Gender, group behavior and community forestry in South Asia
1
Citation
0
Reference
10
Related Paper
Citation Trend
Abstract:
In large parts of the world, the 1990s saw a major shift in state policy towards forest governance, from solely state management of forests to co-management with local communities. Rural communities, however, are far from homogeneous units. They are usually characterized by unequal power relations, predicated especially on class and gender. Hence community forest management groups, while ostensibly set up to involve and benefit all community members, can effectively exclude significant sections, in particular women. Based on the author's field visits and interviews in the late 1990s in India and Nepal, this chapter examines the nature of gender (intersecting with class and caste) inequalities and social exclusions and the factors underlying them, which can restrict women's effective participation in the group's activities and decision-making. The chapter also traces the implications of such exclusions for equity of outcomes and institutional efficiency, and outlines how such constraints may be overcome and outcomes improved.Keywords:
Caste
Equity
Community forestry
Gender Equity
Community Management
This chapter analyses the emergence of caste and untouchability in India and their ramifications for poverty and inequality. It points to India’s worsening caste separation despite constitutional guarantees against untouchability and protection of entry to public education and jobs. Caste remains the certificate for dominant castes to discriminate against lower castes in work, housing, movement, marriage and education resulting, effectively, in upper caste entitlements. This has direct impact on earning capacities. Data reveal lower castes occupy a lower share of the top income decile. Caste structure comprises four main categories from priests to menials. The origin of caste is contestable. It cannot be attributed to Indo-Aryan Persia. Caste was categorized in purusha sukta, oldest among ancient texts circa 1200 BCE. Subsequent texts sharpened caste occupations, rituals and consequences of polluting caste mixes. Buddhism appeared and temporarily rid India of caste until the re-emergence of Hindu dynasties. Young widows were burnt alive on funeral pyres of deceased husbands at the diktat of brahmin priests even during eighteenth century. British rule further sharpened caste divisions through the judiciary and censuses. Caste continues with an important role in contemporary politics.
Caste
Kashmiri
Cite
Citations (0)
In recognition that forests are one of their greatest resources, Aboriginal peoples are considering how altered tenure arrangements might uphold traditional values, including ecological integrity, while providing economic and employment opportunities. However, the federal and provincial forest management structures have historically precluded First Nations from helping to define, and participate in, the forest industry. The authors explore the legal and regulatory basis of forest management in Canada, and assess how it facilitates or impedes Aboriginal management of traditional areas. This is done through a legislative and policy analysis, and through the use of case studies from across Canada. The authors propose an approach to tenure reform that will allow First Nations to achieve ecosystem-based community forestry through the use of traditional governance structures.
Community forestry
Ecoforestry
Community Management
Cite
Citations (52)
We compare outcomes across two types of villages in rural India. Villages vary by which caste is dominant (owns the majority of land): either a low or high caste. The key finding is that income is substantially higher for low-caste households residing in villages dominated by a low caste. This seems to be due to a trade breakdown in irrigation water across caste groups. All else equal, lower caste water buyers have agricultural yields which are 45 percent higher if they reside in a village where water sellers are of the same caste compared to one where they are not. (JEL O12, O13, O17, O18, Q15, R23, Z13)
Caste
Cite
Citations (149)
The idea that 'caste is race plus' may prove effective in drawing world attention to bear on the practice of caste. The practice of caste cannot, however, be eradicated by strategies that merely legitimise caste and caste-based politics. Hence, if we are intent on gaining more than mere political mileage from the proceedings of the Durban conference, it is time to recognise that non-caste secular strategies need to be innovative to eliminate the social evils of caste.
Caste
Cite
Citations (8)
Caste
Cite
Citations (35)
A growing literature on collective action focuses on exploring the conditions that might help or hinder groups to work collectively. In this paper, we focus on community-based forest management in the inner Terai region of Nepal and explore the role of community and user attributes such as group size, social heterogeneities, forest user’ perception on forests, and affiliation to the user group, in the collective action of managing community forests. Household surveys were carried out with 180 households across twelve community forest users’ groups. We first measured ethnic diversity, income inequality, landholding inequality, and user perception towards the use and management of community forests to understand their effect on the participation of forest users in the management of community forests. Our results show that among the studied variables, group size (number of forest users affiliated to the community forests) and perception of the management of their community forests are strong predictors of forest user participation in community forest management. Income inequality and ethnic diversity were found to have no significant association. Land inequality, however, was found to decrease participation in the management and use of community forests. These community and user attributes play a crucial role in the success of collective action and may vary from community to community. Hence they need to be duly considered by the practitioners prior to any community-based project interventions for stimulating successful collective action.
Collective Action
Community forestry
Community organization
Community Management
Cite
Citations (24)
Kurniawan A, Hidayat JW, Amirudin A. 2020. PSociety participation: supporting the success of community forest management. In : Herlinda S et al. ( Eds. ), Prosiding Seminar Nasional Lahan Suboptimal ke-8 Tahun 2020, Palembang 20 Oktober 2020. pp. xx.Palembang: Penerbit & Percetakan Universitas Sriwijaya (UNSRI). The development of community forestry policies in Indonesia has started since the old order era when the greening movement and the Karang Kitri movement were launched in 1956. The target of this movement is to plant yards and lands belonging to the community in the form of empty lands with useful plants, the results are quite sufficiently satisfying, especially in Java Island (Gunungkidul) and parts of Madura Island which were previously barren to become green areas. The success of community forest development and management cannot be separated from community participation, both direct and indirect participation. Community participation is their participation in an activity. In general, in community forest management, there are several activities including planning, planting, maintenance, harvesting, marketing, monitoring evaluation, and institutions. The extent of community involvement and participation in every stage of community forest management will be discussed in this article. It is hoped that high community participation will be in line with the level of success of community forest management so that a sustainable community forest will be realized. Besides, it is hoped that it will have a good impact on the economy, ecology, and social for the community.
Community forestry
Community Participation
Yard
Sustainable Forest Management
Community Management
Sustainable Management
Tree planting
Cite
Citations (2)
Community forestry
Community Management
Quarter (Canadian coin)
Community-based management
Cite
Citations (44)
This paper is an attempt to discuss the Indian caste system and a few concepts with relation to it. The ideas and frameworks that surround it are caste, jati, sanskritization, caste mobility, passing and caste-passing which will be examined too. All these will be deliberated from sociological, anthropological as well as historical perspectives. Therefore, this paper offers an overview of the caste system and through it we are also introduced to other elements like caste mobility, suitability of marriage partners, social and personal relationships that are determined by one’s caste are some of the issues brought to fore in this research. Caste mobility whether, it is discussed overtly or lies only as a dormant idea, but nevertheless visible to the Indian or society exclusively or the world at large is an important part in Indian society. The act of either moving up or moving down the caste ladder is not a new issue in India or in Indian fiction and other discourses. This paper shows that there have been efforts made by certain castes or groups to move up the caste ladder. Nevertheless, these attempts involve groups, not individuals. How individuals can pass up the caste ladder will also be discussed using the African-American racial passing paradigm. The act is labeled as caste-passing by Halimah Mohamed Ali (2006, 2011) in her research on this issue. The term is a neology created by her via this research.
Caste
Indian culture
Cite
Citations (0)