Arabari Forest: Participatory Success

By mid -1970s, the West Bengal Government realised that, if the people's needs were ignored, it would be impossible to save the forests. The National Commission on Agriculture (1973) recommended, among other things, " social forestry " on land unsuitable for agriculture to relieve pressure on forests and to help in soil and water conservation. The Forest Conservation Act of 1988 also helped to prevent uncontrolled conversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes and made compensatory afforestation obligatory in such cases. The success of social forestry programme on non-forest land has led the planners to realise that it is a viable land use system and an important tool in development of rural areas where large scale employment is possible through it.

In 1972, an innovative plan to contain the deforestation problem was launched on an experimental basis in the forest-fringe villages of Arabari development block in Midnapore district of West Bengal. It involved local villagers in protecting coppices of Sal (Shorea robusta) trees in return for free usufructary rights on all non-timber forest products, additional employment, and a promise of 25% share of the net cash benefits from the sale of short rotation Sal poles. About 1,270 hectares of degraded Sal forests were taken up for revival on a pilot basis. Initially, 618 families, comprising a population of 3,607, were involved through "forest protection committees". Sal and its associates in forests yield many non-timber forest products like Sal leaves and seeds, mushrooms, Tasar silk cocoons, medicinal plants, edible roots and tubers etc, which motivates the poor villagers in protecting the coppices during their gestation period.

Encouraged by the experience of the Arabari experiment, the State Government decided in 1987 to encourage forest-fringe population to actively participate in managing and rehabilitating degraded forests all over south-west Bengal. This movement spread like a wild fire. Though informal and voluntary at first, it acquired the character of a formal institution when, in 1990, the State Government officially recognised the forest protection committees (FPC) in south-west Bengal subject.