Who will steward our forests? Conservation and forests rights in India

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Abstract: In this talk I will explore the contestations over the notion of stewardship and the steward in India's forest law and regulation. India's forest laws are based on the paradigm of exclusionary conservation which aim to limit and police human interference in forest areas. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 sought to change this exclusionary paradigm by firmly recognizing the rights of forest-dwelling communities. Yet, forest laws continue to remain in conflict with each other and the task of reconciling these competing legal regimes is left to the local bureaucracy. Through extensive fieldwork with the local bureaucracy in the Eastern state of Odisha, India I bring to the fore of how legal interpretation and implementation of forest laws rests on this question of who is the legitimate steward of the forests and how a restricted notion of who is a steward in law and legal interpretation becomes a means to dispossess forest dwelling communities who do not fit this tight frame. 

About the Author

Arpitha is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar for the Climate Litigation Accelerator at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law. Arpitha Kodiveri received her Doctoral degree in law from the European University Institute as a Hans Kelsen Fellow. Her research examines land conflicts and legal mobilization by forest-dwelling communities in India. She has previously practiced as an environmental lawyer in India supporting forest-dwelling communities.She has an LLM from UC Berkeley as a Fulbright Nehru Fellow and a BSL LLB from ILS Law College, Pune.