Community forestry
Topic: Natural Vegetation and Forests of India · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 5 "Natural Vegetation"
Meaning
Community forestry means raising trees on public or community land, not on private farms. It includes village pastures, temple land, roadsides, canal banks, railway strips and school land. The whole village shares the benefits, such as fuel, fodder, fruit and shade. Even landless people, who own no land to plant on, get a share. NCERT treats it as one part of rural forestry, which comes under social forestry.
Example
In a village of the Indian plains, the panchayat (village council) may plant neem and other trees on its common grazing land and along the canal bank. Every household can then collect fuel, fodder and fruit from these trees.
Don't confuse with
- Joint forest management (JFM): village committees protect degraded land that the forest department manages, in return for a share of the produce. Community forestry plants trees on village common land outside forests.
- Community forest resource rights: legal rights given to gram sabhas (village assemblies) under the Forest Rights Act 2006 to protect and manage forests.