JFM is now the most important forest management program in the country covering 28% of the state forests. As it is an evolving program, the policies have to be constantly fine-tuned to respond to the emerging challenges. However, for effective policy response, the real impact of the policies at the field level needs to be ascertained. This requires consultation with a large number of stakeholders that are involved in the JFM program. The information flow between the field and policy levels also needs to be improved for timely policy response.

Acknowledging this fact the central Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) which is the key policy making body playing a major role in ensuring the long-term success of participatory forestry in general and JFM in particular, created a separate JFM Monitoring Cell within its Forest Protection Division in 1998. A fresh set of guidelines was issued in February 2000 to further strengthen the JFM program in the country. In February 2000, the MoEF also issued a notification for the creation of the multi-stakeholder JFM Network at the national level consisting of representatives of different stakeholder group such as the MoEF, state Forest Departments, NGOs, donor agencies, research organizations and training institutions. The Director General of Forests is the Chairman and the Inspector General in charge of JFM is the Member-Secretary of the JFM Network.

In the initial meetings of the JFM Network, it was decided that a dedicated support unit is needed to allow the JFM Network to function smoothly. This unit would provide regular substantive and administrative support and also to follow up on the decisions taken in the JFM Network meetings. Therefore, with support from the Ford Foundation, the Resource Unit for Participatory Forest Management (RUPFOR) was established within the Winrock International India office in 2001.

The following are the main roles of RUPFOR:

• To provide a neutral forum where different stakeholders, such as community members, NGOs and Forest Department, can share information and freely discuss various issues related to participatory forestry
• To collect, collate, analyze and disseminate information on participatory forestry among different stakeholders
• To assist the national policy makers in monitoring the progress of JFM and providing inputs for policy making
• To assist in cross learning between India and other countries practicing participatory forestry and to track new opportunities for participatory forestry in India
  
  For more details please visit www.rupfor.org

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