Joint Forest Management Programme: A Beneficial Relationship between State and Community

This empirical study suggests that the economic outcome of Joint Forest Management (JFM) programme has been beneficial for both forest fringe community and government who jointly manage the forest resources. Cooperation yields an outcome preferred by both as they are able to negotiate before execution of all activities. The theoretical model of common property resources suggests that cooperative behaviour of JFM guided by norms of restraint and customs may be stable against invasion by narrowly selfinterested behaviour. The study also indicates that without costly sanctions against poor JFM-households for extracting illegal forest products, JFM appears to be beneficial for all.