Livelihood generation and poverty reduction attempts in Joint Forest Management activities in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh is the leading state in the implementation of Joint Forest Management following the Government of India Resolution in 1990. Though the state has vast areas of natural resources including forest, degradation and deforestation are very much in evidence due to various socio-economic factors. One of those is the poverty of the tribals whose main economic activity is centered around the forest as they depend on forest resources for survival, livelihood and occupation. Lack of income generating activities and economic choices has forced these communities into the exploitation of forest resources. The introduction of Joint Forest Management activities in the last decade has provided the employment opportunities and income generation to alleviate poverty in the area to some extent. Madhya Pradesh Forestry Project ran from Sept. 1995 to Dec. 1999. Within the organizational development and institutional mechanism the project took various steps in asset creation; including natural, social, human, political and physical assets to generate livelihood options.