Scholarly Commons @ FAMU Law

Article Title

Comeback of Community-based Forest Management: The Need to Revamp Strategies to Promote Decentralized Environmental Governance in India and Brazil

Authors

Naysa Ahuja

Abstract

The governance of forests and their resources has always been a contentious issue. It has created a divide between developing and developed countries, as well as within them. With the increasing recognition of forests as valuable commodities in the global market, the management of forests in developing countries is becoming a matter of constant concern for ecologists, economists, and politicians.

Part I of this article provides an overview of the Participatory Forest Management (PFM) approach in the international context. Part II and III examine environmental governance in the forest sector of two rapidly emerging economies of the world, India and Brazil. Part IV analyzes the two regimes and proposes adoption of favorable practices from one another to supplement their PFM framework through policy recommendations. The discourse focuses on the development of participatory tools for forest governance, pinpointing the key legal instruments, executive actions, institutional arrangements, and public engagement initiatives in the context of the historical, political, and economic backdrop of both countries. The fundamental role of the state and judiciary in inducing regulatory and behavioral coherence among the key actors has been discussed in the light of accountability and transparency by way of background and analysis. The article concludes with recommendations to mitigate existing and future conflicts in the successful implementation of a PFM regime in India.

Recommended Citation

Naysa Ahuja, Comeback of Community-based Forest Management: The Need to Revamp Strategies to Promote Decentralized Environmental Governance in India and Brazil, 9 Fla. A&M U. L. Rev. (2014).
Available at: https://commons.law.famu.edu/famulawreview/vol9/iss2/4