Forest ecosystem as a natural resource base, provides benefits that support lifeline of human being as well as many. Forests provide a wide range of timber & non-timber produces including fuelwood, fodder, food, medicines etc. which act as natural resource inputs for converting them into economic outputs and thus contribute towards the livelihood of the people. The quality of forest and the pattern of forest management will determine its productivity and flow of natural forest products for generating livelihood options for the people. The productivity and sustainable harvesting pattern will determine the flow of forest resources available for the livelihood of the community who are dependent on forest. Thus there is direct link between the quality of forest resource base available and the sustainability of livelihood of the community for their survival provided the forest is managed on sustainable basis. While the link between the forest resource base and livelihood of the people cannot be denied, many more factors which are responsible for sustainable forest management, will determine the sustainability of livelihood of the people.

The increasing depletion of India's forest resources has brought into sharp focus the inherent inadequacy of traditional state owned and run systems of forest management in sustaining the forest resource base.

The National Forest Policy 1988 of India, envisages people’s involvement in the development and protection of the forests to meet the growing demands of fodder, firewood and timber. The policy states “creating a massive people’s movement with the involvement of women, for achieving these objectives and to minimize pressure on existing forests”. Based on the above policy, the Joint Forest Management Programme (JFM) has been implemented to strengthen community institutions as well as the institutions of the Forest Department (FD) of the state, for sustainable forest management. Joint Forest Management (JFM) is a concept of developing partnerships between fringe forest user groups and the Forest Department on the basis of mutual trust and jointly defined roles and responsibilities with regard to forest protection and development. 

Sustainable forest management integrates two main interdependent goals –‘ well being of the forest’ and ‘well being of the people’. Sustainability rests on the principle that we must meet the needs (livelihood as basic need) of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Therefore, sustainability of both natural and human resources is of prime importance. Sustainability of human resources includes consideration of social capital and responsibilities for management of resources. Sustainability of land and natural resources involves maintaining or enhancing this vital resource base for the long term.

Understanding sustainability needs a systems perspective. The system is envisioned in its broadest sense, from the individual member of Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC), to the social and ecosystem. An emphasis on the system allows a larger and more thorough view of the consequences of forest management practices on both human communities and the environment. A systems approach gives us the tools to explore the interconnections between Silviculture practices and other aspects of our environment.

Concept of livelihood

Livelihood of humans depends on the products of economic processes such as agriculture, horticulture, forestry, industry etc that converts environmental inputs, biomass and minerals into economic output. Reduction in poverty and the support for livelihood of human depend upon not only the economic input but the values, social norms, and institutional arrangements that govern the products of economic processes such as agriculture, industry, processing and value addition of natural resources that converts environmental inputs into economic outputs and equitable distribution.
There are number of ways in which environmental features of natural resource base constitute or enable flows into human economic system. Economics is merely one aspect of a whole ecological and social fabric ( Lawrence )

What is Sustainable livelihood

The term 'sustainable livelihood' was first used as a development concept in the early 1990s. Sustainable Livelihood has been defined as follows:
'A livelihood comprises people, their capabilities and their means of living, including food, income and assets. Tangible assets are resources and stores, and intangible assets are claims and access.
A livelihood is environmentally sustainable when it maintains or enhances the local and global assets in which livelihoods depend, and has net beneficial effects on other livelihoods. A livelihood is socially sustainable which can cope with and recover from stress and shocks, and provide for future generations.' (Chambers and Conway, 1991).

What is the Livelihood Development (LHD) Plan

Community LHD plan is nothing but an outline of how and what community will make use of their project input in managing the natural resource base and develop livelihood on sustainable basis.

Sustainability is defined in a broad manner and implies:

• The ability to cope with and recover from shocks and stresses;
• Economic efficiency, or the use of minimal inputs to generate a given amount of outputs;
• Ecological integrity, ensuring that livelihood activities do not irreversibly degrade natural resources within a given ecosystem; and
• Social equity, which suggests that promotion of livelihood opportunities for one group, should not foreclose options for other groups, either now or in the future.

The community will make their LHD plan as it is related to their own concerns. The line departments and the panchayat functionaries may lend a hand by helping them evolve a common vision, a shared goal, and a common list of project activities.

Enhancement of Sustainable Livelihoods
Income of the people can be augmented through promoting value addition in crop, livestock, and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) produced and support off-farm economic activities of vulnerable and landless households. Livelihood opportunities can be enhanced through improved agriculture, horticulture, forestry and other activities. Based on local potential and demand, high value crops, medicinal plants will be introduced and provision for its grading, processing, storage, branding, packaging and marketing will also be facilitated.
On-farm, off-farm, and on-off-farm rural employment is essential to combat rural poverty and to secure adequate livelihood within the households of smallholders and land-less agricultural labourers. The livelihood strategy a household pursues is decided by its possession of human capabilities, access to tangible and intangible assets, and the existence of economic activities. It has become imperative to ensure sustainable livelihoods at the local level for peace, stability and poverty alleviation.
The objective of Common Interest Groups (CIGs) aim to improve the livelihood of poor women, landless and most vulnerable by financing productive demand driven investments as livelihood fund for economic activities. The identification of the poor women, landless are mobilized into groups will be done through a participatory process using wealth ranking by the Gram Sabha or the respective ward. (source: www.ifpri.org)

Strategy for Implementation of Livelihood Development (LHD) Plan

A sequential planning is needed for implementation of the LHD plan where the institutional, ecological and economic sub systems are to be addressed in a holistic manner. It is utmost important to understand the interdependence and interrelatedness of these three sub systems and their complex web of relationships. It is also important to develop a strategy whereby the institutions are built first whereby the forest department and the JFMCs will set a common goal and agreed plan of action for conservation of the forest resources through bi lateral matching institutions followed by the ecological interventions and then the economic interventions for developing livelihood options based on the enhanced natural resource base (Roy 1992).

The strategy should be based on the following steps:

1. Creating an Enabling Environment through Capacity Building for Forest Department (FD) and JFMCs followed by enabling policy and strengthening institutions. There should be


1. Awareness among the JFMCs for measuring consequences due degradation of natural resource base,
2. Capacity building of the JFMCs for conflict resolution,
3. Common goal setting for Natural Resource Management (NRM) among the line departments and community
4. Ensuring cohesiveness within the JFMC
5. Developing institutional mechanism for implementation of the plan of actions through clearly defined norms for action and reward for the non conformity and conformity of the plan of actions.


2. Involvement of the community in the planning process for enhancing productivity of the forest to have more bio mass and judicious harvesting through Sustainable Forest Management (SFM)
3. Designing sustainable livelihood practices for the community based on enhanced bio mass Unlike Income Generation Activities, for Sustainable Livelihood the planning has to be done keeping in mind maintaining the balance of forest eco system.
4. The activities which are to be selected for Sustainable Livelihood Development are to be finalized through feasibility analysis considering the following components-


1. Ecological safety – It should not have any adverse impact on the ecology and disturb the ecological balance.
2. Economic viability – The gross input should be less than the gross output and thus it should generate a net profit. 
3. Technical feasibility – The technology required for the activity should not be very complicated. The local people should have the capacity to implement it as well as take care of their operation and maintenance at local level.   
4. Social acceptability - Finally, the activity which would be selected should be in coherence with the social and cultural practices of the people.

Implementation factors

The successful implementation of the LHD plan depends on the following pre requisite factors

1. Developing Institutional capacity of the JFM Committees (JFMC) through identification and capacity building of the Common Enterprise Groups (CEGs) for certain specific activities like sal leaf plate making, vermin compost making etc. CEGs would be formed based on the existing CIGs in the village. While CIGs could be working at the individual level, the CEGs will be working on the group mode with clearly defined roles and responsibilities among the CEG members as well as the mechanism for benefit sharing. There could be more than one CEG under one JFMC based on the interest of the people, market demand, and feasibility.


2. While Common Enterprise Groups (CEGs) are identified for specific business one has to be cautious on functioning of JFMC as a whole where there could be number of members in the JFMC who are not member of the CEG. It is important to seek cooperation from the non CEG members and develop a linkage and stake among the CEG and non CEG with overall functioning of the JFMC.  To ensure how JFMC members will be benefited directly or indirectly out of the activities of CEG.


3. Clarity on individual benefit vs. group benefit by creating the linkages among the JFMC and the CEGs.


4. Developing competency of CEG members as manager of forest and para silviculturist to enhance productivity of the forest as well as the sustainable rate of extraction of the produces.


5. Networking and developing linkages with market and other sectors to get competitive price in the open market and increasing the collective bargaining capacity.


6. Instilling voluntarism among the CEG members for integrated NRM in the area to meet their own survival need as well as to create a sustainable resource base for the sustainable flow of natural resources for their livelihood.


7. Ensuring Ecological aspects of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM).
   
   Creating a balance to achieve the goal of Sustainability of the forest on long term basis and accrue immediate benefit without disturbing the sustainability issues.
   
   Developing capacity of the community members to enable them to identify their own resource base, calculate rate of productivity and thereby calculating the rate of harvesting as partner with the forest department, prepare a microplan for silvicultural management, participatory monitoring and evaluation.


8. Developing Market networks, Market Information System, brand management to ensure the marketing of the products and cost effectiveness.