What are the political drivers for land rights of forest-dependent communities?

Prakash Kashwan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Connecticut. His research and scholarship focuses …

Earth quake

Forest Rights Act: From rights on paper to rights in practice

Local civil society organisations play a vital role in helping forest-dwelling communities assert and exercise their collective rights

IFR review: Madhya Pradesh’s Van Mitra portal a tool to re-reject forest right claims, RTI data shows

Official machinery rejects claims without the knowledge of the Gram Sabha or the Forest Rights Committee

Bond with people

Letting go of the colonial hangover should be the goal of the new forest policy

Forest department in India needs to reverse its role from being the owner and regulator of forests to becoming a facilitator in community-managed …

India continues to lose forest land to non-forestry projects

Central environment ministry reports diversion of 11,467 hectares forest land in 2019 (up to first week of November) 

Among the non-believers

A forester’s  perspective on green governance

The new Forest Act debate is essential

Let both forests and communities win

Outlaw enforcement

Another disincentive to sound forest management for Indians

Eight-year-old shot by Kaziranga forest guard in 2016 shifted to AIIMS Delhi

The forest department is not paying for the treatment in New Delhi, claims the boy's family

Fight for forest rights: Why these Dhamtari Adivasis gave up over 100 acres of cropland to plant trees

Forest dwellers of Karipani and Budra villages were put through a trial by fire to prove they care about conservation

India’s total forest cover increases by 1%: State of Forest Report 2017

A biannual report by the Forest Survey of India shows a 0.94% increase in India’s total forest cover since its last assessment in 2015

Losers again

Forest department’s cheat act

Omits crucial community rights from claim papers of Gadchiroli villages  

A tale of two interpretations

Aparna Pallavi recounts struggles of residents of a tiny village in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra to get ownership of forest resources

Climate crisis: Uttarakhand may see forest fires round the year

It is winters but state forests are on fire. Experts say lack of soil moisture due to insufficent rainfall aided spread

Rewind 2018: Development and fire eat up India’s forest cover

The country’s greenery suffered several blows in the past year as it was compromised for vertical growth and authorities could not curb …

Afforestation: money on the trees

The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act could redefine forest governance. But will it protect the rights of forest dwellers?

India lost 668,400 ha forests in 5 years, 2nd highest globally: Report

India was ranked between Brazil and Indonesia in UK-based firm’s report

Youth from Odisha’s Kandhamal show the way to combat forest fires

Youths here held several meetings with the villagers and explained climate change as well as methods to mitigate forest fires at the community level

Why this Maharashtra village is fighting for the long forgotten Gramdan Act?

In a society that is moving towards hyper-individualism, the community here takes a collective approach

Lack of indigenous people’s participation big barrier to mainstreaming of biodiversity: FAO

Some 15 per cent of global forests are managed as community resources by indigenous peoples and local communities

Madhya Pradesh sets JFM precedent

Two recent developments augur well for the forest dwellers of Madhya Pradesh. Firstly, under the Joint Forest Management plan, forest protection …

Clear and collect Chir pine needles to prevent forest fires: parliamentary panel

Among its many recommendations was the use of drones to monitor forest fires