Measuring Poverty Impacts of Forest Programs in India

In India, states have begun to share the rights and responsibilities with communities for managing forests through joint forest management arrangements. Preliminary indications are that this process, together with associated project investments has a significant impact on poverty. However, there is no systematic and rigorous assessment to date. Concurrently, while community forestry can bring a number of benefits, there have been some instances of loss of livelihoods for some households, especially those who depend on forests but who are not part of the communities involved in participatory forest management.

PROFOR is working to improve the capacity of state governments to measure forestry program impacts on poverty reduction in a systematic way, and thereby provide a tool for increased accountability, learning, and program adaptation. In turn, this will enable public expenditure on forestry and other aspects of forestry programs to address poverty reduction objectives more effectively.

To this end, PROFOR is supporting the development of a methodology for low-cost, yet objective and systematic monitoring of poverty impacts from community forestry programs in India. This work is initially being carried out in Jharkhand with CIFOR leading the work in partnership with national experts, and Jharkhand-based NGOs and research institutions. This activity will ultimately lead to an improved understanding of the poverty-forestry nexus and how forests can be managed with communities to improve local livelihoods.