Benefit Relationship between Owner and User of Common Pool Resource: Evidence from Joint Forest Management Programme in West Bengal

Das, Nimai and Sarker, Debnarayan (2008): Benefit Relationship between Owner and User of Common Pool Resource: Evidence from Joint Forest Management Programme in West Bengal.

Abstract

This empirical study suggests that the economic outcome of joint forest management (JFM) programme has been beneficial for both forest fringe community and government who jointly manage the forest resource. Cooperation yields an outcome preferred by both as they are able to negotiate before execution of all activities. The theoretical model of common property resources suggests that cooperative behavior of JFM guided by norms of restraint and customs may be stable against invasion by narrowly self-interested behaviour. The study also indicates that without costly sanctions against poor JFM-households for extracting illegal forest products, JFM appears to be beneficial for all.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Joint forest management programme, Economic outcome, Cooperative game, Non-timber forest products.
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q2 - Renewable Resources and Conservation > Q23 - Forestry; D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D13 - Household Production and Intrahousehold Allocation; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C7 - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory > C71 - Cooperative Games; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q56 - Environment and Development ; Environment and Trade ; Sustainability ; Environmental Accounts and Accounting ; Environmental Equity ; Population Growth; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q51 - Valuation of Environmental Effects

References

Bahuguna, V. K. (2004), Root to Canopy: An Overview, in V. K. Bahuguna, K. Mitra, D. Capitrano, and S. Sargal (eds.), In Root to Canopy: Regenerating Forests through Community-State Partnerships, Winrock International and Commonwealth Forestry Association, Delhi.

Baland, J.M. and J.P. Platteau (1996), Halting Degradation of Natural Resources: Is there a Role for Rural Communities? Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Banki, E. S. (1981), Dictionary of Administration and Management, System Research Institute, Los Angeles.

Berkes, F. (ed.) (1989), Common Property Resources. Ecology and Community Based Sustainable Development, Belhaven Press, London.

Bhattacharya, A. K. (2001), Community Participation and Sustainable Forest Development – Global Perspective, Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi.

Bromley, D.W. (ed.) (1992), Making the Commons Work: Theory, Practice and Policy, Institute for Contemporary Studies Press, San Francisco.

Chandrasekharan, C. (1998), Role of Non-Wood Forest Products in Sustainable Forest Management, SEANN Workshop, Dehra Dun.

Chichilnisky, G. (1994), North South Trade and the Global Environment, American Economic Review, 84 (4), pp. 851-74.

Correa, M. (1999), The Need for Emancipatory Research: Experiences from JFPM in Uttar Kannada, in R. Jeffery and N. Sundar (eds.), A New Moral Economy for India’s Forests? Discourses of Community and Participation (pp. 216- 234), Sage Publications, New Delhi.

Das, N. (2008), Women’s Dependence on Forest and Participation in Forestry: A Case Study of Joint Forest Management Programme in West Bengal, Unpublished PhD dissertation in Economics, University of Calcutta, Kolkata (September).

Das, N. and D. Sarker (2008), Reforms in Forest Management in West Bengal: A Game of Strategic Profile, in D. Sarker (ed.), Second Generation Reforms (pp. 79-101), Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

Dasgupta, P. and G. Heal (1979), Economic theory and exhaustible resources, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Jeffery, R. and N. Sundar (eds.) (1999), A New Moral Economy for India’s Forests? Discourses of Community Participation, Sage Publications: New Delhi.

Lama, A. and M. Buchy (2002), Gender, Class, Caste and Participation: The Case of Community Forestry in Nepal, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 9(1), pp.27-41.

Mallik, R. M. (2000), Sustainable Management of Non-Timber Forest Products in Orissa: Some Issues and Options, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 55 (3), pp. 284-397.

Martin, F. (1992), Common Pool Resources and Collective Action: A Bibliography, Paper presented to the Workshop on Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Bloomington, Indiana.

Mukherjee, N. (2002), Measuring Social Capital: Forest Protection Committees in West Bengal, Economic and Political Weekly, 37 (29), pp. 2994-2997.

Naik, G. (1995), Determinants of People’s Participation in Joint Forest Management, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (Mimeo).

Naik, G. (1997), Joint Forest Management: Factor Influencing Household Participation, Economic and Politically Weekly, 32 (48), pp. 3084-3089.

Ostrom, E., J. Walker and R. Gardner (1992), Covenants With and Without a Sword: Self-Governance Is Possible, American Political Science Review, 86 (2), pp. 404-417.

Pattanayak, S.K. and E.O. Sills (2001), Do Tropical Forests Provide Natural Insurance: The Microeconomics of Non-timber Forest Products Collection in the Brazilian Amazon, Land Economics, 77, pp. 595-612.

Pattanayak, S.K., E.O. Sills and R.A. Kramer (2004), Seeing the forest for the fuel, Environment and Development Economics, 9, pp. 155-179.

Poffenberger, M. (1995), The Resurgence of Community Forest Management in the Jungle Mahals of West Bengal, in: D. Arnold and R. C. Guha (eds.), Nature, Culture and Imperialism: Essays on the Environmental History of South Asia (pp. 336-369), Oxford University Press, Delhi.

Ravallion, M. (2001), The Mystery of the Vanishing Benefits: An Introduction to Impact Evaluation, The World Bank Economic Review, 15 (1).

Reddy, V. R., M. G. Reddy, S. Galab, J, Soussan and O. Springate-Baginski (2004), Participatory Watershed Development in India: Can it Sustain Rural Livelihoods?, Development and Change, 35 (2), pp. 297-326.

Sarker, D. and N. Das (2002), Women’s Participation in Forestry: Some Theoretical Issues, Economic and Political Weekly, 37 (43), pp. 4407-4412.

Sarker, D. and N. Das (2006), Towards a Sustainable Joint Forest Management Programme: Evidence from Western Midnapore Division in West Bengal, South Asia Research, 26 (3), pp. 269-289.

Sarker, D. and N. Das (2007), Efficiency of Market Behaviour of NTFPs for households under JFMP: A Case Study in West Bengal, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 62 (1), pp. 80-98.

Sarker, D. and N. Das (2008), A Study of Economic Outcome of Joint Forest Management Programme in West Bengal: The Strategic Decisions between Government and Forest Fringe Community, Indian Economic Review, 43 (2), pp. 17-45.

Sarmah, D. and S. N. Rai (2001), Forest Resource Management in India: Role of the State and its Effectiveness, in S.N. Chary and V. Vyasulu (eds.), Environment and Management (pp. 206-220), Macmillan, New Delhi.

Saxena, N. C. and M. Sarin (1999), The Western Ghats Forestry and Environmental Project in Karnataka: A Preliminary Assessment, in R. Jeffery and N. Sundar (eds.), A New Moral Economy for India’s Forests? Discourses of Community and Participation (pp. 181- 215), Sage Publications, New Delhi.

Sethi, R. and E. Somanathan, (1996), The Evolution of Social Norms in Common Property Resource Use, The American Economic Review, 86 (4), pp. 766-88.

SFR (2000), State Forest Report, Office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Directorate of Forest, Government of West Bengal, Kolkata.

Singh, N.M. (2001), Women and Community Forests in Orissa: Rights and Management, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 8 (2), pp. 257-270.

SPWD (1998), Joint Forest Management Updated, Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development, New Delhi.

Weitzman, M.L. (1974), Free Access vs. Private Ownership as Alternative Systems for Managing Common Property, Journal of Economic Theory, 8 (2), pp. 225-34.

World Bank (1995), Towards Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development, Environment Department Papers, Washington, D.C.

World Bank (1996), World Bank Participation Source Book, Oxford University Press, New York.

World Bank (2000), Financing the Global Benefits of Forests: The Bank’s GEF Portfolio and the 1991 Forest Strategy, in J.G. Campbell and A. Martin (eds.), A Review of the World Bank’s 1991 Forest Strategy and Its Implementation, The World Bank, Washington, D.C.

World Bank (2006), India: Unlocking Opportunities for Forest-Dependent People, The World Bank, Agriculture and Rural Development Sector Unit, South Asia Region, Oxford University Press: New Delhi.

Zorn, C.J.W. (1998), An Analytic and Empirical Examination of Zero-inflated and Hurdle Poisson Specifications, Sociological Method and Research, 26, pp. 368-400.