The forest department no longer needs to intervene when residents use forest products sparingly.
The nearby traditional forest was almost lost to the villagers of Musajhari, Thanapally Patna, and Derabaj villages in the Ranpur block of Odisha’s Nayagarh district. All of that changed in January 2021 when they were awarded a collective Community Forest Resource Rights (CFRR) title, one of the state’s first.
Since then, the inhabitants have taken control of and changed their forest. Along with preserving it, they can now sparingly consume the forest’s produce.
Laxmidhar Jena, president of the forest management committee and a resident of Musajhari, told Down to Earth that the rights to the forest that the group had been jointly managing since 1977 were granted to them in January of last year.
According to Laxmidhar Jena, president of the forest management committee and a resident of Musajhari, “we were handed the rights over the forest we had been collectively managing since January last year.”
On a hilltop, the Satbhaya forest was mentioned as being virtually extinct.
“The foliage on the hill had been removed. The forest department once engaged in resource exploitation. Trees were formerly cut down by some foreigners, the man stated.
Jena remembered that the last tree in the jungle had been felled, leaving him and his fellow villagers without any fuel wood.
“At that point, we made the tough decision to take action to preserve the forest because our future depended on it. Even biodiversity has suffered. At one point, all we could see was the stony hill, but today you’ll see hundreds of birds, insects, and animals,” he remarked.
Title granted
Following the transfer of title, the villagers continue to administer a 122.67 acre area as part of their land rights. Their lives have changed significantly as a result of that transfer.
The committee’s secretary, Ananta Charan Sahoo, stated that with the grant of title, they will have land rights. Their lives have changed significantly as a result of this shift.
Additionally, it was the first time they had the authority to forbid the forest department from practising silviculture and managing the forest’s timber in accordance with their committee’s regulations.
“We have improved our confidence and assertiveness. The three towns’ citizens alternate days manning the forest’s watch. To make sure nothing untoward occurs at night, we have a shelter built where four individuals can spend the night. Guards who deliberately avoid work will be fined $200, according to Sahoo.
The village committees have given locals permission to gather small amounts of forest food and firewood for their own use. The cost of cutting bamboo and lumber for personal use has not yet been determined.
Additionally, the locals planted teak saplings throughout a 10-hectare area, dispersed throughout a few sparse sections of the jungle.
With the consent of the Gram Sabha, people are able to gather wood for festivals, weddings, and funerals. After four years, bamboo dries out, so they can pick the free drying stalks. If they don’t tell, they’ll be punished, he continued.
In order to prevent fires from starting, the residents have also built fire lines in the forest and patrol the bush carefully throughout the summer.
Before we applied for the title, the forest department pressed us to establish a Van Suraksha Samiti, but we refused. We forbade them from even constructing fire lines this year. Since we are more familiar with the jungle, we made them ourselves, Jena remarked.
Prasanta Patnaik