Community Forest Resource Rights Claim-making Workshop in Jabalpur, MP

A two-day workshop on Community Forest Resource Rights (CFRR) claim-making was successfully concluded in Jabalpur, bringing together 46 participants from at least 12 sangathans and 3 civil society organisations across Madhya Pradesh. The workshop was organized in collaboration with Parameshwaram Research and Development Foundation (PRDF), Bhopal, led by Samadhan Patil, whose efforts enabled outreach to a wide network of grassroots groups.

On the first day, Dr. Sharad Lele and ATREE District Coordinator Mohit Mahajan introduced the ideas and principles behind the Forest Rights Act. This was followed by an interactive activity where participants arranged the steps of the CFR claims process on cards and then corrected them together. The session concluded with a detailed explanation of the CFR claims process, along with responses to frequently asked questions.

The second day began with a technical session on understanding different kinds of land maps relevant for making claims, conducted by Mohit and Hritik Bhatnagar (ATREE Research Associate). This was followed by a demonstration of the Aamcho CFR mapping application developed by ATREE, which helps claimant villages map their CFR boundaries.

In the subsequent session, Anubhav Shori (ATREE District Coordinator, Bastar) presented experiences from Bastar, highlighting how CFR claims have succeeded there and are now at a crucial stage in the management process. The workshop concluded with a collective discussion on next steps in Madhya Pradesh, where organisations set goals for strengthening the CFRR claim-making movement in the state.