UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Everyday Forest Rights: Claiming Territories and Pastoral Livelihoods in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, India

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.4103/cs.cs_20_123

Authors

Pierre-Alexandre Paquet · Elizabeth Kuroyedov

Reported year

2021

Reported language

en · und

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:12:26.643807+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:19:11.142447+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

University College London · University of Wisconsin–Madison · Université Laval

Documentary abstract — original language

This article explores the multiple processes of maintaining access and asserting user rights to forest space among the Van Gujjar pastoralists in North India. In particular, the Forest Rights Act of 2006 (FRA) has created an opportunity for forest dwellers across India to seek legal means to forest rights. Conducting ethnographic fieldwork, organising workshops on forest rights, and mapping traditional territories among the Van Gujjars, we observed that complex cultural performances are necessary for the Van Gujjars to claim access to forest areas and resources—legal or otherwise. These performances include, but are not limited to, litigation, supporting emergent leaders, and caring for cattle and kin under constant threats of evictions. Drawing on recent scholarship on the everyday formation of territorial governments, we examine how communities maintain, contest, or reinvent cultural practices and governance in the context of their struggles for access inscribed as forest rights. In contrasting cases among two groups of Van Gujjars seeking rights to forest spaces in the two neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, we shed light on the repercussions that formally or informally engaging the FRA can have for communities of forest dwellers. Based on ethnographic research completed between 2012 and 2019, we find that 1) the Van Gujjar territorial governments carrying on these claims are more diverse than the law recognises, and that 2) not all communities see it worthy to organise a territorial government claiming formal rights under the FRA. Fundamentally, we discern that more immediate threats to Van Gujjar livelihoods result in a greater shift in their cultural practices towards organising a territorial government seeking forest rights through the FRA.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W3205104295

DOI

10.4103/cs.cs_20_123

ISSN

0972-4923 · 0975-3133

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

IN

Natural entities mentioned

Forest · Territory

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

Sources

DOAJ · Record 1

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.4103/cs.cs_20_123
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W3205104295

Documented bibliographic relations

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

• Democratic Assertions: The Making of India's Recognition of Forest Rights Act · CITES
• openalex:w1938845323 · CITES
• openalex:w1989622612 · CITES
• openalex:w2005508626 · CITES
• openalex:w2006901350 · CITES
• openalex:w2010812555 · CITES
• openalex:w2027774628 · CITES
• openalex:w2036948596 · CITES
• openalex:w2044197087 · CITES
• Decentralisation and democratic forest reforms in India: Moving to a rights-based approach · CITES
• openalex:w2058967873 · CITES
• openalex:w2061656234 · CITES
• openalex:w2078284106 · CITES
• openalex:w2078653418 · CITES
• openalex:w2090677537 · CITES
• openalex:w2098254808 · CITES
• openalex:w2098321221 · CITES
• openalex:w2099582248 · CITES
• openalex:w2106154773 · CITES
• openalex:w2117000378 · CITES

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.