Status differences in collective action and forest benefits: evidence from joint forest management in India

Promita Mukherjee (), Biswajit Ray () and Rabindra N. Bhattacharya ()
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Promita Mukherjee: University of Calcutta
Biswajit Ray: University of Calcutta
Rabindra N. Bhattacharya: Jadavpur University

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2017, vol. 19, issue 5, No 13, 1854 pages

Abstract: Abstract Does status matter in community-based forest management? If so, are the high-status households more benefited than the low-status households? What drives status differences, if any, in the appropriation of forest resources? To address these questions, we draw on a theory of status and resource use that defines one’s status as one’s relative position in a group on the basis of power, prestige, honor and deference. Following this perspective, we surveyed the heads of 341 forest-based rural households in India from 2009 to 2010. We find that collective actions themselves are status-driven and the high-status households are more interested and involved in status-maintaining collective actions such as decision-making and implementation, while the low-status households perform general tasks like forest patrol. Moreover, the high-status households derive benefits from local forest significantly more than the low-status households. Further, decomposition analysis shows that a household’s prestige and honor measured by its access to social resources, problem faced and useful contacts explain about 56 % of the status gap in forest benefits, while socioeconomic characteristics explain only 16 % of the gap. Thus, due emphasis on household status from a broader socioeconomic perspective is required to reduce inequality in participation and the distribution of forest benefits in co-management.

Keywords: Joint forest management; Socioeconomic status; Collective action; Forest benefits; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-016-9830-7

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