ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ecological aspects of community-based conservation (CBC) and link them to functioning of forest institutions in a setting that is characterised by high ecosystem dependence, and secure tenure rights but rapidly changing market and demographic contexts. CBC emerged as a response to unequal access to resources imposed by centralised state control. The chapter examines the functioning of the VP as an institution in terms of its effectiveness in rule creation, rule enforcement and conflict resolution, in two villages in the middle Himalayas. It also explores the van panchayats, a decentralised system of governance, in which the ownership of the forest land stays with the government but day-to-day management is primarily undertaken by local people. The chapter shows the ecological outcomes of forest management using biological indicators that reflect forest structure and function. It draws links between socio-institutional variables that define the VP system and the observed ecological outcomes of management.
