Upscaling community tenure rights in India (Phase II)

Project Overview

Phase II will attempt to build on India’s phase I achievements while placing them in a changing political-economic, administrative and policy context. It will weave in multiple stakeholders for creating a well-crafted pathway to support the effective implementation of community forests rights in some of the remotest locations in India. Progression from Phase I to Phase II will be marked by both continuity and change, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shifted focus due to growing rural/agrarian distress.  

The project’s main objective is to substantially expand community tenure over forests across large contiguous areas in India, to enable sustainable forest governance, strengthen community institutions, and increase livelihood security. Specifically, the project will aim to: 

1. Upscale secure community tenure through a partnership with community-led initiatives and community-based organisations and state and local administration in selected states of India.

2. Address knowledge and capacity gaps in facilitation of community forest rights through capacity building, knowledge sharing, documentation, communication, and outreach.

3. Support community-led forest governance through the development and deployment of a technology stack to map, assess, measure, monitor and manage resources.

4. Build partnerships across government, civil society, and the private sector to support forest-based livelihoods and strengthen the business case for community forest rights.

Upon its completion it is expected that at least 3,000 CFR claims submitted in phase I are converted into secure titles.  Additionally, advances to file 3,000 new claims and converting 1,200 of these into secure titles will be made. It is expected that these claims will cover at least 1.5 million hectares of forest land, and impact about 2 million forest dependent people.