In Bastar District, we use our ongoing research and policy engagement to enhance the capacities of Gram Sabhas to claim Community Forest Resource Rights (CFRR) and to develop management plans that facilitate conservation-oriented sustainable forest use and equitable livelihoods.

At the same time, we seek to strengthen the capacities of the district administration to carry out a rigorous and fair claim-recognition process, and to support convergence of existing livelihood-centric government programmes with community-driven forest governance.

ATREE is currently involved in the following activities, with the financial support and cooperation from the Bastar district administration:

• WebGIS: Provides publicly browsable overlays of block boundaries, village boundaries, revenue maps and forest compartment boundaries on Google/Bing Satellite base maps.
• Aamcho CFR Boundary App As an extension of the web-GIS, this mobile app allows Forest Rights Committee members to upload CFR claim boundaries as part of their CFRR claim-recognition process.
• Training in CFR claim-making: Conducting workshops for village community representatives, members of the District and Sub-District Level Committees (DLC and SDLCs), forest and revenue department field staff, and NGO fieldworkers
• Conflict resolution: Developing strategies for village-level conflict resolution through a consultative process aided by the Chhattisgarh FRA manual and ATREE’s web-GIS
• Training in CFR Management Planning: Imparting on-site training to village communities and FRA Coordinators in CFR management planning
• NTFP Policy Convergence: Carrying out field research to develop a policy brief for integrating Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP)-based livelihoods into CFR-based governance.