Joint Forest Management (Self-Initiated Forest Protection Groups)
Self-Initiated Forest Protection Groups (SIFPGs) have been actively involved in forest preservation and conservation in the Panchmahals and Sabarkantha districts. A total of 76 Jungle Bachao Groups, or Self-Initiated Forest Protection Groups (SIFPGs), have been working with Joint Forest Management (JFM), addressing gender issues and collaborating with the Forest Department. SARTHI has been liaising with the Forest Department to facilitate the acquisition of authority certificates, registration, and the signing of Memorandums of Understanding for the groups.
The main objectives are:
- To assess the status of the program and classify the individual groups.
- To organize community efforts in forest protection and facilitate the formation of people’s institutions.
- To enable both men and women in the community to take collective actions and decisions related to forest protection, utilization, and management, based on equity and equality.
- To assess the dependence of different sub-groups in the Jungle Bachao groups on the forest and reduce the hardships faced by women members in particular.
- To improve the ecological conditions in degraded sites.