Incentives for Households in Community Based Forest Management System : An Empirical Evidence from Goalpara District of Assam

Based on the ‘National Forest Policy 1988,’ on the first June in 1990 (circular No. 6.21/89-FP, Sarin, 1998), the government of India issued guidelines and adopted Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) system in the form of Joint Forest Management (JFM) system for conservation of forests with clearly identified duties and functions for ensuring protection of forests. However, the system has not been fully succeeding. This paper examines the reasons for the failure of CBFM system in Assam. The study finds that the households who actively participate in the forest conservation activity belong to predominantly non-tribal households and also to tribal households who are engaged in non-forest dependent livelihoods. The study also discovers that the Forest Protection Committees in forest areas which have experienced urbanization, commercialization, and diversification of labor into quarrying industry and such other activities take active participation in the forest protection activities. Quite contrary to the expectations the primary evidence in this study establishes that the failure to prevent deforestation is linked to the failure of the CBFM system to evolve appropriate incentive structures for the forest dependent tribal households who are the crucial actors in forest protection. This study finds that instead of expanding the subsistence opportunities for the poor forest dependent tribal households through forest conservation, the CBFM system has caused a decline in the incomes of these households