Governing the Resource: A Study of the Institutions of Decentralized Forest Resource Management

The Indian Forest Policy of 1988 and the subsequent government resolution on participatory forest management emphasized the need for people's participation in natural forest management. This article lays out the institutions that emerge from this strategy and their involvement in decentralized Forest Resource Management. It also traces the inter-linkages between them in the governance of the forest resource in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. Two levels of inquiry have been undertaken, one at the institutional level and the other at the household level. Based on data collected, using quantitative and qualitative methods, it is found that the presence of civil society organizations (CSOs) have an effect on the functioning of government institutions. The article informs the assessment that decentralization has a two-pronged function of bringing governance closer to the people and to also bring more political will to the people.