Community Forest Resource Management Training Workshop Pithora, Chhattisgarh
July 25-26, 2024
Community Forest Resource Management Training Workshop Pithora, Chhattisgarh July 25-26, 2024
ATREE organized a one-and-a-half-day training workshop on Community Forest Resource (CFR) Management in Pithora, Chhattisgarh, on July 25-26, 2024. The team, having previously conducted workshops across various parts of Chhattisgarh, including Bastar and Surguja districts, now focused on mobilizers working in Mahasamund, Balodabazar, and Mungeli districts. During these workshops, ATREE provides training on best practices, highlights successful village stories, and shares key lessons from common challenges encountered in the journey towards decentralized forest governance.
The Pithora workshop saw participation from grassroots staff representing Sajag, Dalit Adivasi Manch, and Shram Vikas Evm Shodh Sanstha, with a focus on training these organizations’ village-level mobilizers. Many villages, with some having received their CFR titles through significant struggles, are now working towards management planning with the help of these local organizations. Particularly, the team from Shram Vikas Evm Shodh Sanstha working on the complex case of forest villages within and near the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve led to the discussion of the possibility of forest co-management during the latter part of the workshop.
Dr. Sharad Lele began the workshop by providing an overview of the CFR rights provision under the FRA 2006, emphasizing the importance and uniqueness of section 3(1)(i) of the law. This section empowers forest dwellers to “protect, regenerate, conserve or manage” community forest resources, with principles of livelihood development, equity, and sustainability in mind. Dr. Shruti Mokashi (ATREE Post-Doc) further elaborated by presenting case studies of Panchgaon and Payvihir, using videos to showcase specific examples of management plans and practices implemented by villages, noting the differing planning possibilities that can be developed depending on local landscape and forest conditions from village to village.