Abstract

Globally decentralized forest governance is being promoted to conserve and sustainably manage forest resources along with meeting local livelihoods. In the Central Himalayan region of India, it came into existence in 1931, long before the time when the concept of decentralized forest governance became popular globally, and the aim was to accomplish the subsistence needs of the smallholders in the region. This article discusses whether the species types (broadleaved and coniferous) affect biophysical conditions, species richness, and conservation effectiveness of community-owned forests (locally called Van Panchayat forests), and what could be done to improve their management in the near future. The findings are based on a household survey covering 16 villages as well as a biophysical assessment of 18 community forest stands (9 per forest type) covering an area of 1778 ha and 341 ha in both forest categories. It was found that farmers across the villages are intricately dependent on forest resources to support their livelihoods that are governed by a village institution (Van Panchayat) to maintain equity of benefit-sharing among all stakeholders. Both forest categories exhibited high dependence, however, there was a considerable difference in resource quality, viz. quality of fodder, fuel, and litter in broadleaved forests, therefore the community has more preference for such stands. The broadleaved Banj-oak stands revealed better biophysical status in terms of species diversity, tree density, total basal area, and regeneration than the coniferous Chir-pine stands. Although the local government has taken up selective policy initiatives to encourage decentralized forest governance, more needs to be done to strengthen it on the ground level, particularly in Chir-pine stands. It is suggested that the community management of forests needs to be improved in relation to leadership development, rationale use of bio-resources, and adopting site-specific management strategies. In areas with Chir-pine forests community need to be educated to reduce forest fire and promote the plantation of broad-leaved species. Also, the scope of community forests needs to be broadened by adopting and involving smallholders in various forest enterprise development and climate action programs. For this, developing proper alliances of village institutions with civil society groups and other partner institutions along with virtuous support from local government can lead to enhance social and environmental resilience of communities.