Ganesh Sugur

Reorienting Forest Management in Karnataka Ganesh Sugur

The book attempts to codify important interventions to reorient the present forest management practices in the state of Karnataka in India. It critically looks at the present status of forests and how a resource once plentiful stands degraded and has lost its functional efficiency. There is also a detailed assessment of the threats to forest and wildlife conservation and practical ways to address these challenges. The book argues that optimizing productivity from forests and addressing the underlying livelihood issues of the forest-dependent communities hold the key to an effective forest and wildlife conservation. Further it also evaluates past efforts to regenerate forests, various afforestation schemes and shortlists recommendations for a successful nursery and plantation program. Acknowledging farm forestry as the only practical way to achieve the objective of increasing forest and tree cover to one third of geographical area of the country, the book comes out with a well-defined strategy and action plan for a successful farm-forestry campaign. Recognizing the significance of people's participation, the book suggests ways to meaningfully involve people in forest and wildlife conservation. Finally, the book anvils a comprehensive action plan and a way forward for holistic and effective management of the forestry sector.