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KERALA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
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Peoples participation brought desirable result in forest management
Peoples participation has brought desirable result to a great extent in the
forest management,
said Dr. S Singsit Dy. Director General, Indian Council of Forestry Research &
Education (ICFRE). Peoples participation has come into existence in various
names like Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in the entire spectrum of natural
resource conservation. He was delivering the key note address at the national
training workshop on Natural Resource Management - Changing Scenario and
shifting Paradigms organized by the College of Forestry, KAU in collaboration
with the ICFRE at Vellanikkara, Thrissur.
Reading a thoughtful quotation "All humans do not understand natural
resources. Most humans do not value natural resources! Yet we live only because
we have the natural resources". Dr. Singsit pointed out that from time
immemorial we have taken availability of our natural resources for granted,
little realizing that human actions are slowly gnawing these precious resources.
He lamented that despite numerous international conferences, conventions and
agreements aimed at protecting forest resources including the Forestry
Principles drawn up during the Earth Summit in 1992, and the Convention on
Biological Diversity, forests around the globe remain under increasing threat.
We must attempt at formulating an Integrated Natural Resource Management
Strategic Plan for utilization of natural resources at a sustainable level with
focus on minimizing depletion and reduction in input of pollutants to these
resources and to identify and implement high priority resource management goals.
On the declining forest coverage of the country, Dr. Singsit said that the
forest cover of the country as per the latest assessment of FSI, was 63.34
million ha which is 19.39 per cent of the geographic area against a desired
forest coverage of 30 per cent. The state of world's forests 2001 highlights
some of the recent technical policy and institutional measures to improve forest
management and conservation, reflecting the move to balance social, economic and
environ-mental objectives. These include efforts to reduce timber harvesting in
natural forests and to develop alternative sources of industrial wood, improved
harvesting practices, the reduction of illegal activities and increased
community based forest management.
Dwelling on the current approaches to management, he opined that Integrated
Conservation and Development Projects (ICDP) and Community Based Conservation (CBC)
are two ways in which re-cognition of the importance of making biological
diversity relevant to rural people living near or protected area has been
manifested.
A second major shift in protected area planning and management has emerged over
the past decades is the visualization of protected area as part of the larger
landscapes. The bio-regional and ecosystem approaches recognize the complexity
and dynamism of ecological and social systems. Both call for the involvement of
local communities and stakeholders in decision making and thus, share some
common elements of paradigm shift.
Dr. K.V. Peter, Vice-Chancellor, Shri P.P. George, MLA, Dr. A.I. Jose, Director
of Extension, Dr. R Vikraman Nair, Director of Research and Dr. Luckins C. Babu,
Associate Dean, College of Forestry were among those who spoke on the occasion.