印度奧里薩邦

森林作為生產型共有資源對於印度鄉村的社會生態系統而言至關重要。在1970 年代，Sulia 森林周圍有 36 個村莊，這些村莊都依賴這森林的共有資源。到了1980 年代，由於鄉村之間資源管理不善，森林資源大多已被耗盡了。現在，村民們以復元這共有資源為共同目標，邀請了多個非牟利組織作為持份者以幫助他們實現這一目標。

擴展社區的定義

在1990年代，在五個小村莊的共同努力下，森林曾得以復蘇。但由於36 個村莊之間缺乏全面的互助自理，另外 31 個村莊耗盡了森林的資源。為了防止森林再被過度採伐，這五個小村莊與保育自然生態的非牟利組織合作，提高保護共有資源的意識。

以村民組織作為互助自理的基本結構

非牟利組織協助村民組織並召開與所有村莊的會議，其後他們集體決定成立一個由每個村莊的代表組成的委員會，合力保護森林。為了強化社區群眾對森林的歸屬感和保護意識，所有村民都被任命為森林的持份者。他們共同制定管理共有資源的規則：未經委員會事先許可，任何人不得進入森林；每個村莊都可以平等地共用森林的所有資源；所有與森林有關的問題都需由委員會處理。

根據村莊的腰果委員會的決定，每戶可派出一位成員到森林收集腰果 (相片| Aishwarya Mohanty/Mongabay)

參考資料 References
• Jain, S., van der Meer, M., & van Woesik , F. (2022, December 8). Examples of management of the commons by communities in rural India. The Water Channel. https://thewaterchannel.tv/thewaterblog/examples-of-management-of-the-commons-by-communities-in-rural-india/
• Pradhan, N., & Tripathy, S. (2022, August 3). How 36 villages in Odisha came together to protect their forest. India Development Review. https://idronline.org/ground-up-stories/how-36-villages-in-odisha-came-together-to-protect-their-forest/

Forest as a production commons is essential to socio-ecological systems in Indian villages. In the 1970s, Sulia forest was surrounded by 36 villages that depended on the forest as a common resource. By the 1980s, due to poor resource management between the villages, the forest was largely depleted of its resources. Now, with the common goal to restore the forest as a commons in mind, villagers invited NPOs as stakeholders to aid them in their initiative.

/

Expanding Definition of Community

In the 1990s, the forest was revived due to the efforts of five small villages that came together. Because of the lack of commoning between the 36 villages, 31 villages exploited the forest for its resources. In order to prevent over-extraction of the forest, the five small villages collaborated with nature conservation NPOs to raise awareness for the protection of their common asset.

Establishing Village Association as Commoning Structure

The NPOs supported the villagers by organising and holding meetings with all of the villages together, and they collectively decided to form a committee comprised of representatives from each village that works collaboratively to protect the forest. To instill a sense of ownership in the community all of the villagers were inaugurated as stakeholders of the forest. Together they devised rules on how their shared resource would be managed: No one is allowed to enter the forest without prior permission from the committee, all forest resources are to be shared equally among villages, and all forest-related problems are to be handled by the committee.

As decided by the village cashew committee, one member from each household is involved in the collection of the cashews (Photo | Aishwarya Mohanty/Mongabay)

References

• Jain, S., van der Meer, M., & van Woesik , F. (2022, December 8). Examples of management of the commons by communities in rural India. The Water Channel. https://thewaterchannel.tv/thewaterblog/examples-of-management-of-the-commons-by-communities-in-rural-india/
• Pradhan, N., & Tripathy, S. (2022, August 3). How 36 villages in Odisha came together to protect their forest. India Development Review. https://idronline.org/ground-up-stories/how-36-villages-in-odisha-came-together-to-protect-their-forest/