The Commons and Rural Livelihoods
The Commons and Rural Livelihoods
Shifting Dependencies and Supra-local Pressures
This chapter argues that there is a need to relook at the forest dependence question given the changing and perhaps declining nature of forest dependence amongst local communities. It highlights a number of points: first, that dependence on the forested commons should be contextualized within the wider dependence on land-based common property resources; second, that while dependence on the forested commons is significant, forest-based livelihoods might not be adequate in and of themselves; and third, that there are increasing ‘external’ pressures on the commons that threaten livelihoods. As external pressures on the commons are chiefly responsible for declining dependence, it is suggested that local governance of the commons should not be ‘justified’ on the basis of economic dependence alone (nor denied on the basis of a decline in such dependence) but rather as a means of democratizing the governance of common property.
Keywords: forest dependence, rural livelihoods, agrarian change, forest use, declining commons, India
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