People and Forest in North East India

Very few parts of the planet earth are as endowed with plant and wildlife resources as is the north east of India in general. According to the State of Forest Report 2009, the north-eastern region has a forest cover of 1, 73,219 sq km, which constitutes 66.07% of its geographical area (7.98%). Nearly a fourth of India‘s forest cover lies in this part of India.
People of this region, mainly the tribal, are dependent on forest resources for their sustenance. They have been exercising their customary rights over land and forests since time immemorial.
Successive governments in India- colonial and post colonial- tried to bring forest lands under their control by the introduction of forest laws and in this effort curtailed rights of the people. There has been a global awakening on the rights of indigenous people, mainly the tribal.
The echo of such awakening was also felt in India. The Forest Rights Act of 2006 thus sought to correct ‘historical injustice‘ done to them.
This book looks into various issues,such as tribal dependence on forest resources; development of forest policy and forest laws and their effects on tribal communities; tribal customary forest rights; and recent attempts to get forest rights; which are directly related to forest-dwelling communities in north east India.