Participation in Joint Forest Management from Women's Perspective

Women can playa dominant role in the implementation of Joint Forest Management strategies because of their intimate association with forests. They depend on forests for various livelihood security services. They must get equal representation in the Village Forest Councils and have a choice in the decision making viz. in the selection of species and other silvicultural measures for upgrading the degraded forest's vegetative cover and biodiversity. Various women groups can be constituted to establish alternate income generation activities to ameliorate the living conditions of poor and destitute women dependent entirely on forest for their sustainanence.