ABSTRACT
The third chapter, ‘Justice and the Jungle: Contextualizing the Central Capabilities in Singalila and Senchal Landscapes’, locates three capabilities in Martha Nussbaum’s list in Singalila’s Srikhola and Senchal’s Rampuria. These include ‘control over material and political environment’ capability, ‘practical reasoning’ capability and ‘affiliation’ capability. The chapter assesses thresholds for these three capabilities and argues for their environmentally just application in stressful conservation contexts. The chapter seeks to substantiate the residents’ own understanding of forests and also address the challenges of collective well-being that Nussbaum’s framework of justice poses. It gauges justice and disparity by shifting focus from people and individuals to structures and institutions in the region.
