UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Assessing the Impact of Customary Ownership of Trees and Socioeconomic Factors on the Participatory Forest Management in Jharkhand, India

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.1007/s00267-025-02129-x

Authors

Sabyasachi Kar · Mukti Ram Subedi · Parag Kadam · Puneet Dwivedi

Reported year

2025

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:16:16.844960+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:16:16.844960+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Clemson University · University of Georgia

Documentary abstract — original language

Customary ownership over trees on forested public lands is a traditional practice that grants individuals or groups rights and duties to access, use, and manage trees. This unique ownership model, where the Indian Government owns the forested land, but trees on that land are customarily owned by the households or community, plays a critical role in community participation in Participatory Forest Management (PFM). No study has yet quantitatively analyzed the relationship between customary ownership over trees and participation in PFM activities. Therefore, this study fills this gap by analyzing the relationship between households' participation in PFM, the number of trees under customary ownership on forested public lands, and socioeconomic variables in Jharkhand, India. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participatory rural appraisal. Factor analysis and multivariate linear regression were employed to analyze this relationship. We found that households' customary ownership over a higher number of trees enabled them to earn a higher income and motivated them to relocate for better education and healthcare access, resulting in reduced PFM participation. Households with larger forest landholdings participated more regularly in PFM activities, motivated to legalize ownership of their long-used forestlands. Displaced households experienced reduced PFM participation. Higher caste and wealth groups were associated with greater PFM participation due to better resource access and stronger decision-making power. The study findings inform policymakers to improve inclusive participation in PFM activities and provide a pathway for achieving India's environmental commitments by reducing socioeconomic disparities, improving tribal livelihoods, and promoting sustainable management of forestry resources.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W4407806521

DOI

10.1007/s00267-025-02129-x

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

IN

Natural entities mentioned

Forest

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-025-02129-x
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W4407806521

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

• openalex:w1551316950 · CITES
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• openalex:w2036873208 · CITES
• openalex:w2046251591 · CITES
• openalex:w2048559988 · CITES
• openalex:w2053295183 · CITES
• openalex:w2071206993 · CITES
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• openalex:w2081453044 · CITES
• openalex:w2090301443 · CITES
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• openalex:w2092107914 · CITES
• openalex:w2095114594 · CITES
• openalex:w2102699022 · CITES
• openalex:w2114858704 · CITES

1 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Detected scholarly publication

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.