IIFM
has started the International Center of Community Forestry (ICCF) with a view to promote
focussed research and training in the area of community forestry. This Centre is located
at IIFM and has been funded by the Ford Foundation and the International Development
Research Center (IDRC) Canada.
The ICCF has been
established to promote focussed research and training in the area of community forestry in
India and other parts of the world. In addition to research and training, the Center also
plans to document self-initiated forest conservation and management efforts in various
parts of the world. The primary objectives of promoting research and training in the area
of community forestry have been largely driven by the following needs :
- There is a lack
of emphasis on community forestry / JFM in the forestry curricula.
- There is serious dearth
of organized, reference literature on these subjects.
- There is an
urgent need for re-orienting the traditionally molded field staff of the Forest
Departments towards the new role of community organizers / development facilitators.
In order to pursue its objectives, the
centre proposes to utilize the expertise of the multi-disciplinary faculty at IIFM . In
addition to this, the centre also aims to attract National and International experts who
will be appointed as the Center's Fellows and who will concentrate on regional
perspectives, international policies and issues in community forestry.
Through active involvement and
collaboration , the Centre also aims to strengthen and nurture IIFM's existing linkages
with leading national and internationational organizations like the RECOFTC
(Thailand),Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development (SPWD), Institute of Biosocial
Research and Development (IBRAD), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, Indian
Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, and several others. It is expected that with its
sincere endeavors and dynamic initiatives, the ICCF will be able to promote a better
understanding of the participatory forest management process across the globe.
To know more about the
ICCF and its programmes, please write to Dr. Prodyut
Bhattacharya.
