Question

The concept of Joint Forest Management (JFM) involves ------------
(a)Conservation of forest and agricultural land by the government
(b)Conservation of forests and wildlife by the local communities
(c)Work in close association with the local communities for protecting and managing forests.
(d)Exploitation of the beneficial forests.

Answer 1

Joint forest management is the concept which gives an idea about developing relationships between fringe forest groups and the forest department on the basis of the mutual trust and jointly defined roles and responsibilities for forest protection and development by the community together.

Complete answer:
Realising the vital role of participation by local communities, the govt of India within the 1980s has introduced the concept of Joint Forest Management (JFM) so on work closely with the local communities for shielding and managing forests. In return for his or her services to the forest, the communities get the advantage of various forest products (minor forest products), and thus the forest is often conserved during a sustainable manner. At present, there are about 84632 JFM committees with 17.33 million hectares of forest area under them. Some of them from 85.28 lakh communities were involved in all of them over the country.

So, the correct answer is, ‘Work in close association with the local communities for protecting and managing forests.’

Note: After the coming of Bishnoi woman, Amrita Devi in 1731 showed exemplary courage by hugging a tree and daring king's people to cut her first before cutting the tree and the Chipko Movement got launched in the year 1973 by Chandi Prasad Bhatt and Sunder Lal Bahuguna against large-scale falling of trees by timber contractors in the Uttarakhand hills, Government noted the participation of the local communities in forest conservation. This led to the upcoming of the Joint Forest Management (JFM) in the 1980s for protecting and managing forests. In return, the local communities can take away the forest products like fruits, gum, rubber, medicine, etc., to earn their livelihood and forests can be conserved in sustainable ways.