ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the diverse community initiatives in forest conservation and management in NE India with particular reference to the experiences and lessons learned from the interventions of the IFAD-supported NERCORMP project in rejuvenating the community initiatives in forest conservation and management. The neighbouring non-project villages have also started restoring or rejuvenating their community or village-reserved forests. The NaRMGs from the project villages and the traditional institutions from non-project villages decided to protect selected stretches of the river and river-bank forests as community-conserved areas. The villages subsequently influenced the other non-project villages in creating similar community-conserved forests in neighbouring areas to improve the habitat for the migrating elephant population and thereby reduce the human-animal conflicts in many of these villages. The partner NGOs who had worked with NERCORMP for project implementations are today champions of environmental education, community forest management, and community biodiversity conservation.
