was accepted universally as a crucial measure. Several processes and initiatives (such as those of ITTO, Helsinki, Montreal, Tarapoto, Central America/Lepaterique, Dry zone Africa, Near East, Dry zone Asia) were accordingly taken-up to define and refine C&I for SFM, embracing social, economic, ecological and institutional considerations. Eight years after the Earth Summit, however, these processes as it relates to the developing countries, are yet to materialise as concrete action towards Sustainable Forest Management leading to Sustainable Forestry Development (SFM/SFD).

The Indian Situation

Several policy analyses and planning studies have strongly pointed out that the trend during the last 30-40 years has been one of serious environmental decline; and in order to avoid irreversible damages to the ecological as well as economic health of the country it is essential to reverse the trend and to direct it towards sustainable development.

Bio-diversity. India is located at the confluence of three major biogeographic realms - Indo­Malayan, Eurasian and Ethiopian. It ranks as the sixth among the 12 mega-biOdiversity countries of the world. At best, only 20% of its biodiversity has been documented in terms of species, habitats and ecosystems. India has some 126,200 species of bacteria, fungi, plants and animals already identified and described, of which some 17,000 are flowering plants. Of these, flowering plants, nearly 35% are endemic to the country, located chiefly in 26 endemic centres. About 1,500 endemic species are facing varying degrees of threat.

Natural Forests. All documented evidence indicates a continuing deforestation trend in India. No . precise figures are available for the gross and net deforestation (change of forest cover), over time. According to the estimates, India has been able to reduce the rate of deforestation during the last few years. The annual average rate of deforestation fell from about 1.3 million ha in the 1970s to 0.339 million ha in the 1980s and to about 0.129 million ha in 1993/95. However, considering that an important objective of India's national forest policy is to increase the percentage of land effectively under forest cover from about 12% to 33%, even the reduced level of deforestation is abhorrent enough.

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While there has been some improvement in controlling deforestation in India, forest degradation or qualitative loss is continuing. The bio-mass and growing stock of wood in the natural forests of India in 1990 was only 93 tlha and 47 cu m/ha respectively as against an average of 169 tlha and 113 cu m/ha respectively for developing countries. Availability of forest bio-mass per capita in the natural forests of India is only about 6 t, as against an average of 82 t in the developing world. The FSI reports that in 53% of the natural forests, regeneration is either absent or inadequate.

Forest encroachments, shifting cultivation, planned and unplanned expansion of agriculture, pressures from other forms of land uses, illicit and excessive collection of fuelwood and timber, unscientific harvesting of NWFPs, forest fires and grazing and inadequate investment in forest conservation and development are some of the factors which lead to forest degradation and deforestation.

In the mid 1990s, the estimated extraction of wood has been close to 300 million cu m against the estimated sustainable availability of 127 million cu m. Nearly 90% of the wood produced was used for fuel.

About 75% of all Indians, and 80% of the poor, live in villages. The rising population has forced the rural poor to borrow against the future by depleting the natural resources. The problem is further compounded by the high cattle population of low productivity which are allowed to graze freely in forest areas, causing degradation of forests. This has led to severe erosion, and floods in the lower plains, in addition to the destruction caused by fire and shifting cultivation. Estimates suggest that in addition to denudation of non-agricultural lands, 85 million ha, or 59% of agricultural lands suffer from soil degradation.

Protected Areas. In terms of the area declared as National Parks, Sanctuaries and other 'Reserves', India's achievement in PAs development is Significant. PAs in India cover about 14.8 million ha representing over 20% of the forest area, consisting of 85 National Parks, 448 Wildlife Sanctuaries and 23 Tiger Reserves. However, the condition of several of the PAs are poor, because of fire, grazing and inadequate management. Most PAs are not covered by management plans. Some are below the minimum size required to be effective. People-wildlife interface in several cases are fraught with conflicts and tension.

Forest Plantations. India's achievement in raising forest plantations, in terms of area, has been impressive. Currently, the total area of tree plantations, under different schemes is over 24 million ha. However, in terms of survival, growth and yield, the performance of forest plantations in India has been poor. Based on survival rate and stock density, effective area of forest plantations has been estimated to be about 12 million ha, about 50% of the recorded total. MAl of forest plantations in India varies from about 2 cu ml ha/yr for valuable timber species to about 4 cu m/ha/yr for Eucalyptus and other fast growing species such as Gmelina arborea. This may be compared to an MAl of over 10 cu m/ha/yr generally and above 50 cu m/ha/yr for good quality industrial plantations in different countries.

Inadequacies in site selection and site-species matching, poor planting stock, lack of proper maintenance and protection (from fire, grazing, pests and diseases), lack of timely tendings/thinnings, delays in fund allocation, and lack of adequately trained staff are some of the causes for the situation.

Forest Dwelling Communities. According to the 1991 census, tribal population (scheduled tribes) in India was 67.8 million. It is estimated that some 33 to 60% of the livelihood needs of the tribal population is derived from forests under traditional and customary rights. Some 18 to 22 million tribal people live in or around the forest, arid most of them are engaged in shifting cultivation. The plight of most of the shifting cultivators is generally one of great hardship. Their situation calls for settling of land tenure issues and rationalising the system of shifting cultivation, to make it a viable land use system. Participation of tribal population in forestry activities needs to be facilitated and promoted.

Private Forestry Initiatives. While large scale forestry has been the monopoly of the Government, rural people have been practising a parallel forestry in their farms, homesteads, and community lands to primarily meet the household requirements for fuel, poles, timber and medicinal plants. Several combinations of agro-silvo-pastoral systems are practised by the rural people. Currently the area of private tree planting (under agroforestry, block and line plantations) covers an area of about 7.6 million ha.

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These private initiatives are not supported in commensurate measure by the Government through relevant research, extension, technological packages, input delivery, market information or credit facilities.

Other Aspects. India's forest-based industries have been rather stagnant, due mainly to the non­availability of raw material. No real investment in forest industry has taken place in recent years except for some small additions to pulp and paper and panel products capacity.

"About 90 per cent of the forests in India are owned by Government. Of these 10.248 million ha/representing over 15 per cent of the countries total forests (Pandey, 2000) is managed under the system of Joint Forest Management where Forest Department in collaboration with local communities organized in the form of Village Forest Committees (VFCs)JForest Protection Committees (FPCs) share responsibilities for administering the management, development and benefit sharing. As of February, 2000 there were 36,075 Joint Forest Management Committees (VFCs)JFPCs) jointly managing about 10.248 million hectares of Government forests".

Forestry Situation in the State of Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh, located somewhat in the geographic centre of the country, is the largest state of India, having an area of about 44.3 million ha. It is also one of the poorest. 45% of its population are below poverty line. Dry tropical weather prevails through most of the State. Rainfall ranges from 800 to 1500 mm, increasing from west to east. .

Condition of the Forest. About 13.5 million ha, representing 30.5% of land area of MP is under forest. The forests broadly fall under three types : (i) Dry mixed forests (65.6%), (ii) Dry Teak Forest (17.9%) and (iii) Dry Sal (Shorearobusta) Forest (16.5%). Average growing stock has been estimated to be about 60 cu m/ha. Of the total area under forests some 11.3 million ha are under some form of commercial working (of which about 10 million ha fall under Tribal Sub-plan). About 1.7 million ha are under protected area network. There are also about 0.5 million ha under forest plantations.

The forests of MP constitute catchments of some of the major Indian rivers - Ganga, Yamuna, Mahanadi, Godavari and Narmada.

"In the State of Madhya Pradesh, where the project sites are proposed to be located, about 5.8 million ha. forests are being currently co-managed with the local communities (12,038 VFCs/FPCs). In addition to these jointly managed forests, private forests raised by industries and farmers are also proposed to be included in the 8 pilot project sites. Thus, apart from Government Forest Department the other beneficiaries would be the local communities, private industries and individual farmers.

Pandey, G. (2000) Institutional Mechanisms to Ensure Sustainable Forest Management. Paper presented in the CFA meeting at Delhi, 19-21 April, 2000 (MoEF, New Delhi).

Production Activities. The forests of MP account for about 21 % of India's forests; and it is the largest producer (accounting for about 33%) of wood in the country. MP also accounts for a large percentage of NWFP production.

Forest-based processing industries of MP are hampered by scarcity of raw materials. There are 3 major paper mills, 8 panel products factories, 8 katha (Acacia catechu) mills, 675 beedi (Diospyros melanoxylon leaves used as wrapper) factories and some 4,500 small saw mills in MP. Overall, the forest­based processing units in the State utilise only 50% of the installed capacity. Against a potential raw material intake capability of some 3.0 million cu m, actual intake is only about 1.5 million cu m. Many saw mills work only for about a month a year. Efficiency of the processing units is very low. While good quality timber from MP is sold to other states of India for making high quality furniture and· for construction purposes, about 40% of the wood raw material for industries in the State is "imported" from outside.

Among the NWFPs (and probably among all forest products) beedi leaf (leaf of Dyospyros melanoxylon) is the most important, earning a substantial revenue to the State. 65% of the leaves are sold to buyers outside the State of MP.

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Forest Community. A population of over 20 million (including 15.2 million tribals) lives in and around the forest areas. Some 30,000 villages in MP are located within or close to the forests. 67% of the tribal income is earned from collection of forest products, mainly NWFPs. MP has recognised extensive Nistar rights i.e. free or concessional access to timber, fuel, fodder and NWFPs from forests and village commons.

Deforestation and Forest Degradation. Based on satellite data interpretation, it has been estimated that between 1993 and 1995 there has been a decrease of 23,200 ha in the area under forest cover in MP. At the Field Workshops held as part of the pre-project, the local people expressed grave concern at the continuing disappearance of forests and how it affects the quality of their life.

MP's cattle population is about 45 million, a sizeable percentage of which graze in forests. Grazing incidents in some areas are said to be 10 times the acceptable limit, leading to high degree of forest degradation. Forest floors have been exposed to soil erosion with consequent watershed disturbances. Forest degradation has also affected the natural balance between prey-predators and host­parasites. As a result, the major forest tree species namely teak and sal have been infested by insect pests in an unmanageable proportion. Recently, sal (Shorea robusta, regarded ecologically as a keystone species) trees were attacked by a heart wood borer (Hoplocyrambix spinicornis) killing over 3 million trees and threatening many other species of the ecosystem. Teak, the other most important commercial species is also getting depleted due to lack of natural regeneration, and disappearance of bamboo undergrowth.

The general condition of the forests, and their management in MP calls for consistent improvement to ensure sustainability.

2. Sectoral Policies

National Forest Policy

Since the promulgation of India's first forest policy statement in 1894, there have been several revisions. The current National Forest Policy was approved in 1988.

NFP 1988 lays down over-riding consideration for environmental concerns rather than for commercial interests. It lays special emphasis on: maintenance of environmental stability and restoration of ecological balance; conservation of the country's natural heritage and biological diversity; improved soil and water conservation; increasing forest cover through massive afforestation and social forestry programmes; provision of forest produce requirements to the rural and tribal population; increasing forest productivity; improving forest product (both wood and non-wood) utilisation efficiency; and creating a massive people's movement with the involvement of women, to achieve these objectives and to minimise the pressure on existing forests. The policy also states that industrial wood needs would be met increasingly from farm forestry.

The overall national goal of the 1988 policy was to have a minimum of one-third of the total land area of the country (and 66% in the hills) under forest tree cover. The role of NWFPs, in providing sustenance to tribal population and generating employment and income was specially recognised. The strategy proposed in achieving the objectives included: increasing area under forest cover through afforestation, social forestry and farm forestry; better management of State forests; meeting rights and concessions within carrying capacity of forests; promotion of non-destr!Jctive uses of forests; strict control of diversion of forestlands for non-forestry purposes; effective conservation of wildlife; safeguarding the symbiotic relationship between tribal people and forests; rationalising shifting cultivation; preventing damages to forests from encroachments, fires and grazing; organising captive raw material sources by forest-based industries in collaboration with local farmers; taking recourse to substitution of wood needs wherever feasible; liberalising jmport of wood and wood products; discontinuing distortionary subsidies; strengthening forestry research, extension and education; strengthening institutional aspects and improving financial support for forestry. It was emphasised that forests should not be looked upon as just a source of revenue.

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NFP 1988 has thus internalised relevant criteria for ensuring sustainability of forestry development covering: extent of forest area; health and vitality; productive functions; biological diversity; protective and environmental functions; development and social needs and institutional support framework.

Joint Forest Management. India is committed to the development concept of community forestry. Following the 1988 NFP, MoEF also issued a circular, in 1990, for promoting JFM. The emphaSis has been on formation of Village Forest Committees and empowering them for partiCipatory management of degraded forests, on a benefit sharing basis. JFM has so far been adopted by 22 Indian states. By the end of 1999, around 10.3 million ha of degraded forests in the country were being managed and protected by some 35,000 Forest Protection Committees.

The JFM, as was practiced till 1999; was somewhat restrictive in that it emphasised only the protection and maintenance of degraded forests. A new circular has been issued by the Govt. of India on 11 February, 2000, which envisages extension of JFM to better stocked forests also. However, people's participation should be expanded to include a number of other activities such as PA management, infrastructure development, rationalisation of shifting cultivation and forest-based small-scale enterprises where people's partiCipation can be practised beneficially. Also, incentives should be rational, fair and equitable.

India is a signatory to most International Conventions and Protocols relating to environment and development. As a signatory to the Rio Declaration (1992) and having endorsed the Forest Principles, India is committed to SFM/SFD i.e. to sustaining the ecological, economic, social and cultural functions and roles of forests. India also has an extensive system of forest and environment related laws and legal instruments.

However, a detailed policy analysis carried out as part of the NFAP (1999) indicated that there have been lapses in the implementation of the policy and enforcement of policy instruments. Weaknesses in achieving the policy goals were evident with regard to forest land use, management of natural forests, level of deforestation and land degradation, quality of forest plantations, status of forest protection, conservation of environment, private initiatives in forestry, forest production and utilisation, economic and social contributions, community participation, non-governmental influences in forestry, structure of institutions, research and technology, extension service, capacity and human resourc~ development, and investment trend.

Major conflicts, between forest bureaucracy and the public, have resulted from the differences in interpreting the objectives of forest poliCies in the context of other socio-economic pOlicies. In a number of occasions, the Supreme Court of India have made stringent observations and provided directions for policy enforcement.

Another point is that the NFP mainly addresses the concerns of the Government forest sector and related institutions, even though a large informal private sector (and also some NGOs) now plays a significant role in meeting the Nation's needs for forest products and services.

Available information indicates that, failures to achieve some of the policy objectives have been due mainly to ineffective implementation rather than inadequacies of the policy. Although forestry is a concurrent subject, State Governments ultimately decide the amount of staff and other resources that will be used to manage their forests, enforce forest laws and develop forestry. While GOI may emphasise the need for environmental conservation, the State Governments are faced with their revenue needs as well as with the local pressures to meet the needs of the population.

Long Term Strategy for Development of the Forestry Sector in Madhya Pradesh

Within the prinCiples and provisions of NFP 1988, the government of Madhya Pradesh has adopted a new strategy of informed partiCipation of people, replacing the traditional approach of "fences and fines". This new strategy focuses on creating a market-oriented environment and an appropriate legislative and administrative framework for increasing participatory management of forest resources in which communities are treated as partners in the management of these resources. This strategy is built on the concept of forest zoning which is based on an understanding of the expected land use and a

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C & I for SFM/SFD - India

realistic assessment of what is technically feasible in the light of site-specific capability of land and incentive structure. The roles of FPCs and VFCs are central to the system (See Box. 1).

The Committees. Under the ambit of JFM three sets of committees are established:

Village Forest Committees (VFCs) in the forest areas having a canopy density of upto 0.4, i.e. the forest area which has been degraded through biotic interference like population pressure, grazing, fire etc. For the restoration of these areas participation of every member of the village is sought including women members from each family.

Forest Protection Committees (FPCs) in the areas having well stocked closed forest i.e. having a canopy density of more than 0.4. Villagers and forest staff jointly patrol areas to prevent theft, grazing, encroachments, and fires.

Eco-Development Committees (EDCs) involving adjoining population in the management of Protected Areas (PAs).

Villages within 5 km periphery of the forests would be selected for formation of VFCs and FPCs. Other salient features of the strategy are:

Creation of JFM Spearhead Teams at Forest Division level.

Decentralised, site-specific planning (micro-planning) based on participatory assessment of resources and needs as perceived by villagers.

Emphasis on village resource development.

Usufruct sharing upto 30% in the case of VFCs and 10% for FPCs in addition to royalty-free "Nistar".

EDC - development of village resource to minimize their dependence on PAs.

far a total of 12,038 committees have been formed i'n Madhya Pradesh - 5,746 are FPCs, 6,011 are VFCs and 281 EDCs. These committees are protecting an area of around 5.9 million ha, which is over 40% of the total forest area of M.P.

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Z1- Protected Areas

Box 1

FOREST ZONATION

..............................................................................

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(National Parks & Wildlife Sanctuaries)

RDH - Rehabilitation of Degraded Habitat

RDF - Rehabilitation of Degraded Forests

VFC - Village Forest Committee Z2- Closed Forests outside the P.A (Density> 0.4)

Z3- Open Forests (Density < 0.4)

Z4- Private and Community Land

FPC - Forest Protection Committee

VRDP - Village Forest Development Programe

EDP - Eco Development Programme

Source: World Bank assisted MP Forestry Project, 1999

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3. Programmes and Operational Activities

The state-owned forests in India were managed under specific prescriptions of forest working plans or forest management plans. Such plans were prepared for management units, i.e. Forest Divisions.

The system of forest management planning somewhat suffered a set back with the introduction of National Development Planning which followed a sectoral approach. Long-term nature of forestry development, pressures from other land using sectors, uncertainty of programme funding, difficulty to internalise the externalities of forestry in investment analysis and such other aspects adversely affected forestry development.

Madhya Pradesh Forestry Project

The Madhya Pradesh Forestry Project, financially aided by the World Bank with IDA credit of US $ 58 million (and with an overall project cost of US $ 67.3 million) became effective in September 1995, for an initial first phase of 4 years. The objectives of the project specifically are: to ensure environmental stability and maintain ecological balance; to conserve the national biological heritage; to increase substantially the forest and tree cover in forest and farmlands; to increase the productivity of the forests and to ensure participation of the people in management of forests and trees, keeping in mind the interests of tribal people and other disadvantaged groups.

The project has adopted a three pronged approach:

• bringing about State level policy and legal changes in conformity with the national policy.

• providing financial inputs for implementing certain important components of the national forest policy, and

• training and retraining the staff for the tasks, through a massive HRD operation.

Some of the activities of the present project proposal will complement those of the MP Forestry Project. This complementarity will help to effectively institutionalise SFM/SFD through a practical system of C&I and related capacity building efforts.

PART - II. OBJECTIVES 1. Project Objectives

1.1 Development Objective

The development objective of the project is: to create conditions for, and thus help achieve, Sustainable Forestry Development in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, and by stages over the entire country.

1.2 Specific Objectives

The two specific objectives of the project which will directly contribute to the achievement of the project's development objective are:

1. To develop and operationalise a functioning system of C&l for sustainable forestry development, with community participation through refinement of the Bhopal-India Process following the guidelines contained in the ITTO Criteria and Indicators.

2. To establish institutional capability for implementing C&l for sustainable forestry development taking into consideration the principles· contained in the ITTO manuals and other relevant documents.

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2. Justification

2. 1 Problems to be addressed

In a consultation of renowned forestry experts, arranged by the World Bank at Syria, Virginia, USA from 2-7 October 1998, the participants lamented that despite the impetus provided for sustainable development by UNCED in Rio (1992) "we are locked in discussions, controversies, a targetless Agenda 21 and a plethora of recommendations emerging from international fora ......... Yet ....... little real progress has been made on the ground and forests continue to be degraded and lost........ If forests are to survive, there is a great need to move promptly beyond controversy to constructive action."

As we are aware, the crisis in forestry is created due to unsustainable nature of forest resource management, evidenced in the degradation and disappearance of forests along with attendant effects of bio-diversity loss, soil erosion, fall in land productivity, loss of watershed values and other forest benefits affecting the overall welfare of the local community and the nation.

It is often difficult to separate the causes and effects of deforestation and forest degradation; they form a vicious circle.

The immediate and direct causes of deforestation and forest degradation are normally one or more of the following: fires, uncontrolled grazing, pests and diseases, land clearance for non-forestry purposes, shifting cultivation, over-exploitation, and other forms of misuses and illicit uses.

These direct causes result from lack, or lapses, of forest management i.e. inadequate protection, inappropriate silvicultural practices - and so on; in short, lack of sustainable forest management. There are several underlying causes (and binding constraints) for this situation. These include:

Low Awareness. Forestry is perceived as a marginal activity and often misinterpreted as wood production. Only the value of wood (timber and fuelwood) is considered in comparing the value of forestland against the possible agriculture output from it. The public and policy makers are not adequately aware of the multiple roles of trees and forests in: alleviating problems like food security, environmental degradation, and rural energy crisis and unemployment; mitigating climatic changes; serving as a carbon sink; supporting nutritional well-being; maintaining the integrity of watersheds; providing such essential products as herbal medicines, essential oils, phytochemicals, gums, resins, oils, dyes and colorants. There is thus, insufficient understanding about the vital importance of sustainable forest management, to support sustainable development.

Weak Policies and Low Priority. As a result of low awareness, policy reforms in the forestry sector have been slow, often lagging behind reforms of national macro policies. Forest policy lacks transparency and a progressive approach appropriate for development, involving people; and consists of general statements of intentions without clear imperatives and quantified objectives.

Inadequate poliCies and policy instruments result in low priority for SFM/SFD in the national scheme. There are also no means or measures for enforcing SFM/SFD or for verifying the extent to which SFM/SFD is practiced. This low priority is reflected in a lack of technical capability and other deficiencies seen in public forest administration, inadequate human resource development and low budget allocations. Divestment of forest capital and land transfers take place to support development in other sectors, such as mining, tourism, agriculture, irrigation, and hydro-power. Such land transfers are made easier due to extreme under-valuation of forestlands.

Accounting Distortions. Forests are generally under-valued since a large share of forest contributions are composed of externalities. Even some of the material goods from forests are often transacted outside the market system (e.g. fuelwood, fodder and thatch grass). Thus, it has been estimated that the value of forests reflected in the SNA (System of National Accounts) represents less than 10% of the real value. The under-valuation of material goods alone from the forests of India is reflected in their estimated (real) value of about US $ 43.8 billion, compared to forestry's recorded share of GNP of US $ 2.9 billion, representing only about 1.3% of the total GNP. The difference (between the estimated and recorded contributions) will increase further if an imputed value is assigned for the environmental contributions of forests. In order to fully and realistically represent the value and contributions of forests to the society, it is necessary to take all the direct and indirect values and benefits

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of forests into account. (It may be noted that the budget allocation to the forestry sector is related to the recorded sectoral contribution to GNP).

Disinvestment in Forestry. A harmful aspect of accounting distortions and inadequate system of forest valuation is the cumulative disinvestment taking place in forestry.

Development l?ignifies net positive investment. Sustainability requires that formation of new capital equals the sum of rents from resource depletion and environmental damages. While investment refers to capital formation, disinvestment signifies negative investment which can result from destruction or depletion of capital stock through capital consumption. Investment becomes real only where gross investment is greater than disinvestment resulting in a positive net investment. With respect to forestry, investment for sustainable development should be more than the value of capital lost through deforestation or forest degradation.

As noted in the NFAP - India (1999), the rate of deforestation in India during the past 50-60 years has been considerably higher than last few (8 to 10) years. Starting with the second world war fellings and 'grow more food' campaigns, followed by land transfers for development projects and waves of encroachments and land assignments, deforestation reached a peak in 1970s with an average annual deforestation of about 1.3 million ha. It came down significantly in the 1980s to an annual average deforestation rate of 0.339 million ha. Thus, in 1970s disinvestment due to deforestation amounted to INRs 650,000 millions, and to INRs 169,500 millions in 1980s. The recent reduction in deforestation (238,200 ha for the period 1993-95) is primarily because there is very limited area of natural forest remaining. Still the estimated annual disinvestment of INRs 59,550 millions is higher than the annual gross investment (INRs 34,500 millions), thus indicating a net annual disinvestment (of INRs 25,000 millions).

Difficulties for Meaningful People's Participation. The current pattern of participation is characterised by the following situations:

• Participatory arrangements were initially promoted by government agencies with whom the participating groups are to interact, but as communities realized the benefits accruing through Village Resource Development, initiatives are also being taken by them.

• Groups have very little role in planning or managing activities or marketing products; where the groups are involved in marketing, they face problems in dealing with monopsonistic actors.

• The spirit of sharing required for participation is not yet well developed.

• Since participation is often sponsored by government agencies, lack of co-ordination between sponsoring and other agencies and bureaucracies at different levels (district administration, panchayats etc.) creates serious problems in the functioning of participating groups.

In respect of JFM, many legal and policy issues are still not clear. The important weak points to JFM to be addressed are: (i) it is almost exclusively focused on protection of heavily degraded forest areas which provide only a limited amount of direct benefits; (ii) no sound institutional/legal system has yet been developed for the smooth functioning of JFM; (iii) the benefits to the participants are essentially subsistence products - NWFPs such as grass, leaves, fruits, seeds, tubers and medicinal plants which may not provide sustained incentive to the participants; and (iv) some key NWFPs are also treated as nationalised products and are not allowed to the JFM participants. There is also need to establish adequate dialogue among all stakeholders. Efforts in this direction are being taken by the State Government through progressive revisions of its JFM orders.

Conflicting Roles of Government Forest Services. Public Forest Administration is bestowed with the authority to enforce rules and regulations as well as. the responsibility to develop forestry enterprises. As a result, neither functions receive adequate attention, further leading to unclear missions and inefficient operations: This also causes attitudinal barriers; and inadequacies and inappropriateness of incentives. These include unclear land tenure system, lack of institutional and policy support, failure to share benefits in an equitable manner, incongruence of social purpose of people and government agencies.

10

- .... Jo lur ~rwv.:lru - .l.nalQ

The situation is getting improved progressively as a result of better system of forestry education and consequent attitudinal changes towards enhanced social concerns.

Exacerbating Factors. There are several exacerbating factors which are often bandied as causes of unsustainable forest management. These include pressure of population, poverty and unemployment, inadequate funds and facilities, difficult administrative procedures, failure of market mechanism, over­reliance on public sector, inadequate infrastructure, socio-economic power play and corrupt practices, and lack of information and database. Much has been written about these, and some of them are to be addressed, essentially, at a broader nationalleve!.

They are often of the nature of parameters which cannot be changed in the short (or even in the medium) term. While existence of these factors have to be recognised and taken into consideration, it is necessary to design innovative approaches in order to progress towards SFM/SFD (e.g. promotion and rational development of NWFPs). In fact, SFM/SFD can often help to address these national level development problems. (See the flow diagram of problem tree given in box 2).

Location of the Project

The project covers the State of Madhya Pradesh. The forests of MP are mainly of dry tropical type, which is the largest vegetational type in the tropics. The State has three major sub-types, i.e. Teak, Sal and mixed species.

The State of MP is bordered by seven other States of India and therefore the project's outcome will have wider applicability.

The State has the largest percentage of tribal population of India and the lessons learned about their involvement in SFM/SFD, and the use of indigenous knowledge systems would have relevance to other States with sizeable tribal population. The State Forest Department has already adopted Joint Forest Management strategy involving local communities for protection and development of forest and equitable benefit sharing.

There is an ongoing forestry project in Madhya Pradesh supported by the World Bank with which this project will have complementarity and scope for collaboration. .

11

Box 2 Flow Diagram - Problem Tree

I UNSUST AINABILITY OF FOREST RESOURCE -I .. ~

t SOIL

FALLIN EROSION LOSS OF LOSS OF DECLINE PRODUCTIVITY AND LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY FOREST IN WILDLIFE

WATERSHED CAPITAL VALUES

I .. ~ ~ ~

I

DEFOREST A TION AND FOREST DEGRADATION

.. ~

.41l- t t I t ENCROACH- LAND UNCONTROLLED WASTEFUL ,

FIRE GRAZING MENT CONVERSION OVERUSE AND HARVESTING MISUSE

t t t .. ~ f I WEAKNESSES AND FAILURES OF I FOREST MANAGEMENT

t I t -t

WEAK CONFLICTING LOW POLICIES ACCOUNTING HURDLES FOR ROLES OF

AWARENESS AND LOW DISTORTIONS PEOPLES GOVERNMENT PRIORITY PARTICIPATION FOREST

SERVICE

12

.... QI ~ Tor .::>rtrV.::>rLJ - .J.nalo

2.2 Intended Situation After Project Completion

The project is designed for a period of 4 years, which will form the first or pilot phase of implementing SFM/SFD at 8 pilot sites.

This project phase will: (i) prepare a well defined system of C&I for SFM/SFD for the State of Madhya Pradesh, along with implementation plans and related guidelines for operationalising the system, (ii) identify the eight pilot areas (Forest Divisions) representing different management categories and implement C&I for SFM/SFD therein, (iii) establish a web-based expert forest management information system with particular reference to the use of criteria and indicators. These will result in increased commitment for SFD at National as well as State levels.

By the time the project is completed, development of human resource (through fellowships, training, basic education and extension) would have been achieved, that would be sufficient enough to expand the system of C&I for SFM/SFD to the entire State of Madhya Pradesh. Institutional structures would have been strengthened to carry forward, facilitate, and manage the system in Madhya Pradesh, as well as in the Centre and other States.

To provide a firm basis for SFM/SFD, there will be systems/methods for forest valuation, research and technology development, monitoring and evaluation and arrangements for people's participation. The main constraints for the smooth functioning of the system would also have been removed or reduced.

At the project completion, there will be clearly laid out direction for continuing and completing the task of universal application of C&I and related strategies for SFM/SFD over the entire State of Madhya Pradesh, as well as over the rest of the country in successive phases, within a period of another 6 years. It is expected that universal adoption of C&I for SFM/SFD will serve to promote investment and action for tropical forest resource development and its sustainable utilisation.

2.3 Project Strategy

The rationale behind the project is that in achieving the development objective of sustainable forestry development in the country, it will be more effective to address the underlying causes for unsustainability by implementing clear and consistent C&I through community participation and capacity building, and by ensuring that such C&I for SFM/SFD are fully complied.

Experience has clearly shown that "fines and fences" and such other non-participatory approaches are ineffective and involve heavy financial and social cost as well as high risk of failure.

i)

ii)

iii)

The project, therefore, adopts a three-pronged strategy.

Develop, operationalise and implement appropriate C&I for SFM/SFD in the different categories of FMUs (based on its vegetational, functional, and legal/ownership classification), within an overall umbrella of national level C&I.

Strengthen institutions (including changes in attitudinal orientation) and institutional capability for implementing C&I for SFM/SFD.

Encourage and enable organised and informed people's participation in implementing C&I for SFM/SFD.

These provide the appropriate route to achieve the objectives and outputs of the project in an efficient and effective manner.

Concept and Practice of Sustainable Development

Since the Earth Summit (1992) much has been written and debated about the definition and scope of sustainable development On these, there is still no consensus.

Sustainability, as is used here, reflects the general sense of the term as in both the Brundtland Report (WCED/UN, 1987) and Agenda 21 (UNCED, 1993). In the context of current development, a World

m'm 13

c... Q -' Tor ~rM/.sFD - India

Bank paper states that a primary goal of sustainable development is to achieve a reasonable and equitably distributed level of economic well-being that can be perpetuated continually for many human generations. It requires that the allocation of resources to meet the needs of present generation should not prejudice the interests of future generations. Current activities may be qualified as sustainable if they do not reduce the productive potential of the asset base and the set of opportunities open to future generations. Sustainability subsumes productivity and equity.

From a policy point of view, sustainability is not an option; it is an imperative. Sustainable management of renewable natural resources should inherently be based on using income or interest, and not consuming capital. The rate of harvest of living resources (e.g. forest or fish stock) should not exceed rates of regenera~ion. It also implies maintenance, rational use and enhancement of the natural resource base that underpins ecological resilience and economic growth.

Within the broad framework of sustainable development, SFM should ensure that values derived from forests meet present day needs while ensuring that forests maintain a quantity and quality that contributes to long term development needs. A rational and balanced combination of different functions of forests - production, protection, conservation and provision of environmental amenities - is essential to help conserve sustainability of forests. The concept is holistic and the task is multi-disciplinary in nature.

SFM implies the need to consistently improve the productivity and contribution of forests such that future generations can continue to receive benefits of forest goods and services at least equal in measure to those of the present generation. This scenario is compatible with sustainable development and calls for the use of forest goods and services at levels that do not change the environment, including elimination of wasteful consumption and attaining a level of use within the regenerative capacity of the forest.

Components of SFM depend on climatic, ecological, social and economic conditions. As highlighted by FAO, sustainable forest management involves planning the production of wood and non­wood products for commercial purposes as well as meeting local needs; it includes protection or setting aside areas to be managed as plant or wildlife reserves for recreational or environmental purposes; it ensures that conversion of forestlands for agriculture and other uses is done in properly planned and controlled way; it covers the regeneration of wastelands and degraded forests and establishment of forest plantations; it promotes integration of trees in farming landscape and agro-forestry. In short, SFM is the specific and practical action for translating the concept of sustainability into reality in forestry and it covers harmonisation of ecological, economic and subsistence needs of the dependent population.

Apart from controlling deforestation and forest degradation, SFM covers actions in different fronts: resource estimation, bio-prospecting, functional and capability classification, protection of natural forests, creation of new and expansion of existing forest resources, conservation of bio-diversity and watershed values, sustainable and waste free utilization of resources, and value addition.

There are no policies which advocate unsustainable management practices. The concept of sustainable development is the basis of all national level and sectoral level policies. What is lacking in forest policies, however, is the provision for verifying sustainability or to ensure that actions are directed towards that goal. C&I for SFM/SFD will help to fill that gap.

Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management

Changes in certain measurable criteria and indicators over time is used as a means to assess the progress, or otherwise, towards SFM/SFD. There have been several efforts to develop appropriate means to measure and assess forest management, and the degree to which it can be characterised as sustainable. These efforts have resulted in establishing criteria and indicators. A SFM/SFD criterion is a characteristic feature or a set of conditions describing the different aspects of sustainability, based on which it will be possible to evaluate the various aspects of forestry. A criterion contains a built~in goal to strive for, and it is evaluated through indicators.

Indicators show or reflect the state of art as well as the time related changes. They indicate how each criterion will meet the goal set. Typically, an indicator shows a quantitative change. As all aspects of forestry cannot be measured with quantitative indicators, some descriptive indicators have also been formulated to reflect the changes in respect of those.

m'm 14

Area under different types and classes of forest cover, bio-mass volume and growing stock per unit area, grazing intensity (by number per unit area), frequency and intensity of fires, level of erosion (by measure of silt load), harvest levels and intensity, population of wildlife, extent of community forest resource etc can be measured and compared against the bench marks and the targets set. However, calculation of productivity (which. is measured as a ratio of changes in input to changes in output), particularly where it involves multiple products and different production possibilities, in a comprehensive sense is very difficult, often nearly impossible. This is so, considering the limitation of relevant information and knowledge about: the underlying trend of changes in social, environmental, institutional and technological factors. Often, proxy measures are used to express the productivity status of forest resources within a defined area, region or country - namely, area under forest cover of different types, growing stock per unit area, MAl, MC etc.

Sustainability is sought to be achieved not only through technological interventions, but more often through policy interventions - e.g. restrictions on logging. Existence of restrictions on logging is not an indicator of sustainability. It would need evaluation of the elements involved in implementing such a policy. .

Fundamental to the concept of Criteria and Indicators is that no single criterion or indicator constitutes a measure of sustainability. An individual criterion or indicator needs to be considered in the context of other criteria and indicators in the system. It is useful to think of criteria and indicators as information hodes conSisting of arrays of criteria and indicators, which together can provide the full picture of the state of-forests and current sustainability trends. Also, a single set of C&I cannot be applied across large areas of national boundaries, and the set of C&I developed for the national level is unlikely to be applicable at the FMU level.

Development of C&I at the FMU level has been largely spurred by the desire to assess sustainability and to a lesser degree to develop tools to facilitate the implementation of better management practices through monitoring. C&I at the national level are tools for assessing trends in forest conditions and forest management. They provide a common framework for describing, monitoring and evaluating, over time, progress towards sustainable forest management. At either FMU or national level, criteria and indicators can' over time help identify whether management is resulting in desired outcomes that are in accordance with sustainability objectili'es. Interpretation of these trend line,s will help to carry out policy reform in a focused and timely manner.

Based on ideas regarding sustainable development and sustainable forest management, ITTO, Montreal, Helsinki, Tarapoto, Dry zone Africa, Latin America- Lepaterique, Near East, Dry zone Asia etc. processes have striven to define criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management at the national or supra-national levels. The main objectives of these initiatives are to characterize SFM for an array of forest benefits, and permit individual nations to report progress. They all incorporate in some fashion the following seven fundamental elements: (i) extent of forest resources; (ii) biological diversity; (iii) forest health and Vitality; (iv) productive functions of forests; (v) protective functions of forests (e.g. soil and water conservation); (vi) socio-economic and cultural benefits and needs; (vii) legal, pqiicy and institutional framework.

Despite this resemblance, experiences with the development of C&I differ quite considerably from region to region and among countries within regions. In view of this fact, the Antalya Declaration of the XI World Forestry Congress (1997) called on countries to develop and apply national level C&I for SFM to assess the state of their forests and to develop monitoring systems which take these C&I into account. Also, integrating C&I for SFM/SFD in the National Forestry Action Programmes has been considered as crucial by the IPF.

The Bhopal-India process was accordingly initiated in January 1999 for the tropical forests of the Indian Sub-continent. It has specified 8 criteria (extent of forest and tree cover; ecosystem function and vitality; bio-diversity conservation; soil and water conservation; forest resource productivity; forest resource utilisation; social, cultural and spiritual needs; and policy, legal and institutional framework), and 44 indicators. (See Annex D for its latest revised version).

According to an analysis carried out in 1997 by FAa, out of 109 indicators falling under the seven universal criteria listed above, 48 indicators were found used in the National Forest Programmes of 6 chosen countries; and among these, state and change processes of forest resources, socio-economic

15

functions and legal and institutional framework were significant. 61 indicators were found to be unused. The FAO study further noted that of the 48 indicators in use, 23 are first priority indicators used more commonly and 25 are second priority indicators used less systematically.

Subject matters falling within major criteria decide the nature and scope of indicators. For example, forest inventory under forest resource management can have formulation indicators, implementation indicators, monitoring indicators and evaluation indicators with spatial and temporal dimensions.

An flED (1995) study found that most common issues involved in the criteria for SFM/SFD are: (i) sustained yield of forest goods and services; (ii) socio-economic impacts (iii) institutional framework for forests and (iv) maintaining biological diversity. Among 12 recent initiatives (maximum consensus point 12), the first set of criteria had a consensus point of 8.4; the second 6.8; the third 6.6 and the last (maintaining biological diversity) 5.9.

Consultations carried out regarding C&I for SFM/SFD at various levels as part of pre-project activity showed considerable differences in the views and perceptions of stake holders, indicating that the C&I under the Bhopal-India process would need further modification (to ensure clarity, consistency and flexibility), before being put into practice. It became clear that, as situations vary, there can be no universally applicable body of criteria and indicators for sustainability. Further, criteria and indicators encompass both quantitative and qualitative aspects, and have to be context-specific to include the social dimensions. It is also necessary to develop minimum acceptable standards and bench marks, for each situation.

While C&I is a necessary condition for ensuring SFM/SFD, it is not by itself a sufficient condition. It needs to be supported by institutional strengthening, capacity building and organised and informed people's participation.

Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building

"Institution" is the core element in management (of a sector, resource or programme). It will not be possible to solve the problems of a sector if its institutional issues are not addressed. Capacity building is an essential part of institutional development. As emphasised in the World Bank's forest policy paper on 1991, "the frontier of development in the forestry sector is not on technology, but on institutional and humanlcultural capita/. Admittedly, technology and technological progress are important, but the desired kinds of technological changes will not take place without an adequate institutional environment covering incentive structure, management, organisational framework, private and public sector roles, and community participation in development. "

Organised and Informed Peoples Participation

People's participation is both an objective and a means (a strategy) of development. It is a process of both social action and social change. It reflects old social values of village communities, re­emergence of which is prompted by the failure of non-participatory development goals.

People's participation Signifies 'active involvement of people in the decision-making process in so far as it affects them." Non-participatory approaches may tend to be exploitative and, therefore, unstable. Participation can be of different types, depending on: the parties involved; objectives of participation; volume and complexity of participatory activities; how participation is effected; on what aspects of an activity(s) participation takes place; and extent/intensity of participation. Irrespective of its nature, participation in general requires sharing - sharing of efforts, responsibilities, and benefits. Participation can be the best means for identifying and realising jOint and complementary benefits. The objectives of participation include community welfare and collective self-reliance, material benefits for the participating members, serving as a pressure group; and socio-economic and political empowerment.

Some ingredients are essential for people's participation: a community with stable social relationships; collective effort by people concerned; community awareness of their own conditions; self­defined group goals; strong motivation and an appropriate organisation to give participation more acceptance, strength and discipline.

m'm 16

People's participation in forestry includes:

• promoting forestry development through people's participation and . • facilitating organised people's participation or improving the ability of people to participate

through forestry.

A national study of village committees or associations under JFM indicated that only 29.47% of such associations were self-formed by participating members whereas 35.79% were initiated by Forest Departments, 21.05% by NGOs and the remaining by Panchayats and other agencies. Only 16.84% of the associations/committees are part of a federated structure (NFAP - India, 1999).

While the project can help to enhance people's participation, participatory activities can help to enhance the beneficial impacts of the project.

2.4 Target Beneficiaries.

Because of the broad scope of the project in addressing the issues relating to SFD, it will serve multiple stakeholders and diverse beneficiaries - local community, farmers, forest dwellers/tribal population, forest managers/professionals, forest users/forest industry, academicians and researchers and environmental NGOs, as well as the large population who enjoys the indirect benefits and externalities provided by sustainably managed forests.

Through a series of field level and national level workshops, during the pre-project, the stakeholders and beneficiaries were consulted on the project, particularly on the C&I to be applied for SFMISFD. Their views and comments have been recorded, and considered in defining the scope and nature of project activities.

The most important direct beneficiaries will be the local communities, through their active participation in the project implementation, incentives received in the form of compensation for services provided and benefits sharing, and local empowerment.

As provided in Part II, Section 4 Activities, local people's involvement will be enhanced through training and awareness programme, cross/inter-site visits, C & I related extension, motivating the JFM committees for implementing and monitoring C & I in the areas falling in their purview and establishment of local working groups on C & I Within JFM committees.

2.5 Technical and Scientific Aspects

The technical and scientific aspects of the project work cover: criteria and indicators for SFM/SFD; capacity building including training, research and technology development and information dissemination; and organising and promoting people's participation.

The project has access to the large number of international and national publications on the subject areas to be dealt with, available in the well-stocked library of IIFM. These include the publications/reports of ITIO, FAO, CIFOR, UNEP and IPF relating to criteria and indicators for SFM.

The designers of tne project had access to the MP State Five Year Plans, MP State Forestry Action Plan, and evaluation and progress reports of the World Bank supported MP Forestry Project which provided useful inputs regarding magnitudes of the various problems, participatory approaches to forestry development, need for capacity building and so on. Publications relating to specific aspects such as forest valuation, multi-criteria analysis, strategic planning, reduced impact logging and management information system were also conSUlted. These provided helpful insights in designing the project.

List of the some major publications consulted is given in Annex E.

17

C & I for SFM/SFt> - India

2.6 Economic Aspects

Forests provide several contributions in supporting sustained human welfare. These include direct benefits (physical produc!s such as wood, food, medicines, fuel, fodder, fibre and organic fertiliser) as well as indirect and attributable benefits. Also, as an inseparable component of the total land use systems, forestry has significant inter-relationships with agricultural, pastoral and food producing systems. Through soil and water conservation, groundwater recharge, and maintenance of soil fertility, forestry provides critical support for agricultural development. In addition, forest-based enterprises help increase rural employment and raise the income and living standards of rural people including forest dwellers and indigenous groups; they also serve as a sponge, promoting other enterprises and products as the economy improves.

With its emphasis on sustainable forestry development, this project will provide benefits to a large number of stake holders - local community, rural population, forest-based small scale enterprises. Measurable direct benefits will include enhanced availability of forest goods and services, improved village assets and family condition, new and additional employment opportunities, increased government revenue and contribution to GDP. It has been "guestimated" that through the project interventions the current annual earnings of INRs 3,000 to INRs 4,000 per house hold involved in the area is likely to be enhanced to the extent of INRs 10,000 to INRs 12,000. This will serve as a major incentive for people's involvement in SFM/SFD.

Indirect contributions of forests through maintaining environmental stability, conservation of bio­diversity and prOVision of tourism potential are equally, if not more, important as direct benefits; but there is no market mechanism to measure these values. In the absence of quantified values of benefits and costs, it is not possible to provide a precise measure of the project's impact. However, based on. experience of the available cases of successful sustainable forest management, it can be assumed that the overall incremental benefits will far outweigh the incremental costs involved. Moreover, the project will undertake a forest valuation study, particularly to measure indirect benefits using new methodologies such as contingent valuation, surrogate market values, replacement costs, cost effectiveness analysis, willingness to pay and benefit transfer.

Project Sustainability. After the present (proposed) project period of 4 years, additional works will be called for to expand the C&I system to cover the entire State of Madhya Pradesh, as well as to other States of India. While the area (8 Forest Divisions) covered in this first phase will be self sustaining after the project period, the new areas to be taken up in the subsequent phases (of 6 years) will need additional resources.

2. 7 Environmental Aspects

State of Madhya Pradesh, which comprises the project area displays a variety of land forms induding plains, small mountain tracts, plateaus and valleys. Elevation varies between 60 and 1,440 meters above mean sea .Ievel. Deep gorges in river valleys are common.

Due to erratic rainfall, droughts are frequent. Floods are also common in areas of high rainfall. The eastern and south eastern parts get greater precipitation.

Land use practices in MP are largely determined by population pressure, subsistence needs and land-use potential. 19.7 million ha are under agricultural uses against 14.2 million ha classified as forests (of which only 13.5 million ha have forest cover). There are agricultural lands falling in steep slopes requiring to be put under permanent tree crops. Land use in MP is not determined by land capability considerations.

The project intervention will indirectly support better land use practices and improve environmental stability. The project activities aiming at SFM/SFD will also improve: eco-system integrity and resilience, bio-diversity, vegetative health, wildlife conservation, agro-ecology, watershed hydrology, carbon sequestration and other habitat aspects.

M'm 18

C & I for SFM/SFD - Indio

2. 8 Social Aspects

At the last census of 1991, MP had a population of 66.14 million, 7.8% of the country's population, with a per capita land availability of 1.49 ha., four times the national average. Per capita GOP, however, was only 70% of the national average; and 45% of the population lived below poverty line, compared to the national figure of 26%.

79% of MP's population lives in rural areas. Exclusive to high dependence of tribal population on forests for their livelihood and their large numbers in MP (some 15.2 million, nearly 23% of the State's population) are overwhelming factors. There are 46 different tribes, varying considerably in numerical strength. Two tribes, i.e. Bhils and Gonds makeup 65% of tribal population. Tribal populations are concentrated in the eastern, south eastern and north western parts of the State. In Bastar, Mandla, Sarguja, Dhar, West Nimar and Jhabua, more than 50% of the population are tribals.

The tribal population maintain cattle for manure, ploughing and transport. In almost all parts of MP the successional stages of grazing lands are much below the sub-climax stage. Estimates show that total production of forage and fodder in MP is about 42 million tonnes/annum against a demand of about 82 million tonnes/annum. This has caused increased grazing incidence on the forests.

An important purpose of the people's participation component of the project is to empower the vulnerable communities (tribal population, women) and to improve their social (food, health, livelihood) security in a sustained manner. The indigenous people have developed interesting and often sophisticated knowledge systems of ethno-medicine and use of a vast variety of plants for food and medicinal purposes.

The potential of NWFPs for poverty alleviation is particularly important. The weight of poverty falls heavily on certain groups - among whom are tribal communities who depend on forests for employment and income. Income derived from collection of forest produce accounts for upto 67% of total income of most tribal villages.

A number of NWFPs like mahul (Bauhinia vah/J) leaves, lac, chironji (Buchanania lanzan), kosum (Schliechera oleosa) , aonla (Emblica officina/is) etc are allowed to be removed freely, whil.e fuelwood, timber, poles and bamboo are supplied at concessional prices to villages through Nistar depots. The Nistar system is under tremendous strain due to demand pressure

During the pre-project, local communities and stake holders were consulted and their problems and aspirations assessed. These are reflected in the project design. The project provides for active involvement of the community (through VFCs and FPCs and in other ways) in the implementation of a number of activities in the field, including practical aspects of C&I for SFM/SFD.

2.9. Risks

The important assumptions involved in the implementation of the project are that: (i) there will be full support of all relevant Government agencies; (ii) implementation capability is available in adequate measure; (iii) the people and stake holders are willing to participate; and (iv) co-ordination of the roles and participation of the different actors will not present any serious problem.

In view of the policy commitment for SFM/SFD on the part of the Government of India and the Government of Madhya Pradesh, the existence of National Forestry Action Programme emphasising on sustainable management and conservation of forests in India, and the global concern at the depletion of forest resource and efforts to reverse the trend, there will be no serious risk of uncertainty in the assumptions. Moreover, the project has included activities involving awareness raising, training and capacity building and information dissemination - all of them having elements to avert risks. Also, the full time national project co-ordinator will have the responsibility to ensure co-ordination in project implementation and to address institutional issues which are likely to cause delays, or other hurdles, in the delivery of outputs.

19

C & I for SFM/SFl> - India

3. Outputs

3.1. Specific Objective 1

Output 1.1

Output 1.2

Output 1.3

Output 1.4

Output 1.5

Output 1.6

3.2 Specific Objective 2

Output 2.1

Output 2.2

Output 2.3

Output 2.4

Output 2.5

Output 2.6

To develop and operationalise a functioning system of criteria and indicators for sustainable forestry development, with community participation.

A well defined C&I system for SFM/SFD in the State of Madhya Pradesh in selected FMUs within the State.

A 10 year C&I plan for the State of Madhya Pradesh

Manuals/guidelines for operationalising C&I for SFM at the State level and at the level of FMUs.

Eight pilot areas established and C&I for SFM implemented therein.

A functional expert forest management information system.

Increased commitment at the national level for SFD

To establish institutional capability for implementing C&I for sustainable forestry development.

Competent human resource

Strengthened institutional structures

Organised and functioning participatory arrangements for SFM/SFD

An adequate system for forest valuation.

An operational plan for C&I related research and technology development.

A system for monitoring and evaluation of C&I implementation.

The impact of the series of outputs relating to specific objective 1 is that they design and establish a system of C&I for SFM/SFD in collaboration with the local community and other stake holders. The outputs relating to specific objective 2 complement the first set of outputs by providing institutional structures, instruments and capacity for effectively implementing C&1. These together create conditions favoring SFM/SFD.

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C & I for SFM/SFIJ - India

4. Activities

Activities to be carried out to achieve the project outputs are tabulated below:

I. To develop and operationalise a functioning system of C & I for sustainable forestry development, with community participation.

arm

1.1.A well defined C & I system for SFM/SFD in the State of M. P, and selected FMUs within the State.

1.2. A 10 year C & I Plan for the State of M. P.

1.3. Manualsl Guidelines for operationalising C & I for SFMI SFD at the State level and at the level of FMUs

1.4. Eight pilot areas established and C & I implemented therein.

1.5. A functional Expert Forest Management Information System.

1.1.1. Literature/desk review and discussions for establishment of bench marks and minimum acceptable standards.

1.1.2. Categorisation of broad forest types (e.g. natural forests - teak, sal & mixed - dry & moist; plantations - teak and private ones; protected areas; watersheds).

1.1.3. Prepare a specific set of C & I for each of the (eight) specified forest! management types

1.1.4. Preparation of State-level C & I for SFM/SFD in MP.

1.2.1. Time frame & details of a 10 year plan, covering the entire State of Madhya Pradesh for implementing C & I for SFM/SFD (including investment required).

1.2.2. Identification and demarcation of eight pilot areas to be taken up during the Project's first phase.

1.3.1. Preparation of drafts of manuals and guidelines (for the State and for each of the 8 FMUs), their discussion, editing and finalisation and translation into local language.

1.3.2. Organise training for the field team leaders & associated staff and collaborators for each site.

1.3.3. Encourage incorporation of C & I in Working Plan prescriptions.

1.4. 1. Collection of benchmark datalinformation orland survey for establishing minimum acceptable standards of sustainability in the 8 pilot areas.

1.4.2. Undertaking forest management operations in the eight pilot areas, based on existing /modified prescriptions (e.g. fire protection, assisted natural regeneration, rehabilitation planting, habitat improvement etc.)

1.4.3. Implementing C&I in 8 field pilot areas as detailed in the respective manuals.

1.4.4. Periodic change assessment during :I'd to 4th years· in al/ the pilot areas.

1.4.5. Analysis of data for establishment of Sustainability Index & preparation of a related technical document.

1.5.1. DeSigning of a web-based information dissemination system.

1.5.2. Imparting information management training.

1.5.3. Publication of a quarterly C & I Newsletter (to be continued by IIFM)

1.5.4 Periodic up-dation of the C & I data on the web-site (to be continued by IIFM beyond the project period).

21

C <I I for SFM/SFD - India

1.6. Increased 1.6.1. Organisation of 4 regional workshops and one commitment at the international workshop. national level for

1.6.2. Drafting of a National Strategy on C & I for SFD.

SFM/SFD, including directions for future.

2. To establish 2.1. Competent human 2.1.1. Training 100 in-service Forestry Personnel on C institutional capability resource. & I for SFM/SFD for implementing C&I

2.1.2. Public awareness programme, 8 crossJinter-site for sustainable forestry visits and training on C & I (for 40 vii/age level development institutions).

2.1.3. Four group (2-4 members/group) study tours (15-20 days each) and attending of international meetings of relevance to the project.

2. 1.4. C & I Extension Centres at four of the existing Eco-Development Centres (Research and Extension Centres)

2.1.5. Development of curriculum relating to C & I at 2 levels (field and supervisory) and its enhancement.

2.2. Strengthened 2.2.1. Policy mandate for C & I implementation. Institutional

2.2.2. A specialised Cell for overseeing C & I Structures. implementation at the State-level in Madhya Pradesh.

2.2.3.' Promoting establishment of similar specialised Cells at the Centre and in other States.

2.3. Organised and 2.3.1. Motivating JFM Committees for implementation and functioning monitoring of C & I. participatory

2.3.2. Establishment of local working groups within the arrangements for SFM/SFD .. JFM Committees and their linking with the State

Ceff for C & I.

2.4. An adequate system 2.4. 1. Evaluate the current level of distortion in the for forest valuation. National System of Accounts relating to forest

benefits at the 8 pilot sites in Madhya Pradesh; and by extrapolation for the whole State.

2.4.2. Establish a National Forest Resource Accounting System through expert consultations! workshops.

2.5. An operational plan 2.5,1. Assessment of weaknesses and gaps in C & I for C & I related related research. research and

2.5.2. Planning and implementation of research activities technology development to enhance C & I system.

2.6.A system for 2.6.1. Establishment of monitoring standards and monitoring & guidelines for evaluation. evaluation of C & I

2.6.2. Participatory project evaluation and publication of a implementation. technical report.

2.6.3. Sensitise stakeholders / citizens about the need for periodical resource status assessment.

arm 22

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

5. Logical Framework Worksheets

The logic and linkages of the elements of the project are given in tabulated form.

DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVE

To create conditions for, and thus help achieve, sustainabl~ forestry development in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India and by stages over the entire country

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE I

To develop and operationalise a functioning system of C & I for sustainable forestry development, with community participation.

Output1.1

A well designed C&I system for SFM/SFD in the State of M. P. and selected FMUs within the state.

OUTPUT 1.2

A 10 year C&I plan for the state of Madhya Pradesh

rm

o Ecosystem health and resilience

o Enhanced sustainable flow of goods and services for community

o Enhanced contribution to state/national income

o National commitment to SFD

o Increased household income from forestry activities I enterprises

o C & I for SFM/SFD designed and implemented

o Functional system of SFM/SFD established

o Community awareness enhanced

o State level and project site­specific C & I for SFM/SFD formulated and disseminated

o A phased approach to implement C & I for SFM/SFD

o Reduced minuses (e.g. reduced incidence of grazing, fire, over exploitation, deforestation)

o Increased pluses (e.g. increased forest cover, output of NWFPs/other goods, productivity, environmental services

o Progressively increasing net benefits

o Adequate natural regeneration & biomass

o Government adopts SFD and incorporates in working plan prescription

o Ecological restoration of degraded areas

o Improved forest productivity, natural regeneration, biodiversity conservation and sustained livelihood security

o Increased investment in forestry operations

o Availability of a practical set of C & I for different pilot sites

o

o Documentation and details

o Communities, Government, Forest Department are willing to fully participate

o With improved awareness there will be increasingly favourable attitude on the part of people and policy makers towards SFM/SFD.

o Government is convinced about the advantages of C & I for SFM/SFD and committed to its implementation

o Communities are provided incentives to support/adopt SFM/SFD

o Collaborative efforts of experts, professionals, community and stakeholders.

o Realisation about the need for planned approach to SFM/SFD.

23

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

OUTPUT 1.3 0 Manuals and guidelines discussed 0 Documents available 0 Involvement of subject matter experts

Manuals/Guidelines for operationalising and finalised and stakeholders

C&I for SFM/SFD at the State Level and at the level of FMUs

OUTPUT 1.4 0 Pilot programme for initiating C 0 Eight pilot sites supported by funds, 0 Agreement with MP Forest

Eight pilot areas established and C&I for & I for SFM/SFD facilities and human resource Department and other agencies

SFM/SFD implemented therein regarding collaborative action.

OUTPUT 1.5 0 An adequate and consistent 0 Internet-based Information Centre and 0 Regular flow of information

A functional expert forest management information/knowledge system Clearing House

0 Use of, and demand for, information information system

OUTPUT 1.6 0 Reinforced national commitment 0 National/policy level statements 0 Encouraging results from pilot areas in

Increased commitment at the National for SFM/SFD

0 National strategy Madhya Pradesh with good

Level for SFD demonstration effect.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 2 0 Expertise and facilities for 0 Training; strategy documents; 0 MP Forest Department has resources

To establish institutional capability for implementing C & I for SFM/SFD programme on research and technology for implementing C & I at other .sites

implementing C & I for sustainable within and beyond project area

0 Improved co-ordination and removal of forestry development. communication barriers.

OUTPUT 2.1 0 Trained individuals o Number of trainings and workshops, and o Appropriate attitude on the part of

Competent human resource 0 Relevant specialisation ' number of participants community, forestry staff, and NGOs.

OUTPUT 2.2 o Clear institutional niche provided for 0 Clear policy tl Attitudinal change in Forest

Strengthened institutional structures. C&I

0 Functional unit Department

0 Policy/regulatory instruments 0 Commitment for SFD

OUTPUT 2.3 0 Participatory institutions 0 Number and nature of institutions 0 Incentives exist

Organised and functioning participatory 0 Local membership organisations 0 Assessment of functions 0 Encouragement and support provided arrangements for SFM/SFD. by Govt and NGOs.

---

Ift'm 24

.~ .. C & I for SFM/SFD - India

OUTPUT 2.4 0 Methodology development o Technical Documentation o Understanding importance of forest

An adequate system for forest valuation. 0 System for forest valuation valuation on the part of decision

established makers.

OUTPUT 2.5 o Prioritised research plan relating to o Analytical research reports; extension o Priority for research and technology

C&I materials

development

An operatonal plan for C & I related research and technology development. OUTPUT 2.6 0 Performance 'and impact 0 M & E reports

0 People's participation in monitoring

A system for monitoring & evaluation of monitoring

0 Documentation accepted and promoted

C&I implementation 0 Standardisation and testing

6. Work Plan

The work plan is given in the following bar graph six of the activities included in the work plan run for more than 24 months. These are: 1.4.2 Undertaking forest management operations in the 8 pilot areas based on existing/modified prescriptions (e.g. fire protection, assisted

natural regeneration, rehabilitation planting, habitat improvement etc) 1.4.3 Implementing C & I in 8 field pilot areas as detailed in the respective manuals. 1.5.3 Publication of a quarterly C & I Newsletter (to be continued by IIFM) 1.5.4 Periodic updation of the C & I data on the Web site (to be continued by IIFM beyond the project period). 2.1.4 C & I Extension Centres at four of the existing Eco-Development Centres (Research and Extension Centres) 2.5.2 Planning and implementation of research activities to enhance C & I systems All these 6 activities, while of a continuous nature, are linked to the focus of this project i.e. C & I for SFM/SFD. Expenditures on these have to

be reflected in the cost calculation, in order to evaluate the project's impact. As such, and being exceptions, these are shown in the work plan.

rm ?t;

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

WORK PLAN

1.1.1. Literature/desk review and discussions establishment of bench marks and minimum

standards. 1.1.2. Categorisation of broad forest types (natural forests - teak, sal & mixed - dry & moist; plantations - teak and private ones; protected

1.1.3. Prepare a specific set of C & I for each of the eight specified forest! management types

1.1.4 Preparation of State-level C & I for SFM/SFD in M. P.

1.2 . A ten-year C & I plan for the State of

1.2.1 Time frame & details of a 10 year plan covering the entire State of Madhya Pradesh for implementing C & I for SFM/SFD (including

1.2.2 Identification and demarcation of eight pilot areas to be taken up during the Project's first

rm

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff & National Resource Persons)

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff, Community & National Resource Pe:orc".m",\

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff & National Resource Pe:or",,,n,,,\

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff, National Resource Persons &

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff & National Resource Persons)

26

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

1.3.2 Organise training for the Field Team Leaders & associated staff and collaborators for each site

1.3.3 of C & I in Working Plan prescriptions.

pilot areas established and C&I ·n

1.4.1. Collection of benchmark datalinformation orland survey for establishing minimum acceptable standards of sustainability in the 8 pilot areas

1.4.2. Undertaking forest management operations in the 8 pilot areas, based on existingl modified ·prescriptions (e.g. fire-protection, assisted natural

rehabilitation olantina etc. 1.4.3. Implementing C & I in 8 field pilot areas as detailed in the respective manuals

1.4.4. Periodic change assessment during years in all the pilot areas.

1.4.5. Analysis of data for establishment of Sustainability Index & preparation of a related technical document.

1.5.1. Designing of a web-based information dissemination system.

1.5.2. Imparting information management training.

m'm

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff, FD/MP National Project Leader Supported by Project Staff & FD/MP

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff & Local knowledge persons; sub-

MP Forest Department (Supported by Project Staff

. and community)

Respective Field Team Leaders (Supported by FD/MP, Project Staff, private sector & communities)

IIFM (Supported by Project Staff, FD/MP & Commu IIFM (Supported by Project Staff, National Resource Persons &

27

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

1.5.3. Publication of a quarterly C & I Newsletter. (to be continued by IIFM)

1.5.4. Periodic up-dation of the C & I data on the web-site. (to be continued by IIFM)

Output 1.6: Increased commitment at the national level for SFD 1.6.1. Organisation of 4 regional workshops and one international workshop.

1.6.2. Drafting of a National Strategy on C & I for SFM/SFD including directions for future

2.1.1. Training 100 in-service Forestry Personnel on C & I for SFM/SFD.

2.1.2 Public awareness programme, 8 cross-/intor­site visits & training on C & I (for 40 village-level institutions).

2.1.5. Development of curriculum relating to C & I at 2 levels (field and supervisory) and its enhancement.

rm

IIFM (Supported by Project Staff &

National Project Leader (Supported by National Consultant &

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff, IIFM& National Project Leader (Supported, by Project Staff, Community, FD/MP & sub-

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff)

Project Leader (Supported by FD/MP Project Staff & Com IIFM (Supported by Project Team, National Resource Person, sun_rnntr<>rt1

28

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

2.2.2. A specialised cell for overseeing C & I implementation at the State-level in Madhya

2.2.3. Promoting establishment of similar specialised cells at the Centre and in other States.

participatory

2.3.1 Motivating JFM Committees for implementation and monitoring of C & I.

2.3.2. Establishment of local working groups within the JFM Committees and their linking with the State Cell for C & I.

An adequate system for forest

2.4.1. Evaluate the current level of distortion in the National System of Accounts relating to forest benefits at the eight pilot sites in Madhya Pradesh; and by extrapolation for the whole State.

Establish a National Forest Resource Accounting System through expert consultationsl workshops.

of weaknesses I related research.

rm

National Project Leader (Supported by Senior National Consultant, FD/MP, Project

Gol MP Forest Department (Supported by Project Staff).

National Project Leader (Supported by other State FDs, Gol, NGOs & Project

National Project Leader (Supported by Communities, FD/MP

Project Expert on Natural Resource Accounting (Supported by Project Staff, FD/MP, Gol, IIFM Staff &

29

'"

C & I for SFM/SFD - Indio

2.5.2. Planning and implementation of research activities to enhance C & I system.

for monitoring and evaluation

of monitoring standards, and guidelines for evaluation.

2.6.2. Participatory project evaluation publication of a technical report.

2.6.3. '""nct.t.ct stakeholders I citizens about need for periodical resource status assessment.

ITTO Monitoring Mission

I'm

IIFM (Supported by FD/MP, Community & Forestry Research

IIFM (Supported by Project Staff and Fnr<>cttnl

IIFM (Supported by Community, FD/MP, Project Staff & sub-

30

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

7. Budget

7.1 Overall Preject budget by activity (in US $)

Outputs/Activities + Non-Activity based Expenses

I ...... .., , • ..,. • .•. A well defined C & I syst~m for MP+8FMUs

1.1.1 Literature/desk review for Minimum Acceptable Standards. 1.1.2 Categorisation of Broad Forest Types

1.1.3 Prepare specific sets of C & I for 8 sites

1.1.4 Preparation. of State-level C & I for M. P.

SUB TOTAL 1.21 Manuals & Guidelines

1.3.1 Preparation of Manuals & Guidelines

1.3.2 Training of Field Team Leaders & FD staff

1.3.3 Encouraqe incorporation of C & I in Working Plans

I'm

1,000

1,000

2,000

1,000

2,000

2,000

5,000 (E) + 4,000

1,000

'1000

1,000 ..

1

2,000

8,000 4,500

6,000 4,000

Q1 / Y1

Q1 / Y1

Q 1 - Q2/Y1

Q 1 - Q2/Y1

Q 1 - Q2/Y1

Q

Q 2 - Q.jY1

Q.jY1

Q3-QJY1

31

2,000

2,000

2,000

1,000

2,000

11,000

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

OUTPUT 1.4: Eight pilot areas established for C&I ACTIVITIES: 1.4.1 Collection of 8enchmCirk data 4,000 (E) + 3,500 Q3 -QJY1 22,000

14,500.

1.4.2 Forest management operations 192,000 Y1 to Y4 192,000 (E)

1.4.3 Implementing C & I in 8 field sites 25,000 (E) 20,000 QJY1 to Y4 45,000

1.4.4 Periodic Change Assessment 30,000 (E) Q-JY 2, Q;/Y 3 Q 21Y 4 35,000 + 5,000

1.4.5 Data analysis for Sustainability Index 6,000 (E) + 6,000 2,000 Q 41Y 2, QJY 3 Q;/Y 4 22,000 8000

SUB TOTAL 1.4 284,500 6,000 5,500 20,000 316,000 'OUTPUT 1.5: Forest management info-system ACTIVITIES: .

1.5.1 Web-based Information System design. 4,000 (E) 15,000 12,000 5,000 Q3-Q41Y1 36,000

1.5.2 Information Management Training. 2,000 (E) 10,000 10,000 5,000 Q3 -Q41Y1 27,000 I

1.5.3 Publication of C & I Newsletter. 8,000 (E) 9,000 QJY1 to Y4 17,000 I 1.5.4 Up-dation of web-site. Q 41Y1 to Y4 0

SUB TOTAL 1.5 14,000 34,000 . 10,000 12,000 10,000 80,000 OUTPUT 1.6: Increased commitment for SFD.

ACTIVITIES:

1.6.1 Four Regional Workshops & one International 20,000 10,000 Q1-Q21Y3, Q 11Y4 30,000 Workshop.

1.6.2 Drafting a National Strategy. 5,000 QJY1 5,000

SUB TOTAL 1.6 5,000 20,000 10,000 35,000 . OUTPUT 2.1: Competent Human Resource

.m'm 32

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

----ACTIVITIES: 2.1.1 Training 100 in-service Forestry Personnel 2,500(E) + 16,000 6,000 Q3-QiY1 29,500

5,000 2.1.2 Public awareness, cross-linter-site visits & training 2,OOO(E) 12,500 9,000 QiY1, Q 1N2 23,500

2.1.3 Four group study tours (15-20 days each) 8,000 (E) 30,000 Q1N 2, Q2Y3, Q 1N4 38,000

2.1.4 C & I Extension Centres 10,000 Q4N1 to Y4 10,000 2.1.5 Development of Curriculum 2,000 (E) + 3,000 Q4N l, Ql-Q 2N 2 6,000

1,000 I

SUB-TOTAL 2.1 20,500 . 38,500 48,000 107,000 1---OUTPUT 2.2: Strengthened institutional structures

ACTIVITiES:

2.2.1 Policy mandate for C & I implementation. 2,500 500 Q4N 1, Q 1N2 3000 2.2.2 A specialised Cell at State-level 20,000 (E) Q4N 2, Q 1N 3 20,000

2.2.3 Promoting establishment of similar Cells at centre 50,000 (E) Q 2-Q4/YJ, Ql /Y4 50,000 and other states I

I

SUB TOTAL 2.2 72,500 500 73,000 OUTPUT 2.3: Participatory Arrangements for C & I ACTIVITIES:

2.3_1 Motivating JFM Committees 5,000 Q 3-Q41Y1' Q 1N2 5,000

2.3.2 Establishment of local working groups -do- 0

SUB TOTAL 2.3 5,000 5,000

OUTPUT 2.4: System of Forest Valuation

ACTIVITIES: 2.4.1 Evaluate the current level of distortion in the System 4,000 4,000 Q41Y1, Q11Y2, Q41Y2, 8,000 of National Accounts Q1N 3, Q41Y3, Q 11Y4

2.4.2 Establish a National Forest resource accounting 15,000 10,000 Q 21Y 3, Q 21Y 4 25,000 System (E)

SUB TOTAL 2.4 19,000 14,000 33,000 ----

rm 33

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

OUTPUT 2.5: Operational plan for C & I related Research and Technology Development ACTIVITIES: 2.5.1 Assessment of weaknesses and gaps 4,000 (E) 3,000 Q2-Q41Y1 7,000

2.5.2 Planning and implementation of research activities 3,000 (E) 20,000 Q-jY1-Y4 23,000 SUB TOTAL 2.5 7,000 20,000 3,000 30,000

OUTPUT 2.6: Monitoring & Evaluation of C & I implementation ACTIVITIES: 2.6.1 Establishment of M&E guidelines 4,000 (E) 3,000 QiY1• Y2 7,000

2.6.2 Participatory project evaluation and publication of a 5,OOO(E) 6,500 report.

6,000 Q-jY2, Q-jY3, Q21Y4 17,50~

2.6.3 Sensitise stakeholders I citizens 5,000 10,000 Q2-Q41Y4 15,000 : (E)

SUB TOTAL 2.6 9,000 11,500 19,000 39,500 Project Core Staff

Long-term Staff National Project Leader 60,000 (E) 60,000 Expert on Natural Resource Accounting 12,000 12,000 (Natural Resource Economist)

Computer Operator 18,000 18,000 Field Team Leaders (4) 70,000 70,000 Secretarial Staff (Accounts Asstt. & Secretary) 10,000 10,000 10,000

-- - -- ---- - - - - '--------- -- --- --~O,OOO (E)

-- - - -40,000·

rm 34 -~

Cd I for SFM/SFD - India

-Non-Activity based Expenses

Fuel, Utilities. Office Supplies etc

SUBTOTAL 170,00~ 40000 .210,000

SUB TOTAL (lTTO) 162,000 163,000 108,500 12,000 20,000 20,000 485,500

SUB TOTAL (E-AGENCY) 436,500 - 20,000 - 30,000 - 486,500

TOTAL 598,500 163,000 128,500 12,000 50,000 20,000 972,000 ------ - ---

(E) - Indicates the contribution of Executing Agency/ Host Government/Country.

1m 35

.. Q ... fur .:.rNV.:.rU - J.nOID

7.2. A Consolidated Yearly Project Budget (in US Dollars)

10. Project Personnel 11. National Experts 12. National Consultants 13. Other labour 14. Fellowships and Training 15. International Experts 16. International Consultants

30. Duty Travel 31. Daily Subsistence

Allowance

40. Capital Items 41. Premises 42. Land

50. Consumable It~ms 51. Raw materials 52. Spares 53. Fuel and Utilities

80. ITIO Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration

81. Monitoring and Review Costs 82. Evaluation Costs 83. Costs

48,500 4,000

74,500 3,000

64,500 12,.500 74,500

2,500

36

C cf I for SFM/SFD - IndiD

7.2 B Yearly Project Budget by Source -ITTO (in US Do"ars)

11. National Experts 12. National Consultants 13. Other Labour 14. Fellowship and Training 15. International Experts 16. International Consultants

Sub contracts Duty Travel

40. Capital items Consumable items

7.2 C Yearly Project Budget by Source - E.Agency/Host Government/country

(in US Dollars)

Annual Disbursements Totar Year 1 Year 2 Budget Components '(2001) (2002) 10. Project Personnel 436,500 111,000 113,000 11. National Experts* 141,500 39,500 39,000 12. National Consultants - - -13. Other Labour 287,000 71,500 71,500 14. Fellowships & Training 8,000 - 2,500 15. International Experts - '- -16. International Consultant - - -20. Sub Contracts - - -,3~. Duty travel 20;000 - -40. Capital items - - -50. Consumable items 30,000 7,000 7,500 60. Miscellaneous - - -SUB TOTAL 486,500 118,000 120,500 70. Executing Agency Management Costs 145,800 41,845 33,095

(15% of Total of Overall Project Budget by Activity)

Executing Agency/ Host Govt. Total ** 632,300 159,845 153,595

Year 3 Year 4 (201)3) (2004)

98,500 114,000 23,500 39,500 - -72,000 72,000

3,000 2,500 - -- -- -10,000 10,000 - -

8,000 7,500 - -

116,500 131,500 32,515 38,345

149,015 169,845

* National Experls include the fulltime National Project Leader, on secondment from Indian Institute of Forest Management and other IIFM experls involved in the implementation' of the project

arm

This total includes the flFM contribution valued at US $ 165,000 plus Executing Agency Management Cost of US $ 145,800 (totalling to US $ 311,300), plus the contribution in kind (mainly staff and labour) of the Govemment of Madhya PracJ.esh valued at US $ 227,000. The remaining US $ 94,000 include contributions in kind of Govt. of India, other State Govemments, NGO's and private agencies.

37

C 6 I for SFNVSFD - Indio

PART -III. OPERATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

1. Management Structure

The project will be executed, on behalf of the Government of India and the State Government of Madhya Pradesh, by IIFM, Bhopal, India. IIFM will be the sole Executing Agency for the project. However, the project will be implemented in areas under the control of the MP Forest Department; and will also include some privately owned treelands.

Activities now being carried out by several agencies - Forest Survey of India, ICFRE, MP State Forest Department, MP Forest Development Corporation, District Rural Development Agencies, Tribal Development Authority, Panchayats, Tree,Growers Co-ops and some NGOs (apart from those institutions under the MP Forest Department) have relevance to the objectives of the project.

Therefore, close collaboration will be maintained with the MP Forest Department and other agencies, including sharing of inputs wherever appropriate. Also some of the project activities will be built on the ongoing efforts, such as those of MP Forest Department, MoEF and Forest Departments of other States. The details of collaboration will ·be spelled out, wherever necessary, in the form of MoUs.

At the project management level, a Steering Committee comprising of representatives of Govt. of India, State Forest Department of MP, other concerned agencies and stake. holders will be formed under the chairmanship of Director, IIFM. The Committee will meet periodically and review the progress and course of the project, and provide advice and guidance. One of the Project Staff will serve as the Convenor of the Committee.

At the field level, in each of the pilot areas, local working groups comprising representatives of local government, grass-root groups, stake holders and community will be established to provide assistance and support in project implementation, to be convened by the FieJd Team Leaders.

The project will be headed by a full-time National Project Leader, who will bel on secondment from IIFM, supported by an Expert on Natural Resources Accounting (Natural Resource Economist) for a period of 12 months. (See Annex C for Terms of Reference).

Other Project Staff include: 4 Field Team Leaders and a qualified Computer Operator on full­time basis. There will also be an Accounts Assistant and a Secretary on a part-time basis for the duration of the project.

24 person months of national consultancy will be used to carry out project activities covering various aspects. IIFM will place the services of its specialists/experts in different fields, totalling 75 person months, at the disposal of the project for undertaking/managing specific tasks.

Similarly, the MP Forest Department will assign the services of the staff working in the 8 pilot project sites for carrying out the field activities in collaboration with the Project Team.

This project, with its catalytic role in extending the concept and practice of C & I for SFM/SFD, is expected to encourage other entities elsewhere in the country to emulate the example of the project and independently undertake SFM/SFD related activities.

2. Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation

As befitting a project involving people and local community in its implementation, provision has been made for participatory project evaluation, three times during the project period - i.e. in the second, third and fourth years.

Apart from this evaluation, and close supervision and regular assessment of progress by project management, four monitoring visits by ITTO are also foreseen.

38

C,f I fDr SFM/SFD - Indio

In proposing the following schedule of reporting and monitoring, it is assumed that the project will become functional as on 01 January 2001.

a) Project Progress Reports

First Project Progress Report Second Project Progress Report Third Project Progress Report Fourth Project Progress Report

15 August 2001 15 August 2002 15 August 2003 15 August 2004

Apart from the four annual progress reports, short reports of highlights and achievements will be prepared at the end of each quarter as a mechanism for ensuring prompt delivery of project outputs.

b) Project Completion Report 31 January 2005

c) Project Technical Reports.

Four technical reports dealing with the technical aspects and results of the project will be prepared as follows:

1st Report 2nd Report 3rd Report 4th Report

01 January 2002 01 January 2003-01 January 2004 01 January 2005

These will be in addition to the technical documentation on specific subject matters such as forest valuation system; forest resources accounting; forestry in national system of accounts; resource status assessments; sustain ability index; web-based forest management information

. system; national C&I strategy, manuals and guidelines relating to implementation of C&I for SFM/SFD;· training materials, technical· workshop proceedings, survey reports/analyses; policy related releases; research plans; participatory project evaluation; quarterly C&I News.Letters and so on.

d) Monitoring/Review Visits and Steering Committee Meetings

Four monitoring/review visits by ITTO Project Manager is foreseen:

1st Mission 2nd Mission 3rd Mission 4th Mission

01 September 2001 01 September 2002 01 September 2003 01 September 2004

Four Steering Committee Meetings, are proposed, at the beginning of each year, for ensuring the benefit of its guidance in implementing the annual plan of operations.

e) Evaluation

Apart from the monitoring/review visits of ITIO, no separate midterm and terminal (ex-post) evaluation missions are foreseen, particularly since the project will formally be subjected to participatory evaluation. .

3. Future Operations and Maintenance

As explained earlier, a total period of 10 years is envisaged for effectively and realistically expanding the application of C&I for SFM/SFD over the whole country, and for instituionalising the process. While the present project represents the pilot phase, the phase(s) covering the remaining 6 years will form the expansion/replication phase, where the experiences and lessons from the first phase will be suitably modified and applied in the rest of MP and in the other States of India.

arm 39

C & I for SFM/S/"O - India

The 'creations' of ~his project which would require maintenance are: (i) the Web-based forest management information system and (ii) the C&I quarterly News Letter. Both these will be taken over and continued by IIFM as part of its regular activity.

The 8 pilot Sites/Forest Divisions established during this project period can usefully serve as a demonstration/training area. How this will be done can be decided, in due course, based· on how the follow-up plans evolve. In short, the assitance required in the future will be to provide a catalytic force and fillip to visibly and convincingly achieve SFM/SFD over the entire country

PART IV. THE TROPICAL TIMBER FRAMEWORK

1. Compliance with ITTA 1994 Objectives

The development objective of this project is fully in harmony with concerns of ITTO and the objectives of IITA 1'994. ITTO through its "Year 2000 Objective" strives to achieve and ensure tropical timber production from sustainably managed forests. The Organisation, accordingly, is concerned with development of appropriate C&I for SFM/SFD and their practical enforcement.

Of the 14 objectives enshrined in IITA 1994, six (c, d, f, i, j and I) directly deal with sustainability considerations: sustainability process; capacity building for strategy implementation; R & 0 for SFM; employment and income through sustainable processing; resource creation and expansion to support sustainability through plantations and forest rehabilitation; and policy support for sustainable utilization and conseniation. Other objectives deal with pre-requisites and conditions supporting SFM/SFD.

This project with its emphasis on applying all relevant C & I related to SFM/SFD, fully complies with the objectives of ITTA 1994, explicity and implicity.

2. Compliance with ITTO Action Plan

The Libreville Action Plan 1998-2001 is a strategic instrument for achieving the objectives of lIT A 1994, and as such the goals of the Action Plan underline the need for actions/activities: to secure and improve the tropical forest resource, to enhance relevant capabilities and to improve standards and efficiency in resource use and management.

The present project, by institutionalising C & I for SFM/SFD complies with the goals of the Libreville Action Plan of lITO, particularly goal 2, i.e. to improve the tropical timber resource base.

3. Compliance with ITTO Guidelines and C & I Document.

ITTO C & I for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests 1998 (which updates the lITO's Criteria for the Measurement of Sustainable Tropical Forest Management published in 1992), along with the four guidelines (Le. for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests 1990; for the. Establishment and Sustainable Management of Planted Tropical Forests, 1993; for the Conservation of Bio-diversity in Tropical Production Forests, 1993;. and, on Fire Management in Tropical Forests, 1997) provide a most comprehensive set of prescriptions for sustainable tropical forest management.

The formulation of this document has benefited from these documents; and its implementation will draw ideas and guidance from them, thus, contributing to the achievement of ITTO's "Year 200 Objective".

"The ITTO Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable management of Natural Tropical Forests 1998 and the Criteria and Indicators specified under the Bhopal-India Process do overlap in most major aspects. As such the project, the Operational Strategy for Sustainable Forestry Development with Community Participation in India, will draw heavily on the ITTO documents. Further, wherever applicable and appropriate, the activities being undertaken during the implementation phase will be suitably cross­referenced, indicating the linkages between the ITTO Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests and the C & I under the Bhopal - India Process".

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C cI I for SFM/SFD - India

Annex-I BRIEF PROFILE OF EXECUTING AGENCY

Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India

Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) is a premiere autonomous Institute under Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), Govt. of India. The Institute has four main activities namely research, education, training and consultancy in the forestry and allied sectors. It was established in 1982 in response to the growing need for managerial human-power and development of managerial capacity. in the forest and allied sectors focussing on application of business methods in the management of forest and natural resources to ensure efficiency in resource use and conserVation.

The Institute is governed by an independent Board of Governors, representing multi-disciplinary interests: technical, academic, social, economic, administration, environment, industry, rural development and other sectors.

The Institute has highly qualified and experienced multi-disciplinary faculty and supporting research staff. There are 25 faculty members, of whom, 18 hold doctoral & post-doctoral degrees in forestry and allied subjects.

There are 8 faculty areas as follows:

i) Applied Computer Technology and Quantitative Techniques for Forestry Operation ii) Communication Methods iii) Ecosystem Management and Technical Forestry iv) Financial Management, Accounting and Control v) Forest Resource Economics and Management vi) Marketing Management vii) Personnel Management and Organisational Behavior viii) Sociology and Social Anthropology

The multi-disciplinary faculty is ideally suited for all academic activities of the Institute.

The Institute has successfully undertaken several research projects with the support of National and International funding agencies such as, ITIO, Ford Foundation, FAO, IDRC, DFID, CIFOR, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Department of Science and Technology, State Forest Departments', etc. Some of the important on-going research projects pertain to Policy Analysis in respect of NWFP harvesting and use, JFM (Community Forestry), SFM, Economic Analysis of Tree Growing, Sustainable Teak Forest Plantation Management (CIFOR), Protected Area Management, Environmental Impact Assessment of mined-out areas, Marketing of NWFP, Gender Issues in Forestry and Development, Socio-economic Studies of forest dependent communities, Community based Sustainable Medicinal Plant Cultivation and Management, Survey of Fuelwood Flow, Wetland Management and other aspects of Biodiversity Conservation, Sustainable Forest Management, GIS Applications in preparation of Working Plans, Wastelands Development, etc. A number of publications in the form of research papers, reports, monographs, case studies, manuals, working papers, etc. on above aspects, have been released.

The educational programme comprises of: (i) two-years Masters' course (Post Graduate Diploma in Forestry Management), with an annual in-take of 35 Indian students based on all-India level 3-stage competitive tests, along with 5 students from SAARC countries and 5 NRI students, (ii) One-year Post Masters' course (M:Phil. in Natural Resource Management) for enhancing and updating the skills of in-service Natural Resource Managers, and (iii) Ph.D. program (Centre of FRI Deemed University).

The Institute has been conducting short term training programmes for in-service personnel from different departments on specified topics of forest management such as Joint Forest Management, NWFP, Biodiversity, Project Management, Computer Applications and Information Technology in Forestry, Gender Issues, Watershed Management, Natural Resource Accounting etc. So far, more than 125 programmes have been conducted with about 4000 persons already trained. The Institute has also been organising international training courses on Sustainable NTFP Management, Community Forestry, Participatory Forest Resource Assessment and Planning, besides conducting vertical integration programmes on environment awareness for Police & Army Officers, Foresters, NGOs, media persons and others. International workshops, seminars in collaboration with Govt. of India, FAO, ITIO, UNEP, RECOFTC, USFS and other agencies, have been conducted on regular intervals.

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C'* I fDr SFM/SFD - Indio

The Institute has been rendering consultancy services to Government of India, State Forest

Departments, ADB, World Bank, GTZ, SIDA, FAO, liED, Corporate Sectors, NGOs and others. The Institute has

a strong network with NGOs.

The Institute has recently established Policy Analysis Cell and a Forest Database Centre. Apart from

the Institute's Web site (www.iifm.org), it has also launched an e-group on (a) ethno-forestry, (b) information

technology in forestry, (c) JFM - India, and (d) NTFPs.

The Institute has a campus spread over 80 hectares of Natural Forest area, which is also managed as

demonstration area for watershed management, soil and moisture conservation, NTFP and medicinal plants'

germ plasm bank. It" has elegant spacious building with well-equipped classrooms & training halls, hostel for

students, guest house for visiting faculty/resource persons, with modern boarding facilities.

The Institute has a rich and computerised Library & InformatiorvSystem with over 25,000 books and 200

journals subscribed. The Institute also has a modern Computer Centre with GIS & Remote Sensing facilities.

The Institute also houses a Regional Centre of National Afforestation and Eco-development Board of

Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India, which is one among the seven in the country. It is actively

engaged in carrying out research and training programmes in accordance with the policy and guidelines of

Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India. So far, it has successfully completed 25 research projects, 17

training programmes and 33 assignments pertaining to evaluation of forest plantations in the region.

In view of growing importance of community forestry in India and elsewhere, and the expertise the

Institute has developed over the last decade, an International Centre for Community Forestry (ICC F) has

been established at IIFM. It has mandate for research, training, outreach programme and networking in

community forestry. Because of its strategiC location and research & educational infrastructure, the Centre can

address the requirement of developing countries pursuing activities related to community based forest

management. This Centre envisages programs implementation in~olving exchange of scientists, researchers

and community forestry workers from different countries. The Centre has financial support from Govt. of India

and some International funding agencies.

The Bhopal-India Process of Sustainable Forest Management, piloted by the Institute, has been

endorsed by the Govt. of India and FAO. The Institute in collaboration with FAO, UNEP, ITTO, USFS, organised

a workshop-cum-consul~tion meeting for national level C & I for Dry zone Asia during November-December

1999. The Institute has sensitised foresters, academicians, NGOs and some communities regarding use of C & I

for SFM. The Institute has also impressed upon the Govt. of India about the need to adopt and promote

Sustainable Forest Management in the country. Agreeing to this suggestion, Govt. of India appointed a National

Task Force on Sustainable Forest Management, giving IIFM the responsibility for organising

meetings/consultations and submitting recommendations for follow-up action.

IIFM is on the Board of Governors of ICFRE, which is an apex body for forestry research and education

in India and therefore, facilitating strong linkages with these two organisations. Apart from it's membership in

various Committees of Govt. of India, IIFM has also been nominated to the "National Support Group of JFM",

established by the MoEF, Govt. of India. The Institute is also member of IUCN, State Biodiversity Board of MP

and several other national organisations in the forestry sector.

Being the only Institute of its kind in this region, it has developed as a unique Institution with

considerable experience & expertise in Community based Sustainable Natural Resource Management and

Development. The long term mission of the Institute is to achieve Sustainable Forestry Development in the

. region.

rm ii

i,

In light of the recommendations of the Expert Panel the following corrections/modifications have been incorporated in the Project Document:

Compliance to Recommendation - 01 : ~ "Clarify the use of the ITTO Criteria and Indicators and the associated Manuals for Application".

(1) Following additions on Pag~. No. 39 Part - IV : Items - 3 compliance with ITTO guidelines and C & I document (Para - 2). "The ITTO Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests 1998 and the Criteria and Indicators specified under the Bhopal-India Process do overlap in most maj.or aspects. As such the project, tlte Operati.onal Strategy for Sustainable Forestry Devel.opment with C.ommunity Participation in India, will draw heavily .on the ITTO documents. Further, wherever applicable and appr.opriate, the activities being undertaken during the implementation phase will be suitably cr.oss-referenced, indicattng the linkages between the ITTO Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests and the C & I under the Bhopal- India Pr.ocess".

(2) Part - II Project Objective Page - 7.' The following additions has been incorporated:

1.2.1. "To develop and operationalise a functioning system of C & I for sustainable forestry development, with community participation through refinement of the Bhopal-India Process f.ollowing the guidelines contained in the ITTO Criteria and Indicat.ors";

1.2.2. "To establish institutional capability for implementing C & I for sustainable forestry development taking int.o consideration the principles c.ontained in the ITTO Manuals and .other relevant d.ocuments" .

Compliance to Rec.ommendati.on - 02 : Identify more clearly by whom and how the work with the local communities will be carried out and who are the direct beneficiaries:

Section 2.4 Target Beneficiaries (Page No. 16) : Additional para "The m.ost imp.ortant direct beneficiaries will be the l.ocal c.ommunities, through their active participati.on in pr.oject implementati.on, incentives received in the form of c.ompensati.on f.or services pr.ovided and benefit sharing, and local emp.owerment".

As provided in Part - II, Secti.on 4 Activities, l.ocal involvement will be enhanced thr.ough training and awareness pr.ogrammes, cross/intersite visits, C & I related extensi.on, m.otivating the JFM c.ommittees f.or implementing

: 2 :

and monitoring C & I in the areas falling in their purview and establishment of local working groups on C & I within JFM committees".

Compliance to Recommendation - ,03 : Clarify the forest ownership structure:

( 1 )

(2)

Part I Context - The Indian situation - Page 03 (new para 3) "About 90 per cent of the forests in India are owned by Government. Of these 10.248 million ha representing over 15 per cent of the country's total forests (Pandey, 2000) is managed under the system of Joint Forest Management where Forest. Department in collaboration with local communities organized in the form of Village Forest Committees s (VFCs)lForest Protection Committees (FPCs) share responsibilities for administering the management, development 'and benefit sharing. As of February, 2000 there were 36,075 Joint Fores..t Management Committees (VFCs)IFPCs) jointly managing about 10.248 million hectares of Government forests".

Under Heading Forestry Situation in the State of Madhya Pradesh - Page No. 03, Para - 02. New para added after para -02 "In the State of Madhy~ Pradesh where the project sites are proposed to be located about 5.8 million ha are being currently co-managed with the local communities (12038 VFCsIFPCs). In addition to these jointly managed forests, private forests raised by industries and farmers are also proposed to be inclu.ded in the 8 pilot project sites. Thus apart from Government Forest Department the other. beneficiaries would be the local communities, private industries and individual farmers" .

. Reference :

Pandey, G. (200.0) Institutional Mechanisms to Ensure Sustainable Forest Management. Paper presented in the CF A meeting at Delhi, 19:'21 April, 2000 (MoEF, New Delhi).

PART I. CONTEXT

1. Origin

Background

This project stems from a pre-project: Sustainable Tropical Forest Management through Community Participation in India (PD 8/99-F), supported by lITO, which was implemented between October 1999 and April 2000. The outcome of the pre-project clearly indicated the urgent need for a larger initiative, to be undertaken in a phased manner, as elaborated in this document.

Additionally, a number of recent events at the global, national and state levels have served to . highlight the urgency and importance of the proposal presented here. These include: the reports of IPF (1996 and 1997), Antalya Declaration of the Xlth World Forestry Congress (1997), Report on Global Environmental Outlook 2000 of UNEP (1999), Report of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development (1999), National Forestry Action Plan- India prepared by MOEF (1999), Draft Report of the Chandi Prasad Bhat Committee appOinted by the Government of India on Forestry Sector Action Plan for the next 20 years (March, 2000), the National Task Force on Sustainable Forest Management appointed by Govt. of India and convened by IIFM (2000), State Forestry Action Plan of Madhya Pradesh (1997) and reports relating to the World Bank supported Forestry Project in Madhya Pradesh (1998,1999).

All of these have emphasized the need to halt deforestation and forest degradation and stressed the urgency in undertaking consistent measures of sustainable forestry development.

Global Concern

Following the Earth Summit, and as envisaged in the Forest Principles (1992), a number of initiatives were taken up at various levels to support sustainable forest management practices and to promote sustainable forestry development. The need for developing and implementing strict criteria and indicators for SFM was accepted universally as a crucial measure. Several processes and initiatives (such as those of lITO, Helsinki, Montreal, Tarapoto, Central America/Lepaterique, Dry zone Africa, Near East, Dry zone Asia) were accordingly taken-up to define and refine C&I for SFM, embraCing social, economic, ecological and institutional considerations. Eight years after the Earth Summit, however, these processes as it relates to the developing countries, are yet to materialise as concrete action towards Sustainable Forest Management leading to Sustainable Forestry Development (SFM/SFD).

The Indian Situation

Several policy analyses and planning studies have strongly pointed out that the trend during the last 30-40 years has been one of serious environmental decline; and in order to avoid irreversible damages to the ecological as well as economic health of the country it is essential to reverse the trend and to direct it towards sustainable development.

Bio-diversity. India is located at the confluence of three major biogeographic realms - Indo­Malayan, Eurasian and Ethiopian. It ranks as the sixth among the 12 mega-biodiversity countries of the world. At best, only 20% of its biodiversity has been documented in terms of species, habitats and ecosystems. India has some 126,200 species of bacteria, fungi, plants and animals already identified and described, of which some 17,000 are flowering plants. Of these, flowering plants, nearly 35% are endemic to the country, located chiefly in 26 endemic centres. About 1,500 endemic species are facing varying degrees of threat.

Natural Forests. All documented evidence indicates a continuing deforestation trend in India. No preCise figures are available for the gross and net deforestation (change of forest cover), over time. According to the estimates, India has been able to reduce the rate of deforestation during the last few years. The annual average rate of deforestation fell from about 1.3 million ha in the 1970s to 0.339 million ha in the 1980s and to about 0.129 million ha in 1993/95. However, considering that an important objective of India's national forest policy is to increase the percentage of land effectively under forest cover from about 12% to 33%, even the reduced level of deforestation is abhorrent enough.

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While there has been some improvement in controlling deforestation in India, forest degradation or qualitative loss is continuing. The bio-mass and growing stock of wood in the natural forests of India in 1990 was only 93 tlha and 47 cu m/ha respectively as against an average of 169 tlha and 113 cu m/ha respectively for developing countries. Availability of forest bio-mass per capita in the natural forests of India is only about 6 t, as against an average of 82 t in the developing world. The FSI reports that in 53% of the natural forests, regeneration is either absent or inadequate.

Forest encroachments, shifting cultivation, planned and unplanned expansion of agriculture, pressures from other forms of land uses, illicit and excessive collection of fuelwood and timber, unscientific harvesting of NWFPs, forest fires and grazing and inadequate investment in forest conservation and development are some of the factors which lead to forest degradation and deforestation.

In the mid 1990s, the estimated extraction of wood has been close to 300 million cu m against the estimated sustainable availability of 127 million cu m. Nearly 90% of the wood produced was used for fuel.

About 75% of all Indians, and 80% of the poor, live in villages. The rising population has forced the rural poor to borrow against the future by depleting the natural resources. The problem is further compounded by the high cattle population of low productivity which are allowed to graze freely in forest areas, causing degradation of forests. This has led to severe erosion, and floods in the lower plains, in addition to the destruction caused by fire and shifting cultivation. Estimates suggest that in addition to denudation of non-agricultural lands, 85 million ha, or 59% of agricultural lands suffer from soil degradation.

Protected Areas. In terms of the area declared as National Parks, Sanctuaries and other 'Reserves', India's achievement in PAs development is significant. PAs in India cover about 14.8 million ha representing over 20% of the forest area, consisting of 85 National Parks, 448 Wildlife Sanctuaries and 23 Tiger Reserves. However, the condition of several of the PAs are poor, because of fire, grazing and inadequate management. Most PAs are not covered by management plans. Some are below the minimum size required to be effective. People-wildlife interface in several cases are fraught with conflicts and tension.

Forest Plantations. India's achievement in raising forest plantations, in terms of area, has been impressive. Currently, the total area of tree plantations, under different schemes is over 24 million ha. However, in terms of survival, growth and yield, the performance of forest plantations in India has been poor. Based on survival rate and stock density, effective area of forest plantations has been estimated to be about 12 million ha, about 50% of the recorded total. MAl of forest plantations in India varies from about 2 cu ml ha/yr for valuable timber species to about 4 cu m/ha/yr for Eucalyptus and other fast growing species such as Gmelina arborea. This may be compared to an MAl of over 10 cu m/ha/yr generally and above 50 cu m/ha/yr for good quality industrial plantations in different countries.

Inadequacies in site selection and site-species matching, poor planting stock. lack of proper maintenance and protection (from fire. grazing, pests and diseases), lack of timely tendings/thinnings, delays in fund allocation, and lack of adequately trained staff are some of the causes for the situation.

Forest Dwelling Communities. According to the 1991 census, tribal population (scheduled tribes) in India was 67.8 million. It is estimated that some 33 to 60% of the livelihood needs of the tribal population is derived from forests under traditional and customary rights. Some 18 to 22 million tribal people live in or around the forest, and most of them are engaged in shifting cultivation. The plight of most of the shifting cultivators is generally one of great hardship. Their situation calls for settling of land tenure issues and rationalising the system of shifting cultivation, to make it a viable land use system. Participation of tribal population in forestry activities needs to be facilitated and promoted.

Private Forestry Initiatives. While large scale forestry has been the monopoly of the Government, rural people have been practising a parallel forestry in their farms, homesteads, and community lands to primarily meet the household requirements for fuel, poles, timber and medicinal plants. Several combinations of agro-silvo-pastoral systems are practised by the rural people. Currently the area of private tree planting (under agrofore~try, block and line plantations) covers an area of about 7.6 million ha.

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These private initiatives are not supported in ~ommensurate measure by the Government through relevant research, extension, technological packages, input delivery, market information or credit facilities.

Other Aspects. India's forest-based industries have been rather stagnant, due mainly to the non­availability of raw material. No real investment in forest industry has taken place in recent years except for some small additions to pulp and paper and panel products capacity.

"About 90 per cent of the forests in India are owned by Government. Of these 10.248 million ha/representing over 15 per cent of the countries total forests (Pandey, 2000) is managed under the system of Joint Forest Management where Forest Department in collaboration with local communities organized in the form of Village Forest Committees {VFCs)/Forest Protection Committees (FPCs) share responsibilities for administering the management, development and benefit sharing. As of February, 2000 there were 36,075 Joint Forest Management Committees (VFCs)/FPCs) jointly managing about 10.248 miIIion hectares of Government forests".

Forestry Situation in the State of Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh, located somewhat in the geographic centre of the country, is the largest state of India, having an area of about 44.3 million ha. It is also one of the poorest. 45% of its population are below poverty line. Dry tropical weather prevails through most of the State. Rainfall ranges from 800 to 1500 mm, increasing from west to east. .

Condition of the Forest. About 13.5 million ha, representing 30.5% of land area of MP is under forest. The forests broadly fall under three types: (i) Dry mixed forests (65.6%), (ii) Dry Teak Forest (17.9%) and (iii) Dry Sal (Shorea robusta) Forest (16.5%). Average growing stock has been estimated to be about 60 cu m/ha. Of the total area under forests some 11.3 million ha are under some form of commercial working (of which about 10 million ha fall under Tribal Sub-plan). About 1.7 million ha are under protected area network. There are also about 0.5 million ha under forest plantations.

The forests of MP constitute catchments of some of the major Indian rivers - Ganga, Yamuna, Mahanadi, Godavari and Narmada.

"In the State of Madhya Pradesh, where the project sites are proposed to be located, about 5.8 million ha. forests are being currently co-managed with the local communities (12,038 VFCs/FPCs). In addition to these jointly managed forests, private forests raised by industries and farmers are also proposed to be included in the 8 pi/ot project sites. Thus, apart from Government Forest Department the other beneficiaries would be the local communities, private industries and individual farmers.

Pandey, G. (2000) Institutional Mechanisms to Ensure Sustainable Forest Management. Paper presented in the CFA meeting at Delhi, 19-21 April, 2000 (MoEF, New Delhi).

Production Activities. The forests of MP account for about 21 % of India's forests; and it is the largest producer (accounting for about 33%) of wood in the country. MP also accounts for a large percentage of NWFP production.

Forest-based processing industries of MP are hampered by scarcity of raw materials. There are 3 major paper mills, 8 panel products factories, 8 katha (Acacia catechu) mills, 675 beed; (Diospyros melanoxylon leaves used as wrapper) factories and some 4,500 small saw mills in MP. Overall, the forest­based processing units in the State utilise only 50% of the installed capacity. Against a potential raw material intake capability of some 3.0 million cu m, actual intake is only about 1.5 million cu m. Many saw mills work only for about a month a year. Efficiency of the processing units is very low. While good quality timber from MP is sold to other states of India for making high quality furniture and· for construction purposes, about 40% of the wood raw material for industries in the State is "imported" from outside.

Among the NWFPs (and probably among all forest products) beedi leaf (leaf of Dyospyros melanoxylon) is the most important, earning a substantial revenue to the State. 65% of the leaves are sold to buyers outside the State of MP.

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Forest Community. A population of over 20 million (including 15.2 million tribals) lives in and around the forest areas. Some 30,000 villages in MP are located within or close to the forests. 67% of the tribal income is earned from collection of forest products, mainly NWFPs. MP has recognised extensive Nistar rights i.e. free or concessional access to timber, fuel, fodder and NWFPs from forests and village commons.

Deforestation and Forest Degradation. Based on satellite data interpretation, it has been estimated that between 1993 and 1995 there has been a decrease of 23,200 ha in the area under forest cover in MP. At the Field Workshops held as part of the pre-project, the local people expressed grave concern at the continuing disappearance of forests and how it affects the quality of their life.

MP's cattle population is about 45 million, a sizeable percentage of which graze in forests. Grazing incidents in some areas are said to be 10 times the acceptable limit, leading to high degree of forest degradation. Forest floors have been exposed to soil erosion with consequent watershed disturbances. Forest degradation has also affected the natural balance between prey-predators and host­parasites. As a result, the major forest tree species namely teak and sal have been infested by insect pests in an unmanageable proportion. Recently, sal (Shorea robusta, regarded ecologically as a keystone species) trees were attacked by a heart wood borer (Hoplocyrambix spinicornis) killing over 3 million trees and threatening many other species of the ecosystem. Teak, the other most important commercial species is also getting depleted due to lack of natural regeneration, and disappearance of bamboo undergrowth.

The general condition of the forests, and their management in MP calls for consistent improvement to ensure sustainability.

2. Sectoral Policies

National Forest Policy

Since the promulgation of India's first forest policy statement in 1894, there have been several revisions. The current National Forest Policy was approved in 1988.

NFP 1988 lays down over-riding consideration for environmental concerns rather than for commercial interests. It lays special emphasis on: maintenance of environmental stability and restoration of ecological balance; conservation of the country's natural heritage and biological diversity; improved soil and water conservation; increasing forest cover through massive afforestation and social forestry programmes; proVision of forest produce requirements to the rural and tribal population; increasing forest productivity; improving forest product (both wood and non-WOOd) utilisation efficiency; and creating a massive people's movement with the involvement of women, to achieve these objectives and to minimise the pressure on existing forests. The policy also states that industrial wood needs would be met increaSingly from farm forestry.

The overall national goal of the 1988 policy was to have a minimum of one-third of the total land area of the country (and 66% in the hills) under forest tree cover. The role of NWFPs, in providing sustenance to tribal population and generating employment and income was specially recognised. The strategy proposed in achieving the objectives included: increaSing area under forest cover through afforestation, social forestry and farm forestry; better management of State forests; meeting rights and concessions within carrying capacity of forests; promotion of non-destructive uses of forests; strict control of diversion of forestlands for non-forestry purposes; effective conservation of wildlife; safeguarding the symbiotic relationship between tribal people and forests; rationalising shifting cultivation; preventing damages to forests from encroachments, fires and grazing; organising captive raw material sources by forest-based industries in collaboration with local farmers; taking recourse to substitution of wood needs wherever feasible; liberalising jmport of wood and wood products; discontinuing distortionary subsidies; strengthening forestry research, extension and education; strengthening institutional aspects and improving financial support for forestry. It was emphaSised that forests should not be looked upon as just a source of revenue.

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NFP 1988 has thus internalised relevant criteria for ensuring sustainability of forestry development covering: extent of forest area; health and vitality; productive functions; biological diversity; protective and environmental functions; development and social needs and institutional support framework.

Joint Forest Management. India is committed to the development concept of community forestry. Following the 1988 NFP, MoEF also issued a circular, in 1990, for promoting JFM. The emphasis has been on formation of Village Forest Committees and empowering them for participatory management of degraded forests, on a benefit sharing basis. JFM has so far been adopted by 22 Indian states. By the end of 1999, around 10.3 million ha of degraded forests in the country were being managed and protected by some 35,000 Forest Protection Committees.

The JFM, as was practiced till 1999, was somewhat restrictive in that it emphasised only the protection and maintenance of degraded forests. A new circular has been issued by the Govt. of India on 11 February, 2000, which envisages extension of JFM to better stocked forests also. However, people's participation should be expanded to include a number of other activities such as PA management, infrastructure development, rationalisation of shifting cultivation and forest-based small-scale enterprises where people's partiCipation can be practised beneficially. Also, incentives should be rational, fair and equitable.

India is a signatory to most International Conventions and Protocols relating to environment and development. As a signatory to the Rio Declaration (1992) and having endorsed the Forest Principles, India is committed to SFM/SFD i.e. to sustaining the ecological, economic, social and cultural functions and roles of forests. India also has an extensive system of forest and environment related laws and legal instruments.

However, a detailed policy analysis carried out as part of the NFAP (1999) indicated that there have been lapses in the implementation of the policy and enforcement of policy instruments. Weaknesses in achieving the policy goals were evident with regard to forest land use, management of natural forests, level of deforestation and land degradation, quality of forest plantations, status of forest protection, conservation of environment, private initiatives in forestry, forest production and utilisation, economic and social contributions, community partiCipation, non-governmental influences in forestry, structure of institutions, research and technology, extension service, capacity and human resourcE! development, and investment trend.

Major conflicts, between forest bureaucracy and the public, have resulted from the differences in interpreting the objectives of forest policies in the context of other socio-economic policies. In a number of occasions, the Supreme Court of India have made stringent observations and provided directions for policy enforcement.

Another pOint is that the NFP mainly addresses the concerns of the Government forest sector and related institutions, even though a large informal private sector (and also some NGOs) now plays a significant role in meeting the Nation's needs for forest products and services.

Available information indicates that, failures to achieve some of the policy objectives have been due mainly to ineffective implementation rather than inadequacies of the policy. Although forestry is a concurrent subject, State Governments ultimately decide the amount of staff and other resources that will be used to manage their forests, enforce forest laws and develop forestry. While GOI may emphasise the need for environmental conservation, the State Governments are faced with their revenue needs as well as with the local pressures to meet the needs of the population.

Long Term Strategy for Development of the Forestry Sector in Madhya Pradesh

Within the prinCiples and provisions of NFP 1988, the government of Madhya Pradesh has adopted a new strategy of informed participation of people, replacing the traditional approach of "fences and fines". This new strategy focuses on creating a market-oriented environment and an appropriate legislative and administrative framework for increasing participatory management of forest resources in which communities are treated as partners in the management of these resources. This strategy is built on the concept of forest zoning which is based on an understanding of the expected land use and a

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realistic assessment of what is technically feasible in the light of site-specific capability of land and incentive structure. The roles of FPCs and VFCs are central to the system (See Box. 1).

The Committees. Under the ambit of JFM three sets of committees are established:

Village Forest Committees (VFCs) in the forest areas having a canopy density of upto 0.4, i.e. the forest area which has been degraded through biotic interference like population pressure, grazing. fire etc. For the restoration of these areas participation of every member of the village is sought including women members from each family.

Forest Protection Committees (FPCs) in the areas having well stocked closed forest i.e. having a canopy density of more than 0.4. Villagers and forest staff jOintly patrol areas to prevent theft. grazing. encroachments. and fires.

Eco-Development Committees (EDCs) involving adjoining population in the management of Protected Areas (PAs).

Villages within 5 km periphery of the forests would be selected for formation of VFCs and FPCs. Other salient features of the strategy are:

Creation of JFM Spearhead Teams at Forest Division level.

Decentralised, site-specific planning (micro-planning) based on partiCipatory assessment of resources and needs as perceived by villagers.

Emphasis on village resource development.

Usufruct sharing upto 30% in the case of VFCs and 10% for FPCs in addition to royalty-free "Nistar".

EDC - development of village resource to minimize their dependence on PAs.

far a total of 12,038 committees have been formed fn Madhya Pradesh - 5.746 are FPCs, 6,011 are VFCs and 281 EDCs. These committees are protecting an area of around 5.9 million ha, which is over 40% of the total forest area of M.P.

rm 6

Z1- Protected Areas

Box 1

FOREST ZONATION

............................ :::::~.:~::~: ............................. . . - ~

! \ ! \ · . · . · . · . · . · . · . · . · . · . · . . . . . . . •• , .s-

....... ROF ••••• ...... /5 KIll. • •••••

~~ ~ •••••••••• VRUF' ••••••••••• ...........................

Production Foresby

(National Parks & Wildlife Sanctuaries)

RDH - Rehabilitation of Degraded Habitat

RDF - Rehabilitation of Degraded Forests

VFC - Village Forest Committee Z2- Closed Forests outside the P.A (Density> 0.4)

Z3- Open Forests (Density < 0.4)

Z4- Private and Community Land

FPC - Forest Protection Committee

VRDP - Village Forest Development Programe

EDP - Eco Development Programme

Source: World Bank assisted MP Forestry Project, 1999

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3. Programmes and Operational Activities

The state-owned forests in India were managed under specific prescriptions of forest working plans or forest management plans. Such plans were prepared for management units, i.e. Forest Divisions.

The system of forest management planning somewhat suffered a set back with the introduction of National Development Planning which followed a sectoral approach. Long-term nature of forestry development, pressures from other land using sectors, uncertainty of programme funding, difficulty to internalise the externalities of forestry in investment analysis and such other aspects adversely affected forestry development.

Madhya Pradesh Forestry Project

The Madhya Pradesh Forestry Project, financially aided by the World Bank with IDA credit of US $ 58 million (and with an overall project cost of US $ 67.3 million) became effective in September 1995, for an initial first phase of 4 years. The objectives of the project specifically are: to ensure environmental stability and maintain ecological balance; to conserve the national biological heritage; to increase substantially the forest and tree cover in forest and farmlands; to increase the productivity of the forests and to ensure participation of the people in management of forests and trees, keeping in mind the interests of tribal people and other disadvantaged groups.

The project has adopted a three pronged approach:

• bringing about State level policy and legal changes in conformity with the national policy.

• providing financial inputs for implementing certain important components of the national forest policy, and

• training and retraining the staff for the tasks, through a massive HRD operation.

Some of the activities of the present project proposal will complement those of the MP ForestrY Project. This complementarity will help to effectively institutionalise SFM/SFD through a practical system of C&I and related capacity building efforts.

PART -II. OBJECTIVES 1. Project Objectives

1.1 Development Objective

The development objective of the project is: to create conditions for, and thus help achieve, Sustainable Forestry Development in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, and by stages over the entire country.

1.2 Specific Objectives

The two specific objectives of the project which will directly contribute to the achievement of the project's development objective are:

1. To develop and operationalise a functioning system of C&I for sustainable forestry development, with community participation through refinement of the Bhopal-India Process following the guidelines contained in the ITTO Criteria and Indicators.

2. To establish institutional capability for implementing C&I for sustainable forestry development taking into consideration the principles contained in the ITTO manuals and other relevant documents.

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2. Justification

2. 1 Problems to be addressed

In a consultation of renowned forestry experts, arranged by the World Bank at Syria, Virginia, USA from 2-7 October 1998, the participants lamented that despite the impetus provided for sustainable development by UNCED in Rio (1992) "we are locked in discussions, controversies, a targetless Agenda 21 and a plethora of recommendations emerging from international fora ......... Yet ....... little real progress has been made on the ground and forests continue to be degraded and lost........ If forests are to survive, there is a great need to move promptly beyond controversy to constructive action."

As we are aware, the crisis in forestry is created due to unsustainable nature of forest resource management, evidenced in the degradation and disappearance of forests along with attendant effects of bio-diversity loss, soil erosion, fall in land productivity, loss of watershed values and other forest benefits affecting the overall welfare of the local community and the nation.

It is often difficult to separate the causes and effects of deforestation and forest degradation; they form a vicious circle.

The immediate and direct causes of deforestation and forest degradation are normally one or more of the following: fires, uncontrolled grazing, pests and diseases, land clearance for non-forestry purposes, shifting cultivation, over-exploitation, and other forms of misuses and illicit uses.

These direct causes result from lack, or lapses, of forest management i.e. inadequate protection, inappropriate silvicultural practices - and so on; in short, lack of sustainable forest management. There are several underlying causes (and binding constraints) for this situation. These include:

Low Awareness. Forestry is perceived as a marginal activity and often misinterpreted as wood production. Only the value of wood (timber and fuelwood) is considered in comparing the value of forestland against the possible agriculture output from it. The public and policy makers are not adequately aware of the multiple roles of trees and forests in: alleviating problems like food security, environmental degradation, and rural energy crisis and unemployment; mitigating climatic changes; serving as a carbon sink; supporting nutritional well-being; maintaining the integrity of watersheds; providing such essential products as herbal medicines, essential oils, phytochemicals, gums, resins, oils, dyes and colorants. There is thus, insufficient understanding about the vital importance of sustainable forest management, to support sustainable development.

Weak Policies and Low Priority. As a result of low awareness, policy reforms in the forestry sector have been slow, often lagging behind reforms of national macro policies. Forest policy lacks transparency and a progressive approach appropriate for development, involving people; and consists of general statements of intentions without clear imperatives and quantified objectives.

Inadequate policies and policy instruments result in low priority for SFM/SFD in the national scheme. There are also no means or measures for enforcing SFM/SFD or for verifying the extent to which SFM/SFD is practiced. This low priority is reflected in a lack of technical capability and other deficiencies seen in public forest administration, inadequate human resource development and low budget allocations. Divestment of forest capital and land transfers take place to support development in other sectors, such as mining, tourism, agriculture, irrigation, and hydro-power. Such land transfers are made easier due to extreme under-valuation of forestlands.

Accounting Distortions. Forests are generally under-valued since a large share of forest contributions are composed of externalities. Even some of the material goods from forests are often transacted outside the market system (e.g. fuelwood, fodder and thatch grass). Thus, it has been estimated that the value of forests reflected in the SNA (System of National Accounts) represents less than 10% of the real value. The under-valuation of material goods alone from the forests of India is reflected in their estimated (real) value of about US $ 43.8 billion, compared to forestry's recorded share of GNP of US $ 2.9 billion, representing only about 1.3% of the total GNP. The difference (between the estimated and recorded contributions) will increase further if an imputed value is assigned for the environmental contributions of forests. In order to fully and realistically represent the value and contributions of forests to the society, it is necessary to take all the direct and indirect values and benefits

M'm 9

of forests into account. (It may be noted that the budget allocation to the forestry sector is related to the recorded sectoral contribution to GNP).

Disinvestment in Forestry. A harmful aspect of accounting distortions and inadequate system of forest valuation is the cumulative disinvestment taking place in forestry.

Development ~ignifies net positive investment. Sustainability requires that formation of new capital equals the sum of rents from resource depletion and environmental damages. While investment refers to capital formation, disinvestment signifies negative investment which can result from destruction or depletion of capital stock through capital consumption. Investment becomes real only where gross investment is greater than disinvestment resulting in a positive net investment. With respect to forestry, investment for sustainable development should be more than the value of capital lost through deforestation or forest degradation.

As noted in the NFAP - India (1999), the rate of deforestation in India during the past 50-60 years has been considerably higher than last few (8 to 10) years. Starting with the second world war fellings and 'grow more food' campaigns, followed by land transfers for development projects and waves of encroachments and land assignments, deforestation reached a peak in 1970s with an average annual deforestation of about 1.3 million ha. It came down Significantly in the 1980s to an annual average deforestation rate of 0.339 million ha. Thus, in 1970s disinvestment due to deforestation amounted to INRs 650,000 millions, and to INRs 169,500 millions in 1980s. The recent reduction in deforestation (238,200 ha for the period 1993-95) is primarily because there is very limited area of natural forest remaining. Still the estimated annual disinvestment of INRs 59,550 millions is higher than the annual gross investment (INRs 34,500 millions), thus indicating a net annual disinvestment (of INRs 25,000 millions).

Difficulties for Meaningful People's Participation. The current pattern of participation is characterised by the following situations:

• Participatory arrangements were initially promoted by government agencies with whom the participating groups are to interact, but as communities realized the benefits accruing through Village Resource Development, initiatives are also being taken by them.

• Groups have very little role in planning or managing activities or marketing products; where the groups are involved in marketing, they face problems in dealing with monopsonistic actors.

• The spirit of sharing required for participation is not yet well developed.

• Since participation is often sponsored by government agencies, lack of co-ordination between sponsoring and other agencies and bureaucracies at different levels (district administration, panchayats etc.) creates serious problems in the functioning of participating groups.

In respect of JFM, many legal and policy issues are still not clear. The important weak points to JFM to be addressed are: (i) it is almost exclusively focused on protection of heavily degraded forest areas which provide only a limited amount of direct benefits; (ii) no sound institutional/legal system has yet been developed for the smooth functioning of JFM; (iii) the benefits to the participants are essentially subsistence products - NWFPs such as grass, leaves, fruits, seeds, tubers and medicinal plants which may not provide sustained incentive to the participants; and (iv) some key NWFPs are also treated as nationalised products and are not allowed to the JFM participants. There is also need to establish adequate dialogue among all stakeholders. Efforts in this direction are being taken by the State Government through progressive revisions of its JFM orders.

Conflicting Roles of Government Forest Services. Public Forest Administration is bestowed with the authority to enforce rules and regulations as well as the responsibility to develop forestry enterprises. As a result, neither functions receive adequate attention, further leading to unclear missions and inefficient operations. This also causes attitudinal barriers; and inadequacies and inappropriateness of incentives. These include unclear land tenure system, lack of institutional and policy support, failure to share benefits in an equitable manner, incongruence of social purpose of people and government agencies.

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The situation is getting improved progressively as a result of better system of forestry education and consequent attitudinal changes towards enhanced social concerns.

Exacerbating Factors. There are several exacerbating factors which are often bandied as causes of unsustainable forest management. These include pressure of population, poverty and unemployment, inadequate funds and facilities, difficult administrative procedures, failure of market mechanism, over­reliance on public sector, inadequate infrastructure, socio-economic power play and corrupt practices, and lack of information and database. Much has been written about these, and some of them are to be addressed, essentially, at a broader national level.

They are often of the nature of parameters which cannot be changed in the short (or even in the medium) term. While existence of these factors have to be recognised and taken into consideration, it is necessary to design innovative approaches in order to progress towards SFM/SFD (e.g. promotion and rational development of NWFPs). In fact, SFM/SFD can often help to address these national level development problems. (See the flow diagram of problem tree given in box 2).

Location of the Project

The project covers the State of Madhya Pradesh. The forests of MP are mainly of dry tropical type, which is the largest vegetational type in the tropics. The State has three major sub-types, i.e. Teak, Sal and mixed species.

The State of MP is bordered by seven other States of India and therefore the project's outcome will have wider applicability.

The State has the largest percentage of tribal population of India and the lessons learned about their involvement in SFM/SFD, and the use of indigenous knowledge systems would have relevance to other States with sizeable tribal population. The State Forest Department has already adopted Joint Forest Management strategy involving local communities for protection and development of forest and equitable benefit sharing.

There is an ongoing forestry project in Madhya Pradesh supported by the World Bank with which this project will have complementarity and scope for collaboration. .

11

Box 2 Flow Diagram - Problem Tree

I UNSUSTAINABILITY OF FOREST RESOURCE l ~~

i t SOIL

FALLIN EROSION LOSS OF LOSS OF DECLINE PRODUCTIVITY AND LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY FOREST IN WILDLIFE

WATERSHED CAPITAL VALUES

I ,~ ~ ~~

I

DEFOREST A TION AND FOREST DEGRADA TION

~~

~~ I t t t ENCROACH- LAND UNCONTROLLED WASTEFUL ,

FIRE GRAZING MENT CONVERSION OVERUSE AND HARVESTING MISUSE

t t ~~ t i WEAKNESSES AND FAILURES OF

FOREST MANAGEMENT

t i t I

WEAK CONFLICTING LOW POLICIES ACCOUNTING HURDLES FOR ROLES OF

AWARENESS AND LOW DISTORTIONS PEOPLES GOVERNMENT PRIORITY PARTICIPATION FOREST

SERVICE

ifl'm 12

2.2 Intended Situation After Project Completion

The project is designed for a period of 4 years, which will form the first or pilot phase of implementing SFM/SFD at 8 pilot sites.

This project phase will: (i) prepare a well defined system of C&I for SFM/SFD for the State of Madhya Pradesh, along with implementation plans and related guidelines for operationalising the system, (ii) identify the eight pilot areas (Forest Divisions) representing different management categories and implement C&I for SFM/SFD therein, (iii) establish a web-based expert forest management information system with particular reference to the use of criteria and indicators. These will result in increased commitment for SFD at National as well as State levels.

By the time the project is completed, development of human resource (through fellowships, training, basic education and extension) would have been achieved, that would be sufficient enough to expand the system of C&I for SFM/SFD to the entire State of Madhya Pradesh. Institutional structures would have been strengthened to carry forward, facilitate, and manage the system in Madhya Pradesh, as well as in the Centre and other States.

To provide a firm basis for SFM/SFD, there will be systems/methods for forest valuation, research and technology development, monitoring and evaluation and arrangements for people's participation. The main constraints for the smooth functioning of the system would also have been removed or reduced.

At the project completion, there will be clearly laid out direction for continuing and completing the task of universal application of C&I and related strategies for SFM/SFD over the entire State of Madhya Pradesh, as well as over the rest of the country in successive phases, within a period of another 6 years. It is expected that universal adoption of C&I for SFM/SFD will serve to promote investment and action for tropical forest resource development and its sustainable utilisation.

2.3 Project Strategy

The rationale behind the project is that in achieving the development objective of sustainable forestry development in the country, it will be more effective to address the underlying causes for unsustainability by implementing clear and consistent e&1 through community participation and capacity building, and by ensuring that such e&1 for SFM/SFD are fully complied.

Experience has clearly shown that "fines and fences" and such other non-participatory approaches are ineffective and involve heavy financial and social cost as well as high risk of failure.

i)

ii)

iii)

The project, therefore, adopts a three-pronged strategy.

Develop, operationalise and implement appropriate e&1 for SFM/SFD in the different categories of FMUs (based on its vegetational, functional, and legal/ownership classification), within an overall umbrella of national level C&1.

Strengthen institutions (including changes in attitudinal orientation) and institutional capability for implementing C&I for SFM/SFD.

Encourage and enable organised and informed people's participation in implementing e&1 for SFM/SFD.

These provide the appropriate route to achieve the objectives and outputs of the project in an efficient and effective manner.

Concept and Practice of Sustainable Development

Since the Earth Summit (1992) much has been written and debated about the definition and scope of sustainable development. On these, there is still no consensus.

Sustainability, as is used here, reflects the general sense of the term as in both the Brundtland Report (WeED/UN, 1987) and Agenda 21 (UNCED, 1993). In the context of current development, a World

~m 13

Bank paper states that a primary goal of sustainable development is to achieve a reasonable and equitably distributed level of economic well-being that can be perpetuated continually for many human generations. It requires that the allocation of resources to meet the needs of present generation should not prejudice the interests of future generations. Current activities may be qualified as sustainable if they do not reduce the productive potential of the asset base and the set of opportunities open to future generations. Sustainability subsumes productivity and equity.

From a policy point of view, sustainability is not an option; it is an imperative. Sustainable management of renewable natural resources should inherently be based on using income or interest, and not consuming capital. The rate of harvest of living resources (e.g. forest or fish stock) should not exceed rates of regeneratJon. It also implies maintenance, rational use and enhancement of the natural resource base that underpins ecological resilience and economic growth.

Within the broad framework of sustainable development, SFM should ensure that values derived from forests meet present day needs while ensuring that forests maintain a quantity and quality that contributes to long term development needs. A rational and balanced combination of different functions of forests - production, protection, conservation and provision of environmental amenities - is essential to help conserve sustainability of forests. The concept is holistic and the task is multi-disciplinary in nature.

SFM implies the need to consistently improve the productivity and contribution of forests such that future generations can continue to receive benefits of forest goods and services at least equal in measure to those of the present generation. This scenario is compatible with sustainable development and calls for the use of forest goods and services at levels that do not change the environment, including elimination of wasteful consumption and attaining a level of use within the regenerative capacity of the forest.

Components of SFM depend on climatic, ecological, social and economic conditions. As highlighted by FAO, sustainable forest management involves planning the production of wood and non­wood products for commercial purposes as well as meeting local needs; it includes protection or setting aside areas to be managed as plant or wildlife reserves for recreational or environmental purposes; it ensures that conversion of forestlands for agriculture and other uses is done in properly planned and controlled way; it covers the regeneration of wastelands and degraded forests and establishment of forest plantations; it promotes integration of trees in farming landscape and agro-forestry. In short, SFM is the specific and practical action for translating the concept of sustainability into reality in forestry and it covers harmonisation of ecological, economic and subsistence needs of the dependent population.

Apart from controlling deforestation and forest degradation, SFM covers actions in different fronts: resource estimation, bio-prospecting, functional and capability classification, protection of natural forests, creation of new and expansion of existing forest resources, conservation of bio-diversity and watershed values, sustainable and waste free utilization of resources, and value addition.

There are no policies which advocate unsustainable management practices. The concept of sustainable development is the basis of all national level and sectoral level policies. What is lacking in forest pOlicies, however, is the provision for verifying sustainability or to ensure that actions are directed towards that goal. C&I for SFM/SFD will help to fill that gap.

Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management

Changes in certain measurable criteria and indicators over time is used as a means to assess the progress, or otherwise, towards SFM/SFD. There have been several efforts to develop appropriate means to measure and assess forest management, and the degree to which it can be characterised as sustainable. These efforts have resulted in establishing criteria and indicators. A SFM/SFD criterion is a characteristic feature or a set of conditions describing the different aspects of sustainability, based on which it will be possible to evaluate the various aspects of forestry. A criterion contains a built-in goal to strive for, and it is evaluated through indicators.

Indicators show or reflect the state of art as well as the time related changes. They indicate how each criterion will meet the goal set. Typically, an indicator shows a quantitative change. As all aspects of forestry cannot be measured wit~ quantitative indicators, some descriptive indicators have also been formulated to reflect the changes in respect of those. .

arm 14

Area under different types and classes of forest cover, bio-mass volume and growing stock per unit area, grazing intensity (by number per unit area), frequency and intensity of fires, level of erosion (by measure of silt load), harvest levels and intensity, population of wildlife, extent of community forest resource etc can be measured and compared against the bench marks and the targets set. However, calculation of productivity (which is measured as a ratio of changes in input to changes in output), particularly where it involves multiple products and different production possibilities, in a comprehensive sense is very difficult, often nearly impossible. This is so, considering the limitation of relevant information and knowledge about: the underlying trend of changes in social, environmental, institutional and technological factors. Often, proxy measures are used to express the productivity status of forest resources within a defined area, region or country - namely, area under forest cover of different types, growing stock per unit area, MAl, MC etc.

Sustainability is sought to be achieved not only through technological interventions, but more often through policy interventions - e.g. restrictions on logging. Existence of restrictions on logging is not an indicator of sustainability. It would need evaluation of the elements involved in implementing such a policy.

Fundamental to the concept of Criteria and Indicators is that no Single criterion or indicator constitutes a measure of sustainability. An individual criterion or indicator needs to be considered in the context of other criteria and indicators in the system. It is useful to think of criteria and indicators as information nodes consisting of arrays of criteria and indicators, which together can provide the full picture of the state of forests and current sustain ability trends. Also, a single set of C&I cannot be applied across large areas of national boundaries, and the set of C&I developed for the national level is unlikely to be applicable at the FMU level.

Development of C&I at the FMU level has been largely spurred by the desire to assess sustainability and to a lesser degree to develop tools to facilitate the implementation of better management practices through monitoring. C&I at the national level are tools for asseSSing trends in forest conditions and forest management. They provide a common framework for describing, monitoring and evaluating, over time, progress towards sustainable forest management. At either FMU or national level, criteria and indicators can· over time help identify whether management is resulting in desired outcomes that are in accordance with sustainability objectives. Interpretation of these trend lines will help to carry out policy reform in a focused and timely manner ..

Based on ideas regarding sustainable development and sustainable forest management, ITIO, Montreal, Helsinki, Tarapoto, Dry zone Africa, Latin America- Lepaterique, Near East, Dry zone Asia etc. processes have striven to define criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management at the national or supra-national levels. The main objectives of these initiatives are to characterize SFM for an array of forest benefits, and permit individual nations to report progress. They all incorporate in some fashion the· following seven fundamental elements: (i) extent of forest resources; (ii) biological diversity; (iii) forest health and vitality; (iv) productive functions of forests; (v) protective functions of forests (e.g. soil and water conservation); (vi) socio-economic and cultural benefits and needs; (vii) legal, pqiicy and institutional framework.

Despite this resemblance, experiences with the development of C&I differ quite considerably from region to region and among countries within regions. In view of this fact, the Antalya Declaration of the XI World Forestry Congress (1997) called on countries to develop and apply national level C&I for SFM to assess the state of their forests and to develop monitoring systems which take these C&I into account. Also, integrating C&I for SFM/SFD in the National Forestry Action Programmes has been considered as crucial by the IPF.

The Bhopal-India process was accordingly initiated in January 1999 for the tropical forests of the Indian Sub-continent. It has specified 8 criteria (extent of forest and tree cover; ecosystem function and vitality; bio-diversity conservation; soil and water conservation; forest resource productivity; forest resource utilisation; social, cultural and spiritual needs; and policy, legal and institutional framework), and 44 indicators. (See Annex D for its latest revised version).

According to an analysis carried out in 1997 by FAO, out of 109 indicators falling under the seven universal criteria fisted above, 48 indicators were found used in the National Forest Programmes of 6 chosen countries; and among these, state and change processes of forest resources, socio-economic

m'm 15

... M .. ; ;,,;.-- ~,-i""'-,j,-i,.,j - "'iiwiw

functions and legal and institutional framework were significant. 61 indicators were found to be unused. The FAO study further noted that of the 48 indicators in use, 23 are first priority indicators used more commonly and 25 are second priority indicators used less systematically.

Subject matters falling within major criteria decide the nature and scope of indicators. For example, forest inventory under forest resource management can have formulation indicators, implementation indicators, monitoring indicators and evaluation indicators with spatial and temporal dimensions.

An liED (1995) study found that most common issues involved in the criteria for SFM/SFD are: (i) sustained yield of forest goods and services; (ii) socio-economic impacts (iii) institutional framework for forests and (iv) maintaining biological diversity. Among 12 recent initiatives (maximum consensus point 12), the first set of criteria had a consensus point of 8.4; the second 6.8; the third 6.6 and the last (maintaining biological diversity) 5.9.

Consultations carried out regarding C&I for SFM/SFD at various levels as part of pre-project activity showed considerable differences in the views and perceptions of stake holders, indicating that the C&I under the Bhopal-India process would need further modification (to ensure clarity, consistency and flexibility), before being put into practice. It became clear that, as situations vary, there can be no universally applicable body of criteria and indicators for sustainability. Further, criteria and indicators encompass both quantitative and qualitative aspects, and have to be context-specific to include the social dimensions. It is also necessary to develop minimum acceptable standards and bench marks, for each situation.

While C&I is a necessary condition for ensuring SFM/SFD, it is not by itself a sufficient condition. It needs to be supported by institutional strengthening, capacity building and organised and informed people's participation.

Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building

"Institution" is the core element in management (of a sector, resource or programme). It will not be possible to solve the problems of a sector if its institutional issues are not addressed. Capacity building is an essential part of institutional development. As emphasised in the World Bank's forest policy paper on 1991, "the frontier of development in the forestry sector is not on technology, but on institutional and human/cultural capital. Admittedly, technology and technological progress are important, but the desired kinds of technological changes will not take place without an adequate institutional environment covering incentive structure, management, organisational framework, private and public sector roles, and community participation in development. "

Organised and Informed Peoples Participation

People's participation is both an objective and a means (a strategy) of development. It is a process of both social action and social change. It reflects old social values of village communities, re­emergence of which is prompted by the failure of non-participatory development goals.

People's participation signifies 'active involvement of people in the decision-making process in so far as it affects them." Non-participatory approaches may tend to be exploitative and, therefore, unstable. Participation can be of different types, depending on: the parties involved; objectives of participation; volume and complexity of participatory activities; how participation is effected; on what aspects of an activity(s) participation takes place; and extent/intensity of participation. Irrespective of its nature, participation in general requires sharing - sharing of efforts, responsibilities, and benefits. Participation can be the best means for identifying and realising jOint and complementary benefits. The objectives of participation include community welfare and collective self-reliance, material benefits for the participating members, serving as a pressure group; and socio-economic and political empowerment.

Some ingredients are essential for people's participation: a community with stable social relationships; collective effort by people concerned; community awareness of their own conditions; self­defined group goals; strong motivation and an appropriate organisation to give participation more acceptance, strength and discipline.

16

People's participation in forestry includes:

• promoting forestry development through people's participation and • facilitating organised people's participation or improving the ability of people to participate

through forestry.

A national study of village committees or associations under JFM indicated that only 29.47% of such associations were self-formed by participating members whereas 35.79% were initiated by Forest Departments, 21.05% by NGOs and the remaining by Panchayats and other agencies. Only 16.84% of the associations/committees are part of a federated structure (NFAP -India, 1999).

While the project can help to enhance people's participation, participatory activities can help to enhance the beneficial impacts of the project.

2..4 Target Beneficiaries.

Because of the broad scope of the project in addressing the issues relating to SFD, it will serve multiple stakeholders and diverse beneficiaries - local community, farmers, forest dwellers/tribal population, forest managers/professionals, forest users/forest industry, academicians and researchers and environmental NGOs, as well as the large population who enjoys the indirect benefits and externalities provided by sustainably managed forests.

Through a series of field level and national level workshops, during the pre-project, . the stakeholders and beneficiaries were consulted on the project, particularly on the C&I to be applied for SFM/SFD. Their views and comments have been recorded, and considered in defining the scope and nature of project activities.

The most important direct beneficiaries will be the local communities, through their active participation in the project implementation, incentives received in the form of compensation for services provided and benefits sharing, and local empowerment.

As provided in Part II, Section 4 Activities, local people's involvement will be enhanced through training and awareness programme, cross/inter-site visits, C & I related extension, motivating the JFM committees for implementing and monitoring C & I in the areas falling in their purview and estabUshment of local working groups on C & I within JFM committees.

2.5 Technical and Scientific Aspects

The technical and scientific aspects of the project work cover: criteria and indicators for SFM/SFD; capacity building including training, research and technology development and information dissemination; and organising and promoting people's participation.

The project has access to the large number of international and national publications on the subject areas to be dealt with, available in the well-stocked library of IIFM. These include the publications/reports of lITO, FAO, CIFOR, UNEP and IPF relating to criteria and indicators for SFM.

The designers of the project had access to the MP State Five Year Plans, MP State Forestry Action Plan, and evaluation and progress reports of the World Bank supported MP Forestry Project which provided useful inputs regarding magnitudes of the various problems, participatory approaches to forestry development, need for capacity building and so on. Publications relating to specific aspects such as forest valuation, multi-criteria analysis, strategic planning, reduced impact logging and management information system were also consulted. These provided helpful insights in designing the project.

List of the some major publications consulted is given in Annex E.

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2.6 Economic Aspects

Forests provide several contributions in supporting sustained human welfare. These include direct benefits (physical products such as wood, food, medicines, fuel, fodder, fibre and organic fertiliser) as well as indirect and attributable benefits. Also, as an inseparable component of the total land use systems, forestry has significant inter-relationships with agricultural, pastoral and food producing systems. Through soil and water conservation, groundwater recharge, and maintenance of soil fertility, forestry provides critical support for agricultural development. In addition, forest-based enterprises help increase rural employment and raise the income and living standards of rural people including forest dwellers and indigenous groups; they also serve as a sponge, promoting other enterprises and products as the economy improves.

With its emphasis on sustainable forestry development, this project will provide benefits to a large number of stake holders - local community, rural population, forest-based small scale enterprises. Measurable direct benefits will include enhanced availability of forest goods and services, improved village assets and family condition, new and additional employment opportunities, increased government revenue and contribution to GDP. It has been "guestimated" that through the project interventions the current annual earnings of INRs 3,000 to INRs 4,000 per house hold involved in the area is likely to be enhanced to the extent of INRs 10,000 to INRs 12,000. This will serve as a major incentive for people's involvement in SFM/SFD.

Indirect contributions of forests through maintaining environmental stability, conservation of bio­diversity and provision of tourism potential are equally, if not more, important as direct benefits; but there is no market mechanism to measure these values. In the absence of quantified values of benefits and costs, it is not possible to provide a precise measure of the project's impact. However, based on experience of the available cases of successful sustainable forest management, it can be assumed that the overall incremental benefits will far outweigh the incremental costs involved. Moreover, the project will undertake a forest valuation study, particularly to measure indirect benefits using new methodologies such as contingent valuation, surrogate market values, replacement costs, cost effectiveness analysis, willingness to pay and benefit transfer.

Project Sustainability. After the present (proposed) project period of 4 years, additional works will be called for to expand the C&I system to cover the entire State of Madhya Pradesh, as well as to other States of India. While the area (8 Forest Divisions) covered in this first phase will be self sustaining after the project period, the new areas to be taken up in the subsequent phases (of 6 years) will need additional resources.

2.7 Environmental Aspects

State of Madhya Pradesh, which comprises the project area displays a variety of land forms including plains, small mountain tracts, plateaus and valleys. Elevation varies between 60 and 1,440 meters above mean sea·level. Deep gorges in river valleys are common.

Due to erratic rainfall, droughts are frequent. Floods are also common in areas of high rainfall. The eastern and south eastern parts get greater preCipitation.

Land use practices in MP are largely determined by population pressure, subsistence needs and land-use potential. 19.7 million ha are under agricultural uses against 14.2 million ha classified as forests (of which only 13.5 million ha have forest cover). There are agricultural lands falling in steep slo~~s requiring to be put under permanent tree crops. Land use in MP is not determined by land capability considerations.

The project intervention will indirectly support better land use practices and improve environmental stability. The project activities aiming at SFM/SFD will also improve: eco-system integrity and resilience, bio-diversity, vegetative health, wildlife conservation, agro-ecology, watershed hydrology, carbon sequestration and other habitat aspects.

~m 18

2.8 Social Aspects

At the last census of 1991, MP had a population of 66.14 million, 7.8% of the country's population, with a per capita land availability of 1.49 ha., four times the national average. Per capita GOP, however, was only 70% of the national average; and 45% of the population lived below poverty line, compared to the national figure of 26%.

79% of MP's population lives in rural areas. Exclusive to high dependence of tribal population on forests for their livelihood and their large numbers in MP (some 15.2 million, nearly 23% of the State's population) are overwhelming factors. There are 46 different tribes, varying considerably in numerical strength. Two tribes, i.e. Bhils and Gonds makeup 65% of tribal population. Tribal populations are concentrated in the eastern, south eastern and north western parts of the State. In Bastar, Mandla, Sarguja, Dhar, West Nimar and Jhabua, more than 50% of the population are tribals.

The tribal population maintain cattle for manure, ploughing and transport. In almost all parts of MP the successional stages of grazing lands are much below the sub-climax stage. Estimates show that total production of forage and fodder in MP is about 42 million tonnes/annum against a demand of about 82 million tonnes/annum. This has caused increased grazing incidence on the forests.

An important purpose of the people's participation component of the project is to empower the vulnerable communities (tribal population, women) and to improve their social (food, health, livelihood) security in a sustained manner. The indigenous people have developed interesting and often sophisticated knowledge systems of ethno-medicine and use of a vast variety of plants for food and medicinal purposes.

The potential of NWFPs for poverty alleviation is particularly important. The weight of poverty falls heavily on certain groups - among whom are tribal communities who depend on forests for employment and income. Income derived from collection of forest produce accounts for upto 67% of total income of most tribal villages.

A number of NWFPs like mahul (Bauhinia vahll) leaves, lac, chironji (Buchanania lanzan), kosum (Schliechera oleosa) , aonla (Emblica officinalis) etc are allowed to be removed freely, while fuelwood, timber, poles and bamboo are supplied at concessional prices to villages through Nistar depots. The Nistar system is under tremendous strain due to demand pressure

During the pre-project, local communities and stake holders were consulted and their problems and aspirations assessed. These are reflected in the project design. The project provides for active involvement of the community (through VFCs and FPCs and in other ways) in the implementation of a number of activities in the field, including practical aspects of C&I for SFM/SFD.

2.9. Risks

The important assumptions involved in the implementation of the project are that: (i) there will be full support of all relevant Government agencies; (ii) implementation capability is available in adequate measure; (iii) the people and stake holders are willing to participate; and (iv) co-ordination of the roles and partiCipation of the different actors will not present any serious problem.

In view of the policy commitment for SFM/SFD on the part of the Government of India and the Government of Madhya Pradesh, the existence of National Forestry Action Programme emphasising on sustainable management and conservation of forests in India, and the global concern at the depletion of forest resource and efforts to reverse the trend, there will be no serious risk of uncertainty in the assumptions. Moreover, the project has included activities involving awareness raising, training and capacity building and information dissemination - all of them having elements to avert risks. Also, the full time national project co-ordinator will have the responsibility to ensure co-ordination in project implementation and to address institutional issues which are likely to cause delays, or other hurdles, in the delivery of outputs.

19

""" w ... I~I ..,;11 ,rV.;;Irl,./ - ,J.nQIQ

3. Outputs

3.1. Specific Objective 1

Output 1.1

Output 1.2

Output 1.3

Output 1.4

Output 1.5

Output 1.6

3.2 Specific Objective 2

Output 2.1

Output 2.2

Output 2.3

Output 2.4

Output 2.5

Output 2.6

To develop and operationalise a functioning system of criteria and indicators for sustainable forestry development, with community participation.

A well defined C&I system for SFM/SFD in the State of Madhya Pradesh in selected FMUs within the State.

A 10 year C&I plan for the State of Madhya Pradesh

Manuals/guidelines for operationalising C&I for SFM at the State level and at the level of FMUs.

Eight pilot areas established and C&I for SFM implemented therein.

A functional expert forest management information system.

Increased commitment at the national level for SFD

To establish institutional capability for implementing C&I for sustainable forestry development.

Competent human resource

Strengthened institutional structures

Organised and functioning partiCipatory arrangements for SFM/SFD

An adequate system for forest valuation.

An operational plan for C&I related research and technology development.

A system for monitoring and evaluation of C&I implementation.

The impact of the series of outputs relating to specific objective 1 is that they design and establish a system of C&I for SFM/SFD in collaboration with the local community and other stake holders. The outputs relating to specific objective 2 complement the first set of outputs by providing institutional structures, instruments and capacity for effectively implementing C&I. These together create conditions favoring SFM/SFD.

20

4. Activities

Activities to be carried out to achieve the project outputs are tabulated below:

I. To develop and operationalise a functioning system of C & I for sustainable forestry development, with community participation.

rm

1.1.A well defined C & I system for SFM/SFD in the State of M. P, and selected FMUs within the State.

1.2. A 10 year C & I Plan for the State of M. P.

1.3. Manualsl Guidelines for operationalising C & I for SFMI SFD at the State level and at the level of FMUs

1.4. Eight pilot areas established and C & I implemented therein.

1.5. A functional Expert Forest Management Information System.

1. 1. 1. Literature/desk review and discussions for establishment of bench marks and minimum acceptable standards.

1.1.2. Categorisation of broad forest types (e.g. natural forests - teak, sal & mixed - dry & moist; plantations - teak and private ones; protected areas; watersheds).

1. 1.3. Prepare a specific set of C & I for each of the (eight) specified forest! management types

1.1.4. Preparation of State-level C & I for SFMlSFD in MP.

1.2.1. Time frame & details of a 10 year plan, covering the entire State of Madhya Pradesh for implementing C & I for SFMlSFD (including investment required).

1.2.2. Identification and demarcation of eight pilot areas to be taken up during the Project's first phase.

1.3.1. Preparation of drafts of manuals and guidelines (for the State and for each of the 8 FMUs), their discussion, editing and finalisation and translation into local language.

1.3.2. Organise training for the field team leaders & associated staff and collaborators for each site.

1.3.3. Encourage incorporation of C & I in Working Plan prescriptions.

1.4.1. Collection of benchmark data/information or/and survey for establishing minimum acceptable standards of sustainability in the 8 pilot areas.

1.4.2. Undertaking forest management operations in the eight pilot areas, based on existing /modified prescriptions (e.g. fire protection, assisted natural regeneration, rehabilitation planting, habitat improvement etc.)

1.4.3. Implementing C&I in 8 field pilot areas as detailed in the respective manuals.

1.4.4. Periodic change assessment during Z'ri to 4th years . in all the pilot areas.

1.4.5. Analysis of data for establishment of Sustainability Index & preparation of a related technical document.

1.5.1. Designing of a web-based information dissemination system.

1.5.2. Imparting information management training.

1.5.3. Publication of a quarterly C & I Newsletter (to be continued by IIFM)

1.5.4 Periodic up-eJation of the C & I data on the web-site (to be continued by IIFM beyond the project period).

21

1.6. Increased 1.6. 1. Organisation of 4 regional workshops and one commitment at the international workshop. national level for

1.6.2. Drafting of a National Strategy on C & I for SFD.

SFMlSFD, including directions for future.

2. To establish 2.1. Competent human 2.1.1. Training 100 in-service Forestry Personnel on C institutional capability resource. & I for SFMlSFD for implementing C&I

2.1.2. Public awareness programme, 8 cross/inter-site for sustainable forestry development visits and training on C & I (for 40 vii/age level

institutions).

2.1.3. Four group (2-4 members/group) study tours (15-20 days each) and attending of international meetings of relevance to the project.

2. 1.4. C & I Extension Centres at four of the existing Eco-Development Centres (Research and Extension Centres)

2.1.5. Development of curriculum relating to C & I at 2 levels (field and supervisory) and its enhancement.

2.2. Strengthened 2.2.1. Policy mandate for C & I implementation. Institutional ..

Structures. 2.2.2. A specialised Cell for overseeing C & I implementation at the State-level in Madhya Pradesh.

2.2.3: Promoting establishment of similar specialised Cells at the Centre and in other States.

2.3. Organised and 2.3.1. Motivating JFM Committees for implementation and functioning monitoring of C & I. participatory

2.3.2. Establishment of local working groups within the arrangements for SFM/SFD .. JFM Committees and their linking with the State

Cet.' forC & I.

2.4. An adequate system 2.4. 1. Evaluate the current level of distortion in the for forest valuation. National System of Accounts relating to forest

benefits at the 8 pilot sites in Madhya Pradesh; and by extrapolation for the whole State.

2.4.2. Establish a National Forest Resource Accounting System through expert consultations/ workshops.

2.5. An operational plan 2.5.1. Assessment of weaknesses and gaps in C & I for C & I related related research. research and

2.5.2. Planning and implementation of research activities technology development to enhance C & I system.

2.6.A system for 2.6.1. Establishment of monitoring standards and monitoring & guidelines for evaluation. evaluation of C & I

2.6.2. Participatory project evaluation and publication of a implementation. technical report. -

2.6.3. Sensitise stakeholders / citizens about the need for periodical resource status assessment.

~ 22

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

5. Logical Framework Worksheets

The logic and linkages of the elements of the project are given in tabulated form.

DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVE

To create conditions for, and thus help achieve, sustainabl~ forestry development in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India and by stages over the entire country

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE I

To develop and operationalise a functioning system of C & I for sustainable forestry development, with community participation.

Output1.1

A well designed C&I system for SFM/SFD in the State of M. P. and selected FMUs within the state.

OUTPUT 1.2

A 10 year C&I plan for the state of Madhya Pradesh

L

o Ecosystem health and resilience

o Enhanced sustainable flow of goods and services for community

o Enhanced contribution to state/national income

o National commitment to SFD

o Increased household income from forestry activities / enterprises

o C & I for SFM/SFD designed and implemented

o Functional system of SFM/SFD established

o Community awareness enhanced

o State level and project site­specific C & I for SFM/SFD formulated and disseminated

o A phased approach to implement C & I for SFM/SFD

o Reduced minuses (e.g. reduced incidence of grazing, fire, over exploitation, deforestation)

o Increased pluses (e.g. increased forest cover, output of NWFPs/other goods, productivity, environmental services

o Progressively increasing net benefits

o Adequate natural regeneration & biomass

o Government adopts SFD and incorporates in working plan prescription

o Ecological restoration of degraded areas

o Improved forest productivity, natural regeneration, biodiversity conservation and sustained livelihood security

o Increased investment in forestry operations

o Availability of a practical set of C & I for different pilot sites

o

o Documentation and details

o Communities, Government, Forest Department are willing to fully participate

o With improved awareness there will be increasingly favourable attitude on the part of people and policy makers towards SFM/SFD.

o Government is convinced about the advantages of C & I for SFM/SFD and committed to its implementation

o Communities are provided incentives to support/adopt SFM/SFD

o Collaborative efforts of experts, professionals, community and stakeholders.

o Realisation about the need for planned approach to SFM/SFD.

23

C & I for SFM/SFD - IndiQ

OUTPUT 1.3 0 Manuals and guidelines discussed 0 Documents available 0 Involvement of subject matter experts I Manuals/Guidelines for operationalising

and finalised and stakeholders

C&I for SFM/SFD at the State Level and at the level of FMUs

OUTPUT 1.4 0 Pilot programme for initiating C 0 Eight pilot sites supported by funds, 0 Agreement with MP Forest

Eight pilot areas established and C&I for & I for SFM/SFD facilities and human resource Department and other agencies

SFM/SFD implemented therein regarding collaborative action.

OUTPUT 1.5 0 An adequate and consistent 0 Internet-based Information Centre and 0 Regular flow of information

A functional expert forest management informationlknowledge system Clearing House

0 Use of, and demand for, information information system

OUTPUT 1.6 , 0 Reinforced national commitment 0 National/policy level statements 0 Encouraging results from pilot areas in

Increased commitment at the National for SFM/SFD

0 National strategy Madhya Pradesh with good

Level for SFD demonstration effect.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 2 0 Expertise and facilities for 0 Training; strategy documents; 0 MP Forest Department has resources

To establish institutional capability for implementing C & I for SFM/SFD programme on research and technology for implementing C & I at other sites

implementing C & I for sustainable within and beyond project area

0 Improved co-ordination and removal of forestry development. communication barriers.

OUTPUT 2.1 0 Trained individuals o Number of trainings and workshops, and o Appropriate attitude on the part of

Competent human resource 0 Relevant specialisation ' number of participants community, forestry staff, and NGOs.

OUTPUT 2.2 o Clear institutional niche provided for 0 Clear policy 0 Attitudinal change in Forest

Strengthened institutional structures. C&I

0 Functional unit Department

0 Policy/regulatory instruments 0 Commitment for SFD

OUTPUT 2.3 0 Participatory institutions 0 Number and nature of institutions 0 Incentives exist

Organised and functioning participatory 0 Local membership organisations 0 Assessment of functions 0 Encouragement and support provided arrangements for SFM/SFD. by Govt and NGOs.

In 24

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

OUTPUT 2.4 0 Methodology development o Technical Documentation o Understanding importance of forest

An adequate system for forest valuation. 0 System for forest valuation valuation on the part of decision

established makers.

OUTPUT 2.5 o Prioritised research plan relating to o Analytical research reports; extension o Priority for research and technology

An operatonal plan for C & I related C&I materials development

research and technology development.

OUTPUT 2.6 0 Performance and impact 0 M & E reports 0 People's participation in monitoring

A system for monitoring & evaluation of monitoring

0 Documentation accepted and promoted

C&I implementation 0 Standardisation and testing ----_._-

6. Work Plan

The work plan is given in the following bar graph six of the activities included in the work plan run for more than 24 months. These are:

1.4.2

1.4.3

1.5.3

1.5.4

2.1.4

2.5.2

Undertaking forest management operations in the 8 pilot areas based on existing/modified prescriptions (e.g. fire protection, assisted natural regeneration, rehabilitation planting, habitat improvement etc)

Implementing C & I in 8 field pilot areas as detailed in the respective manuals.

Publication of a quarterly C & I Newsletter (to be continued by IIFM)

Periodic updation of the C & I data on the Web site (to be continued by IIFM beyond the project period).

C & I Extension Centres at four of the existing Eco-Development Centres (Research and Extension Centres)

Planning and implementation of research activities to enhance C & I systems

All these 6 activities, while of a continuous nature, are linked to the focus of this project i.e. C & I for SFM/SFD. Expenditures on these have to be reflected in the cost calculation, in order to evaluate the project's impact. As such, and being exceptions, these are shown in the work plan.

rm 25

C & I for SFM/SFlJ - Indio

WORK PLAN

Output: 1.1. A well defined C&I System for SFM/SFD in the state of MP and selected FMUs, within the state. 1.1.1. Literature/desk review and discussions for establishment of bench marks and minimum

standards. forest types (natural

forests - teak, sal & mixed - dry & moist; plantations - teak and private ones; protected

Prepare a specific set of C & I for each of the eight specified foresU management types

1.1.4 Preparation inM.P.

~tate-Ievel C & I for SFM/SFD

1.2 . A ten-year C & I plan for the State of

1.2.1 Time frame & details of a 10 year plan covering the entire State of Madhya Pradesh for implementing C & I for SFM/SFD (including

1.2.2 Identification and demarcation of eight pilot areas to be taken up during the Project's first

1.3: Manuals/Guidelines for operationalising C & I for SFM/SFD at the State level and at the level of FMUs 1.3.1 Preparation of drafts of manuals and guidelines (for the State and for each of the 8 FMUs), its discussion, editing and finalisation and translation into local

I'm

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff & National Resource Persons)

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff, Community & National

D.o.r~nn~\

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff & National Resource Persons)

26

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

}rgantse training for the Field Team Leaders & associated staff and collaborators for each site

1.3.3 Encourage incorporation of C & I in Working Plan prescriptions.

areas established and C&I

1.4.1. Collection of benchmark datalinformation orland survey for establishing minimum acceptable standards of sustainability in the 8 pilot areas

1.4.2. Undertaking forest management operations in the 8 pilot areas, based on existingl modified 'prescriptions (e.g. fire-protection, assisted natural

",hilit",tinn nl"'ntinn etc. 1.4.3. Implementing C & I in 8 field pilot areas as detailed in the respective manuals

.4.4. Periodic change assessment during years in all the pilot areas.

1.4.5. Analysis of data for establishment Sustainability Index & preparation of a related technical document.

1.5.1. Designing of a web-based information dissemination system.

1.5.2. Imparting information management

m'm

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff,

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff & Local knowledge persons; sub-

MP Forest Department (Supported by Project Staff and community)

Respective Field Team Leaders (Supported by FD/MP, Project Staff, private sector & communities)

IIFM (Supported by Project Staff, FD/MP & Commun IIFM (Supported by Project Staff, National Resource Persons &

27

C" I for SFM/SFl> - India

1.5.3. Publication of a quarterly C & I Newsletter. (to be continued by IIFM)

1.5.4. Periodic up-dation of the C & I data on the web-site. (to be continued by IIFM)

1.6: Increased commitment at the national SFD

1.6.1. Organisation of 4 regional workshops and one international workshop.

1.6.2. Drafting of a National Strategy on SFM/SFD including directions for future

2.1.2 Public awareness programme, 8 cross-linter­site visits & training on C & I (for 40 village-level institutions) .

r group (2-4 members/group) study tours (15-20 days each) and attending of international mAAtinnc::. of relevance to the 2.1.4. C & I Extension Centres at 4 of the existing Eco-Development Centres (Research and Extension 1"' __ 0._- ' 2.1.5. Development of curriculum relating to C & I at 2 levels (field and supervisory) and its enhancement.

rm

IIFM (Supported by Project Staff &

National Project Leader (Supported by National Consultant &

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff, IIFM& National Project (Supported by Project Staff, Community, FD/MP & sub-

National Project Leader (Supported by Project Staff)

National Project Leader (Supported by FD/MP Project Staff & Comm IIFM (Supported by Project Team, National Resource Person,

28

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

2.2.2. A specialised cell for overseeing implementation at the State-level in Madhya

2.2.3. Promoting establishment of specialised cells at the Centre and in other States.

participatory

of local working groups within f'nrnrnitt.,.,., and their linking with the

Output 2.4: An adequate system for valuation 2.4.1. Evaluate the current level of distortion in the National System of Accounts relating to forest benefits at the eight pilot sites in Madhya Pradesh; and by extrapolation for the whole State.

arm

(Supported by Senior National Consultant, FD/MP, Project Staff.

Forest Department (Supported by Project Staff).

(Supported by other State FDs, Gol, NGOs & Project

National Project Leader (Supported by Communities, FD/MP National Project Leader (Supported by Communities, FD/MP

IIFM (Supported by Staff of Research Institutions,

29

C & I for SFWSFD - India

2.5.2. Planning and implementation of research activities to enhance C & I system.

for monitoring and evaluation

2.6.2. Participatory project evaluation and publication of a technical report.

and

Sensitise stakeholders I citizens about the need for periodical resource status assessment.

lITO Monitoring Mission

arm

IIFM (Supported by FD/MP, Communitv & Forestry

IIFM (Supported by Project Staff

IIFM (Supported by Community, FD/MP, Project Staff & sub-

National Project Leader (Supported by Parliamentarians, Legislators, FD/MP, Gol, IIFM & Project

30

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

7. Budget

7.1 Overall Project budget by activity (in US $)

Outputs/Activities + Non-Activity based Expenses

I~~" ~ •.... A well defined C & I system for MP+8FMUs

1.1.1 Literature/desk review for Minimum Acceptable Standards. 1.1.2 Categorisation of Broad Forest Types

1.1.3 Prepare specific sets of C & I for 8 sites

1.1.4 Preparation of State-level C & I for M. P.

1, .. nJ I I '"' I , ..... A 10 year C&I plan for MP

areas

I~~" ~ •.. -. Manuals & Guidelines

1.3.1 Preparation of Manuals & Guidelines

m'm

1,000

1,000

2,000

1,000

2,000

5,000 (E) + 4,000

8,000

1,000

1000

1,000

2,000

4,500

Q1 1 Yl

Q1 1 Yl

Q1 - Q 2Nl

Q1 - Q2Nl

Ql-Q2N l

Qll

Q2- Q.JYl

Q.JYl

31

2,000

2,000

2,000

1,000

2,000

11,000

12,500

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

OUTPUT 1.4: Eight pilot areas established for C&I ACTIVITIES: 1.4.1 Collection of Benchmark data 4,000 (E) + 3,500 Q3-QJY1 22,000

14,500

1.4.2 Forest management operations 192,000 Y1 to Y4 192,000 (E)

1.4.3 Implementing C & I in 8 field sites 25,000 (E) 20,000 QJY1 to Y4 45,000

1.4.4 Periodic Change Assessment 30,000 (E) Q.JY2, Q.JY3 Q2N4 35,000 + 5,000

1.4.5 Data analysis for Sustainability Index 6,000 (E) + 6,000 2,000 QJY2, QJY3 Q.JY4 22,000 8000

--SUB TOTAL 1.4 284,500 6,000 5,500 20,000 316,000

'OUTPUT 1.5: Forest management info-system

ACTIVITIES:

1.5.1 Web-based Information System design. 4,000 (E) 15,000 12,000 5,000 Q 3-Q4N1 36,000

1.5.2 Information Management Training. 2,000 (E) 10,000 10,000 5,000 Q 3 -Q4N1 27,000

1.5.3 Publication of C & I Newsletter. 8,000 (E) 9,000 QJY1 to Y4 17,000

1.5.4 Up-dation of web-site. Q4N1 to Y4 0

SUB TOTAL 1.5 14,000 34,000 10,000 12,000 10,000 80,000 OUTPUT 1.6: Increased commitment for SFD ACTIVITIES:

1.6.1 Four Regional Workshops & one International 20,000 10,000 Q1-Q2N 3, Q 1N4 30,000 Workshop.

1.6.2 Drafting a National Strategy. 5,000 QJY1 5,000 -

SUB TOTAL 1.6 5,000 20,000 10,000 35,000 OUTPUT 2.1: Competent Human Resource

arm 32

C" I for SFM/SFD - India

----- ,---- --ACTIVITIES: 2.1.1 Training 100 in-service Forestry Personnel 2,500(E) + 16,000 6,000 Q 3-Q41Y1 29,500

5,000 2.1.2 Public awareness, cross-linter-site visits & training 2,OOO(E) 12,500 9,000 Q41Y1, Q 11Y2 23,500

2.1.3 Four group study tours (15-20 days each) 8,000 (E) 30,000 Q11Y2, Q2Y3, Q 11Y4 38,000

2.1.4 C & I Extension Centres 10,000 Q 41Y1 to Y4 10,000 2.1.5 Development of Curriculum 2,000 (E) + 3,000 Q41Y1, Ql-Q21Y2 6,000

1,000

SUB-TOTAL 2.1 20,500 38,500 48,000 107,000 f--- ----

OUTPUT 2.2: Strengthened institutional structures

ACTIVITIES:

2.2.1 Policy mandate for C & I implementation. 2,500 500 Q41Y1, Q 11Y2 3000 2.2.2 A specialised Cell at State-level 20,000 (E) Q41Y2, Q 11Y3 20,000

2.2.3 Promoting establishment of similar Cells at centre 50,000 (E) Q 2-Q4/Y3, Ql/Y4 50,000 and other states

SUB TOTAL 2.2 72,500 500 7~,OOO

OUTPUT 2.3: Participatory Arrangements for C & I

ACTIVITIES:

2.3.1 Motivating JFM Committees 5,000 Q 3-Q41Y1' Q 11Y2 5,000

2.3.2 Establishment of local working groups -cIo- 0

SUB TOTAL 2.3 5,000 5,000

OUTPUT 2.4: System of Forest Valuation

ACTIVITIES: 2.4.1 Evaluate the current level of distortion in the System 4,000 4,000 Q~l' Q11Y2, Q~2, 8,000 of National Accounts Q11Y3, Q~3, Q 11Y4

2.4.2 Establish a National Forest resource accounting 15,000 10,000 Q 21Y 3, Q 21Y 4 25,000 System (E)

SUB TOTAL 2.4 19,000 14,000 33,000 ----

:I'm 33

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

OUTPUT 2.5: Operational plan for C & I related Research and Technology Development ACTIVITIES: 2.5.1 Assessment of weaknesses and gaps 4,000 (E) 3,000 Qr Q41Y, 7,000

2.5.2 Planning and implementation of research activities 3,000 (E) 20,000 Q-JY,-Y4 23,000 SUB TOTAL 2.5 7,000 20,000 3,000

r-----" 30,000

OUTPUT 2.6: Monitoring & Evaluation of C & I implementation ACTIVITIES: 2.6.1 Establishment of M&E guidelines 4,000 (E) 3,000 QiY

" Y2 7,000

2.6.2 Participatory project evaluation and publication of a 5,OOO(E) 6,500 6,000 Q-JY2, Q-JY3, Q2fY4 17,500 report. 2.6.3 Sensitise stakeholders I citizens 5,000 10,000 QrQ~4 15,000

(E) SUB TOTAL 2.6 9,000 11,500 19,000 39,500

Project Core Staff !

Long-term Staff National Project Leader 60,000 (E) 60,000

Expert on Natural Resource Accounting 12,000 12,000 (Natural Resource Economist) Computer Operator 18,000 18,000

Field Team Leaders (4) 70,000 70,000

Secretarial Staff (Accounts Asstt. & Secretary) 10,000 10,000 10,000 30,000 (E) 40,000

aIfn 34

C & I for SFM/SFD - India

-

Non-Activity based Expenses

Fuel, Utilities, Office Supplies etc

SUBTOTAL 170,000 40000 210,000

SUB TOTAL (ITTO) 162,000 163,000 108,500 12,000 20,000 20,000 485,500

SUB TOTAL (E-AGENCY) 436,500 - 20,000 - 30,000 - 486,500

TOTAL 598,500 163,000 128,500 12,000 50,000 20,000 972,000

(E) - Indicates the contribution of Executing Agency/ Host Government/Country.

rm 35

7.2. A Consolidated Yearly Project Budget (in US Dollars)

Budget CorraPonents

10. Project Personnel 11. National Experts 12. National Consultants 13. Other labour 14. Fellowships and Training 15. International Experts 16. International Consultants

30. Duty Travel 31. Daily Subsistence

Allowance

80. ITIO Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration

81. Monitoring and Review Costs 82. Evaluation Costs 83. mme Costs 89. Component Total 90. Refund of Costs

arm .

Total Year 1

64,500 14,500 88,500

Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

64,000 6,500

74,000 2,500

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......... (Qr i:lrNVi:lrU - .l.nalQ

7.2 B Yearly Project Budget by Source -ITTO (in US Dollars)

annu ... Disbursements Total

11. National Experts 12. National Consultants 13. Other Labour 14. Fellowship and Training 15. International Experts 16. International Consultants 20. Sub contracts ,30. Duty Travel

Capital items Consumable items

Year 1 Year 2

7.2 C Yearly Project Budget by Source - E.Agency/Host Government/country

(in US Dollars)

Annual Disbursements Total Year 1 Year 2 Budget Components - (2001) (2002) 10. Project Personnel 436,500 111,000 113,000 11. National Experts· 141,500 39,500 39,000

112. National Consultants 1 - - -

113. Other Labour 287,000 71,500 71,500 114. Fellowships & Training 8,000 - 2,500 15. International Experts - '- -16. International Consultant - - -20. Sub Contracts - - -30. Duty travel 20,000 - -40. Capital items - - -50. Consumable items 30,000 7,000 7,500 60. Miscellaneous - - -SUBTOTAL 486,500 118,000 120,500 70. Executing Agency Management Costs 145,800 41,845 33,095

(15% ofTotal of Overall Project Budget by Activity)

Executing Agencyl Host Govt. Total·· 632,300 159,845 153,595

Year 3

Year 3 (20')3)

98,500 23,500 -72,000 3,000

---10,000 -

8,000

-116,500

32,515

149,015

Year 4

50,200 23,650

Year 4 (2004)

114,000 39,500 -72,000 2,500

---10,000 -

7,500

-131,500

38,345

169,845

• National Experts include the fulltime National Project Leader, on secondment from Indian Institute of Forest Management and other IIFM experts involved in the implementation of the project

••

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This total includes the IIFM contribution valued at US $ 165,000 plus Executing Agency Management Cost of US $ 145,800 (totalling to US $ 311,300), plus the contribution in kind (mainly staff and labour) of the Govemment of Madhya Pradesh valued at US $ 227,000. The remaining US $ 94,000 include contributions in kind of Govt. of India, other State Govemments, NGO's and private agencies.

37

PART -III. OPERATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

1. Management Structure

The project will be executed, on behalf of the Government of India and the State Government of Madhya Pradesh, by IIFM, Bhopal, India. IIFM will be the sole Executing Agency for the project. However, the project will be implemented in areas under the control of the MP Forest Department; and will also include some privately owned treelands.

Activities now being carried out by several agencies - Forest Survey of India, ICFRE, MP State Forest Department, MP Forest Development Corporation, District Rural Development Agencies, Tribal Development Authority, Panchayats, Tree,Growers Co-ops and some NGOs (apart from those institutions under the MP Forest Department) have relevance to the objectives of the project.

Therefore, close collaboration will be maintained with the MP Forest Department and other agencies, including sharing of inputs wherever appropriate. Also some of the project activities will be built on the ongoing efforts, such as those of MP Forest Department, MoEF and Forest Departments of other States. The details of collaboration will be spelled out, wherever necessary, in the form of MoUs.

At the project management level, a Steering Committee comprising of representatives of Govt. of India, State Forest Department of MP, other concerned agencies and stake. holders will be formed under the chairmanship of Director, IIFM. The Committee will meet periodically and review the progress and course of the project, and provide advice and guidance. One of the Project Staff will serve as the Convenor of the Committee.

At the field level, in each of the pilot areas, local working groups compriSing representatives of local government, grass-root groups, stake holders and community will be established to provide assistance and support in project implementation, to be convened by the Field Team Leaders.

The project will be headed by a full-time National Project Leader, who will be on secondment from IIFM, supported by an Expert on Natural Resources Accounting (Natural Resource Economist) for a period of 12 months. (See Annex C for Terms of Reference).

Other Project Staff include: 4 Field Team Leaders and a qualified Computer Operator on full­time basis. There will also be an Accounts Assistant and a Secretary on a part-time basis for the duration of the project.

24 person months of national consultancy will be used to carry out project activities covering various aspects. IIFM will place the services of its speCialists/experts in different fields, totalling 75 person months, at the disposal of the project for undertaking/managing specific tasks.

Similarly, the MP Forest Department will assign the services of the staff working in the 8 pilot project sites for carrying out the field activities in collaboration with the Project Team.

This project, with its catalytic role in extending the concept and practice of C & I for SFM/SFD, is expected to encourage other entities elsewhere in the country to emUlate the example of the project and independently undertake SFM/SFD related activities.

2. Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation

As befitting a project involving people and local community in its implementation, provision has been made for partiCipatory project evaluation, three times during the project period - i.e. in the second, third and fourth years.

Apart from this evaluation, and close supervision and regular assessment of progress by project management, four monitoring visits by lITO are also foreseen.

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In proposing the following schedule of reporting and monitoring, it is assumed that the project will become functional as on 01 January 2001.

a) Project Progress Reports

First Project Progress Report Second Project Progress Report Third Project Progress Report Fourth Project Progress Report

15 August 2001 15 August 2002 15 August 2003 15 August 2004

Apart from the four annual progress reports, short reports of highlights and achievements will be prepared at the end of each quarter as a· mechanism for ensuring prompt delivery of project outputs.

b) Project Completion Report 31 January 2005

c) Project Technical Reports.

Four technical reports dealing with the technical aspects and results of the project will be prepared as follows:

1st Report 2nd Report 3rd Report 4th Report

01 January 2002 01 January 2003-01 January 2004 01 January 2005

These will be in addition to the technical documentation on specific subject matters such as forest valuation system; forest resources accounting; forestry in national system of accounts; resource status assessments; sustainability index; web-based forest management information system; national C&I strategy, manuals and guidelines relating to implementation of C&I for SFM/SFD; training materials, technical workshop proceedings, survey reports/analyses; policy related releases; research plans; participatory project evaluation; quarterly C&I News Letters and so on.

d) Monitoring/Review Visits and Steering Committee Meetings

Four monitoring/review visits by ITIO Project Manager is foreseen:

1st Mission 2nd Mission 3rd Mission 4th Mission

01 September 2001 01 September 2002 01 September 2003 01 September 2004

Four Steering Committee Meetings, are proposed, at the beginning of each year, for ensuring the benefit of its guidance in implementing the annual plan of operations.

e) Evaluation

Apart from the monitoring/review visits of ITIO, no separate midte,rm and terminal (ex-post) evaluation missions are foreseen, particularly since the project will formally be subjected to participatory evaluation.

3. Future Operations and Maintenance

As explained earlier, a total period of 10 years is envisaged for effectively and realistically expanding the application of C&I for SFM/SFD over the whole country, and for instituionalising the process. While the present project represents the pilot phase, the phase(s) covering the remaining 6

. years will form the expansion/replication phase, where the experiences and lessons from the first phase will be suitably modified and applied in the rest of MP and in the other States of India.

arm 39

The 'creations' of this project which would require maintenance are: (i) the Web-based forest management information system and (ii) the C&I quarterly News Letter. Both these will be taken over and continued by IIFM as part of its regular activity.

The 8 pilot sites/Forest Divisions established during this project period can usefully serve as a demonstration/training area. How this will be done can be decided, in due course, based on how the follow-up plans evolve. In short, the assitance required in the future will be to provide a catalytic force and fillip to visibly and convincingly achieve SFM/SFD over the entire country

PART IV. THE TROPICAL TIMBER FRAMEWORK

1. Compliance with ITTA 1994 Objectives

The development objective of this project is fully in harmony with concerns of ITTO and the objectives of ITTA 1994. ITIO through its "Year 2000 Objective" strives to achieve and ensure tropical timber production from sustainably managed forests. The Organisation, accordinglY,is concerned with development of appropriate C&I for SFM/SFD and their practical enforcement.

Of the 14 objectives enshrined in ITIA 1994, six (c, d, f, i, j and I) directly deal with sustainability considerations: sustainability process; capacity building for strategy implementation; R & D for SFM; employment and income through sustainable processing; resource creation and expansion to support sustainability through plantations and forest rehabilitation; and policy support for sustainable utilization and conserVation. Other objectives deal with pre-requisites and conditions supporting SFM/SFD.

This project with its emphasis on applying all relevant C & I related to SFM/SFD, fully complies with the objectives of ITTA 1994, explicity and implicity.

2. Compliance with ITIO Action Plan

The Libreville Action Plan 1998-2001 is a strategic instrument for achieving the objectives of ITT A 1994, and as such the goals of the Action Plan underline the need for actions/activities: to secure and improve the tropical forest resource, to enhance relevant capabilities and to improve standards and efficiency in resource use and management.

The present project, by institutionalising C & I for SFM/SFD complies with the goals of the Libreville Action Plan of ITTO, particularly goal 2, Le. to improve the tropical timber resource base.

3. Compliance with ITIO Guidelines and C & I Document.

ITTO C & I for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests 1998 (which updates the ITIO's Criteria for the Measurement of Sustainable Tropical Forest Management published in 1992), along with the four guidelines (Le. for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests 1990; for the Establishment and Sustainable Management of Planted Tropical Forests, 1993; for the Conservation of Bio-diversity in Tropical Production Forests, 1993;. and, on Fire Management in Tropical Forests, 1997) provide a most comprehensive set of prescriptions for sustainable tropical forest management.

The fonnulation of this document has benefited from these documents; and its implementation will draw ideas and guidance from them, thus, contributing to the achievement of ITIO's "Year 200 Objective".

"The ITTO Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable management of Natural Tropical Forests 1998 and the Criteria and Indicators specified under the Bhopal-India Process do overlap in most major aspects. As such the project, the Operational Strategy for Sustainable Forestry Development with Community Participation in India, will draw heavily on the ITTO documents. Further, wherever applicable and appropriate, the activities being undertaken during the implementation phase will be suitably cross­referenced, indicating the· linkages between the ITTO Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests and the C & I under the Bhopal - India Process".

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& d r "". SFM/SFD - India

Annex -I BRIEF PROFILE OF EXECUTING AGENCY

Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India

Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) is a premiere autonomous Institute under Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), Govt. of India. The Institute has four main activities namely research, education, training and consultancy in the forestry and allied sectors. It was established in 1982 in response to the growing need for managerial human-power and development of managerial capacity in the forest and allied sectors focussing on application of business methods in the management of forest and natural resources to ensure efficiency in resource use and conservation.

The Institute is governed by an independent Board of Governors, representing multi-disciplinary interests: technical, academic, social, economic, administration, environment, industry, rural development and other sectors.

The Institute has highly qualified and experienced multi-disciplinary faculty and supporting research staff. There are 25 faculty members, of whom, 18 hold doctoral & post-doctoral degrees in forestry and allied subjects.

There are 8 faculty areas as follows:

i) Applied Computer Technology and Quantitative Techniques for Forestry Operation ii) Communication Methods iii) Ecosystem Management and Technical Forestry iv) Financial Management, Accounting and Control v) Forest Resource Economics and Management vi) Marketing Management vii) Personnel Management and Organisational Behavior viii) Sociology and Social Anthropology

The multi-disciplinary faculty is ideally suited for all academic activities of the Institute.

The Institute has successfully undertaken several research projects with the support of National and International funding agencies such as, ITIO, Ford Foundation, FAO, IDRC, DFID, CIFOR, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Department of Science and Technology, State Forest Departments, etc. Some of the important on-going research projects pertain to Policy Analysis in respect of NWFP harvesting and use, JFM (Community Forestry), SFM, Economic Analysis of Tree Growing, Sustainable Teak Forest Plantation Management (CIFOR), Protected Area Management, Environmental Impact Assessment of mined-out areas, Marketing of NWFP, Gender Issues in Forestry and Development, Socio-economic Studies of forest dependent communities, Community based Sustainable Medicinal Plant Cultivation and Management, Survey of Fuelwood Flow, Wetland Management and other aspects of Biodiversity Conservation, Sustainable Forest Management, GIS Applications in preparation of Working Plans, Wastelands Development, etc. A number of publications in the form of research papers, reports, monographs, case studies, manuals, working papers, etc. on above aspects, have been released.

The educational programme comprises of: (i) two-years Masters' course (Post Graduate Diploma in Forestry Management), with an annual in-take of 35 Indian students based on all-India level 3-stage competitive tests, along with 5 students from SAARC countries and 5 NRI students, (ii) One-year Post Masters' course (M.Phil. in Natural Resource Management) for enhancing and updating the skills of in-service Natural Resource Managers, and (iii) Ph.D. program (Centre of FRI Deemed University).

The Institute has been conducting short tenm training programmes for in-service personnel from different departments on specified topics of forest management such as Joint Forest Management, NWFP, Biodiversity, Project Management, Computer Applications and Information Technology in Forestry, Gender Issues, Watershed Management, Natural Resource Accounting etc. So far, more than 125 programmes have been conducted with about 4000 persons already trained. The Institute has also been organising international training courses on Sustainable NTFP Management, Community Forestry, Participatory Forest Resource Assessment and Planning, besides conducting vertical integration programmes on environment awareness for Police & Anmy Officers, Foresters, NGOs, media persons and others. International workshops, seminars in collaboration with Govt. of India, FAO, ITIO, UNEP, RECOFTC, USFS and other agencies, have been conducted on regular intervals.

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C If I few- .5FM/SFD - India

The Institute has been rendering consultancy services to Government of India, State Forest Departments, ADB, World Bank, GTZ, SIDA, FAO, liED, Corporate Sectors, NGOs and others. The Institute has a strong network with NGOs.

The Institute has recently established Policy AnalYSis Cell and a Forest Database Centre. Apart from the Institute's Web site (www.iifm.orru, it has also launched an e-group on (a) ethno-forestry, (b) information technology in forestry, (c) JFM - India, and (d) NTFPs.

The Institute has a campus spread over 80 hectares of Natural Forest area, which is also managed as demonstration area for watershed management, soil and moisture conservation, NTFP and medicinal plants' germ plasm bank. It has elegant spacious building with well-equipped classrooms & training halls, hostel for students, guest house for visiting faculty/resource persons, with modem boarding facilities.

The Institute has a rich and computerised Library & Information, System with over 25,000 books and 200 journals subscribed. The Institute also has a modem Computer Centre with GIS & Remote Sensing facilities.

The Institute also houses a Regional Centre of National Afforestation and Eco-development Board of Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India, which is one among the seven in the country. It is actively engaged in carrying out research and training programmes in accordance with the policy and guidelines of Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India. So far, it has successfully completed 25 research projects, 17 training programmes and 33 assignments pertaining to evaluation of forest plantations in the region.

In view of growing importance of community forestry in India and elsewhere, and the expertise the Institute has developed over the last decade, an International Centre for Community Forestry (ICCF) has been established at IIFM. It has mandate for research, training, outreach programme and networking in community forestry. Because of its strategic location and research & educational infrastructure, the Centre can address the requirement of developing countries pursuing activities related to community based forest management. This Centre envisages programs implementation involving exchange of SCientists, researchers and community forestry workers from different countries. The Centre has financial support from Govt. of India and some International funding agencies.

The Bhopal-India Process of Sustainable Forest Management, piloted by the Institute, has been endorsed by the Govt. of India and FAO. The Institute in collaboration with FAO, UNEP, Ino, USFS, organised a workshop-cum-consultation meeting for national level C & I for Dry zone Asia during November-December 1999. The Institute has sensitised foresters, academicians, NGOs and some communities regarding use of C & I for SFM. The Institute has also impressed upon the Govt. of India about the need to adopt and promote Sustainable Forest Management in the country. Agreeing to this suggestion, Govt. of India appointed a National Task Force on Sustainable Forest Management, giving IIFM the responsibility for organising meetings/consultations and submitting recommendations for follow-up action.

IIFM is on the Board of Governors of ICFRE, which is an apex body for forestry research and education in India and therefore, facilitating strong linkages with these two organisations. Apart from it's membership in various Committees of Govt. of India, IIFM has also been nominated to the "National Support Group of JFM", established by the MoEF, Govt. of India. The Institute is also member of IUCN, State Biodiversity Board of MP and several other national organisations in the forestry sector.

Being the only Institute of its kind in this region, it has developed as a unique Institution with considerable experience & expertise in Community based Sustainable Natural Resource Management and Development. The long term mission of the Institute is to achieve Sustainable Forestry Development in the

. region.

In ii