Rural Livelihoods, Forest Access and Time Use: A Study of Forest Communities in Northwest India

Naidu, Sirisha C. (2011): Rural Livelihoods, Forest Access and Time Use: A Study of Forest Communities in Northwest India.

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of the size of private land holdings and access to forest commons on the labour allocation to livelihood activities. The statistical analysis indicates that land and forests are complementary assets in the rural production process. Differential access to private land and common forests together explain variability in time allocation to rural livelihoods in the forested regions of northwest India. Development and conservation policies that might cause displacements or disruptions to such livelihoods must therefore consider the impact of policy making on private wealth as well as access to the natural commons.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: time use; rural livelihoods; forest commons; protected areas; South Asia; India
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D13 - Household Production and Intrahousehold Allocation; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q2 - Renewable Resources and Conservation > Q23 - Forestry; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B59 - Other; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q12 - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

References

Adhikari, B., Di Falco, S., & Lovett, J. C. (2004). Household characteristics and forest dependency: Evidence from common property forest management in Nepal. Ecological Economics, 48(2), pp. 245-257.

Adhikari, B. (2005). Poverty, property rights and collective action: Understanding the distributive aspects of common property resource management. Environment and Development Economics, 10(1), pp. 7-31.

Adhikari, M., Nagata, S., & Adhikari, M. (2004). Rural household and forest: An evaluation of households dependency on community forest in Nepal. Journal of Forest Research, 9(1), pp. 33-44.

Agarwal, B. (1994). A Field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights In South Asia (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press).

Agarwal, B. (1998). Disinherited peasants, disadvantaged workers: A gender perspective on land and livelihood. Economic and Political Weekly, 33(13), pp. A2-A14.

Agarwal, B. (2001). Participatory exclusions, community forestry, and gender: An analysis for South Asia and a conceptual framework. World Development, 29(10), pp. 1623-1647.

Agarwal, B. (2010). Gender and Green Governance: The Political Economy of Women's Presence within and Beyond Community Forest (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

Amacher, G. S., Hyde, W. F., & Joshee, B. R. (1993). Joint production and consumption in traditional households: Fuelwood and crop residues in two districts in Nepal. Journal of Development Studies, 30(1), pp. 206-226.

Angelsen, A., & Wunder, S. (2003). Exploring the forest - poverty link: Key concepts, issues and research implications. (CIFOR Occasional Paper No. 40). Jakarta: Center for International Forestry Research.

Antonopoulos, R., & Memis, E. (2010). Time and poverty from a developing country perspective. Working Paper No. 600. Annandale-on-Hudson, NY: Levy Economics Institute.

Balasubramainan, R., & Selvaraj, K. N. (2003). Poverty, private property and common pool resource management: The case of irrigation tanks in South India. No. SANDEE Working Paper No. 2-03). <http:// www.sandeeonline.org/>

Barbier, E.B. (2010). Poverty, environment, and poverty. Environment and Development Economics 15(6), 635-660.

Bardasi, E., & Wodon, Q. (2006). Measuring time poverty and analyzing its determinants: Concepts and application to Guinea. In C. M. Blackden, & Q. Wodon (Eds.) Gender, Time Use and Poverty In Sub-Saharan Africa, (Washington D.C.: World Bank), pp. 75-96.

Bardasi, E., & Wodon, Q. (2010). Working long hours and having no choice: Time poverty in guinea. Feminist Economics, 16(3), pp. 45-78.

Bardhan, P. (2005). Scarcity, Conflicts, and Cooperation: Essays in the Political and Institutional Economics Of Development (London: MIT Press).

Basole, A., & Basu, D. (2011a). Relations of production and modes of surplus extraction in India: Part I – agriculture. Economic and Political Weekly, 46(14), pp. 41-58.

Basole, A., & Basu, D. (2011b). Relations of production and modes of surplus extraction in India: Part II - 'informal' industry. Economic and Political Weekly, 46(15), pp. 63-79.

Beck, T., & Ghosh, M. G. (2000). Common property resources and the poor: Findings from West Bengal. Economic and Political Weekly, 35(3), pp. 147-153.

Benería, L. (1992). The Mexican debt crisis: Restructuring the economy and the household. In L. Benería, & S. Feldman (Eds.), Unequal burden: Economic crises, persistent poverty, and women's work ( pp. 83-104). Boulder: Westview Press.

Bernstein, H. (2004). ‘Changing before our very eyes’: Agrarian questions and the politics of land in capitalism today. Journal of Agrarian Change, 4(1), pp. 190-225.

Bluffstone, R. A. (1995). The effect of labor market performance on deforestation in developing countries under open access: An example from rural Nepal. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 29(1), pp. 42-63.

Boyce, J. K. (2003). From natural resources to natural assets. In J. K. Boyce, & B. G. Shelley (Eds.) Natural Assets: Democratizing Environmental Ownership, (Washington D.C.: Island Press), pp. 1-7.

Byron, N., & Arnold, M. (1999). What futures for the people of the tropical forests? World Development, 27(5), pp. 789-805.

Cavendish, W. (2000). Empirical regularities in the poverty-environment relationship of rural households: Evidence from Zimbabwe. World Development, 28(11), pp. 1979-2003.

Chambers, R. (1983). Rural development: Putting the last first (Harlow, Essex: Longman).

Chhatre, A. (2003). The mirage of permanent boundaries: Politics of forest reservation in the western Himalayas, 1875-97. Conservation and Society, 1(1), pp. 137-159.

Chhatre, A., & Agrawal, A. (2009). Trade-offs and synergies between carbon storage and livelihood benefits from forest commons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(42), pp. 17667-17670.

Chhatre, A., & Saberwal, V. K. (2006). Democratizing Nature: Politics, Conservation, and Development In India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).

Cooke, P. (1998a). Intrahousehold labor allocation responses to environmental good scarcity: A case study from the hills of Nepal. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 46(4), pp. 807-830.

Cooke, P. (1998b). The effect of environmental good scarcity on own-farm labor allocation: The case of agricultural households in rural Nepal. Environment and Development Economics, 3(4), pp. 443-469.

de Haan, L., & Zoomers, A. (2005). Exploring the frontier of livelihoods research. Development and Change, 36(1), pp. 27-47.

Ellis, F. (1998). Household strategies and rural livelihood diversification. Journal of Development Studies, 35(1), pp. 1-39.

Ellis, F. (2000). Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Esquivel, V., Budlender, D., Folbre, N., & Hirway, I. (2008). Explorations: Time-use surveys in the south. Feminist Economics, 14(3), pp. 107-152.

Fisher, M. (2004). Household welfare and forest dependence in southern Malawi. Environment and Development Economics, 9(2), pp. 135-154.

Fisher, M., Shively, G. E., & Buccola, S. (2005). Activity choice, labor allocation, and forest use in Malawi. Land Economics, 81(4), pp. 503-517.

Floro, M. S. (1995). Women's well-being, poverty, and work intensity. Feminist Economics, 1(3), pp. 1-25.

Floro, M. S., & Miles, M. (2003). Time use, work and overlapping activities: Evidence from Australia. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 27(6), pp. 881-904.

Floro, M. S., & Pichetpongsa, A. (2010). Gender, work intensity, and well-being of thai home-based workers. Feminist Economics, 16(3), pp. 5-44.

FSI. (2009). India State of Forest Report 2009 (Dehradun, India: Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India).

Gadgil, M., & Guha, R. (1994). Ecological conflicts and the environmental movement. Development and Change, 25(1), pp. 101-136.

Gohain, H. (2010). Livelihood losses and national gains. Economic and Political Weekly, 45(51), pp. 79-80.

GoHP. (2009). District Human Development Report: Mandi (Shimla, India: Planning Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh).

GoHP. (n.d.). Pattern and Context of Rural Livelihoods in Himachal Pradesh (Shimla, India: Planning Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh).

GoHP. (2011). Economic Survey of Himachal Pradesh 2009-2010 (Shimla, India: Economics and Statistics Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh).

GoI. (2001). Census of India, Series 3: Himachal Pradesh (Shimla: Director of Census Operations, Himachal Pradesh, Government of India).

GoI. (2011). Census of India, Series 1: Provisional Population Totals (New Delhi: Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India).

Guha, R. (1990). The unquiet woods: ecological change and peasant resistance in the Himalaya. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press).

Guha, R. (1994). Colonialism and conflict in the Himalayan forest. In R. Guha (Ed.) Social Ecology. (New York: Oxford University Press), pp. 275-302.

Hayes, T. M. (2006). Parks, people, and forest protection: An institutional assessment of the effectiveness of protected areas. World Development, 34(12), pp. 2064-2075.

Heltberg, R. (2001). Determinants and impact of local institutions for common resource management. Environment and Development Economics, 6(2), pp. 183-208.

Heltberg, R., Arndt, T. C., & Sekhar, N. U. (2000). Fuelwood consumption and forest degradation: A household model for domestic energy substitution in rural India. Land Economics, 76(2), pp. 213.

Ilahi, N. (2000). The intra-household allocation of time and tasks: What have we learnt from the empirical literature. Policy Research Report on Gender and Development. Working Paper Series No. 13. Washington D.C.: The World Bank.

Ilahi, N., & Grimard, F. (2000). Public infrastructure and private costs: Water supply and time allocation of women in rural Pakistan. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 49(1), pp. 45-75.

INSTRAW. (1995). Measurement and Valuation of Unpaid Contribution: Accounting Through Time and Output (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: United Nations).

Jackson, C., & Rao, N. (2009). Gender inequality and agrarian change in liberalizing India. In S. Razavi (Ed.), pp. The Gendered Impacts of Liberalization: Towards "Embedded Liberalism"? (New York: Routledge), pp. 63-98.

Jodha, N. S. (1986). Common property resources and the rural poor in dry regions of India. Economic and Political Weekly, 21(27), pp. 1169-1182.

Jodha, N. S. (1990). Rural common property resources: Contributions and crisis. Economic and Political Weekly, 25(26), pp. 65-78.

Jodha, N. S. (1995). Common property resources and the environmental context: Role of biophysical versus social stresses. Economic and Political Weekly, 30(51), pp. 3278-3283.

Jodha, N. S. (2001). Life on The Edge: Sustaining Agriculture and Community Resources in Fragile Environments (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).

Juster, F. T., & Stafford, F. P. (1991). The allocation of time: Empirical findings, behavioral models, and problems of measurement. Journal of Economic Literature, 29(2), pp. 471-522.

Kamanga, P., Vedeld, P., & Sjaastad, E. (2009). Forest incomes and rural livelihoods in Chiradzulu district, Malawi. Ecological Economics, 68(3), pp. 613-624.

Kumar, S. K., & Hotchkiss, D. (1988). Consequences of deforestation for women's time allocation, agricultural production, and nutrition in hill areas of Nepal. Research Report No. 69; Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Leach, M., Mearns, R., & Scoones, I. (1999). Environmental entitlements: Dynamics and institutions in community-based natural resource management. World Development, 27(2), pp. 225-247.

Lerche, J. (2011). Agrarian crisis and agrarian questions in India. Journal of Agrarian Change, 11(1), pp. 104-118.

Mamo, G., Sjaastad, E., & Vedeld, P. (2007). Economic dependence on forest resources: A case from Dendi district, Ethiopia. Forest Policy and Economics, 9(8), pp. 916-927.

Mearns, R. (1999). Access to land in rural India: Policy and options. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 2123. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.

Miranda, V. (2011). Cooking, caring and volunteering: Unpaid work around the world. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 116. Paris: OECD Publishing.

Naidu, S. C., & Manolakos, P. T. (2010). Primary accumulation, capitalist nature and sustainability. Economic and Political Weekly, 45(29), pp. 39-45.

Narain, U., Gupta, S., & van 't Veld, K. (2008). Poverty and resource dependence in rural India. Ecological Economics, 66(1), pp. 161-176.

NCEUS. (2007). Conditions of Work And Promotion of Livelihood in The Unorganised Sector (New Delhi: National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector).

NCEUS. (2009). The Challenge of Employment in India: An Informal Economy Perspective (New Delhi: National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector).

Pattanayak, S. K., & Sills, E. O. (2001). Do tropical forests provide natural insurance? The microeconomics of non-timber forest product collection in the Brazilian Amazon. Land Economics, 77(4), pp. 595-612.

Pattanayak, S. K., Sills, E. O., & Kramer, R. A. (2004). Seeing the forest for the fuel. Environment and Development Economics, 9(2), pp. 155-179.

Pichetpongsa, A. (2004). Work intensity and individual well-being: Evidence from Thailand. Doctoral Dissertation. American University, Washington D.C.

Rajan, R. (1998). Imperial environmentalism or environmental imperialism? European forestry, colonial foresters and the agendas of forest management in British India 1800-1900. In R. H. Grove, V. Damodaran & S. Sangwan (Eds.) Nature And The Orient : The Environmental History Of South And Southeast Asia, (Delhi: Oxford University Press), pp. 324-372.

Rangan, H. (1997). Property vs. control: The state and forest management in the Indian Himalaya. Development and Change, 28(1), pp. 71-94.

Razavi, S. (2009). Engendering the political economy of agrarian change. Journal of Peasant Studies, 36(1), pp. 197-226.

Reardon, T., & Vosti, S. A. (1995). Links between rural poverty and the environment in developing countries: Asset categories and investment. World Development, 23(9), pp. 1495-1506.

Reddy, S. R. C., & Chakravarthy, S. P. (1999). Forest dependence and income distribution in subsistence economy: Evidence from India. World Development, 27(7), pp. 1141-1149.

Ribot, J., & Peluso, N. (2003). A theory of access. Rural Sociology, 68(2), pp. 153-181.

Ruiz-Perez, M., & Arnold, M. (Eds.). (1996). Current Issues In Non-Timber Forest Products. Bogor, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research.

Saberwal, V. K. (2000). Environmental alarm and institutionalized conservation in Himachal Pradesh, 1865-1994. In K. Sivaramakrishnan, & A. Agrawal (Eds.) Social Nature: Resources, Representations and Rule In India, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), pp. 65-85.

Saberwal, V. K. (1999). Pastoral Politics: Shepherds, Bureaucrats, And Conservation In The Western Himalaya (New York: Oxford University Press).

Scoones, I. (2009). Livelihoods perspectives and rural development. Journal of Peasant Studies, 36(1), pp. 171-196.

Sharma, A. N. (2005). Agrarian relations and socio-economic change in Bihar. Economic and Political Weekly, 40(10), pp. 960-972.

Sjaastad, E., Angelsen, A., Vedeld, P., & Bojö, J. (2005). What is environmental income? Ecological Economics, 55(1), pp. 37-46.

Skeels, C. L., & Vella, F. (1999). A Monte Carlo investigations of the sampling behavior of conditional moment tests in tobit and probit models. Journal of Econometrics, 92(2), pp. 275-294.

Skoufias, E. (1994). Market wages, family composition and the time allocation of children in agricultural households. Journal of Development Studies, 30(2), pp. 335.

Srivastava, R. (1997). Rural labour in Uttar Pradesh: Emerging features of subsistence, contradiction and resistance. In T. J. Byres, K. Kapadia & J. Lerche (Eds.) Rural Labour Relations in India, (New Delhi: India Research Press), pp. 263-315.

Takasaki, Y., Barham, B. L., & Coomes, O. T. (2001). Amazonian peasants, rain forest use, and income generation: The role of wealth and geographical factors. Society & Natural Resources, 14(4), pp. 291-308.

United Nations. (1988). Improving statistics and indicators on women using household surveys. Studies in Methods, Series F, No. 48. New York: United Nations.

United Nations. (1990). Methods of measuring women's participation and production in the informal sector. Studies in Methods, Series F, No. 46. New York: United Nations.

UNSD. (2005). Guide to Producing Statistics on Time Use: Measuring Paid And Unpaid Work (New York: United Nations Statistical Division).

Van't Veld, K., Narain, U., Gupta, S., Chopra, N., & Singh, S. (2006). India's firewood crisis re-examined. Discussion Paper No. 06-25. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.

Vasan, S. (2003). Community forestry: Historical legacy of Himachal Pradesh. Himalayan Research Bulletin, 21(2), pp. 36-45.

Vedeld, P., Angelsen, A., Sjaastad, E., & Berg, G. K. (2004). Counting on the environment: Forest incomes and the rural poor. Environmental Economics Series Paper No. 98. Washington D.C.: World Bank.

Wilson, K. (1997). Patterns of accumulation and struggles of rural labour: Some aspects of agrarian change in central Bihar. In T. J. Byres, K. Kapadia & J. Lerche (Eds.) Rural Labour Relations in India, (New Delhi: India Research Press), pp. 316-354.

Wooldridge, J. M. (2002). Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press).

Yemiru, T., Roos, A., Campbell, B. M., & Bohlin, F. (2010). Forest incomes and poverty alleviation under participatory forest management in the Bale highlands, southern Ethiopia. International Forestry Review, 12(1), pp. 66-77.