Resources, Conservation and Recycling 56 (2011) 126–133 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Resources, Conservation and Recycling journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/resconrec Review What determines the success of joint forest management? Science-based lessons on sustainable governance of forests in India Vijai Shanker Singh a , Deep Narayan Pandey b , Neha Pandey Prakash c,∗ a Department of Environment and Forests, Government of Rajasthan, and Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India b Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India c Livelihoods India Group, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India article info Article history: Received 2 January 2011 Received in revised form 15 September 2011 Accepted 16 September 2011 Keywords: Community forestry Forest governance Local enforcement Local monitoring Local rule making abstract A serious attention to the factors that lead to effective forest governance is essential to address forest restoration and management challenges in India. A large number of variables are suggested in literature that may potentially determine success or failure of sustainable governance of forests, yet the success in finding essential factors has remained elusive. Here we review the cutting-edge research on forest governance and find that higher levels of local monitoring and enforcement of locally made rules leads to improved forest restoration and regeneration, and reduction in forest degradation, across a variety of ecological, economic and social contexts. We also find that strong autonomy of rule-making at the local level (and not the government-imposed rules) is the key predictor of both better forests and yield of goods and services to support livelihoods of local people. These insights have immediate practical utility for evidence-based forest governance in India. Accordingly, in the context of joint forest management (JFM), we provide science-based lessons for linking knowledge to action at village level. It is concluded that village level JFM committees that have local rule-making, local monitoring and local enforcement are more likely to succeed in their efforts directed towards better forests and improved livelihoods. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 126 2. Reasons for focus on community-based management systems ...................................................................................... 127 3. Technical interventions to generate multiple benefits from JFM areas .............................................................................. 127 4. Core variables that characterize sustainable governance of forests .................................................................................. 128 4.1. The institutional design principles for sustainable governance .............................................................................. 128 4.2. Experiential knowledge on success factors ................................................................................................... 128 5. Critical importance of local monitoring and enforcement ........................................................................................... 129 6. Motivations for designing rules that are well-enforced .............................................................................................. 130 7. Classic example of local monitoring and enforcement of locally made rules ........................................................................ 130 8. Lessons for improvement of the JFM on the ground .................................................................................................. 131 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................... 132 References ............................................................................................................................................. 132 1. Introduction There have been numerous attempts by researchers and prac- titioners to identify factors that determine the sustainability of forests in general and community-based approaches in particular. ∗ Corresponding author at: N-21, Gandhi Nagar, Jaipur 302015, Rajasthan, India. Tel.: +91 9660202208. E-mail address: n.pandey@livelihoods.in (N.P. Prakash). Indeed, a large number of variables are suggested in literature that may potentially determine the success or failure of forest gov- ernance. For instance, a review of large body of earlier research identified 33 critical enabling factors for sustainability of the com- mons resources (Agrawal, 2001). Another meta-analysis of 31 articles on community forestry, encompassing 69 case studies worldwide identified 43 independent variables that influence the success or failure of community forestry (Pagdee et al., 2006). Indeed, there are many other context-specific studies that identify factors responsible for successful resource management outcomes 0921-3449/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2011.09.015