How green is my forest? There's an app to tell you | Land Portal
Author(s): 
Rina Chandran
Language of the news reported: 
English

With a smartphone or tablet, the app can be used to track the status of a community rights claim in India


BANGKOK, Oct 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A web-based application that monitors the impact of successful forest-rights claims can help rural communities manage resources better and improve their livelihoods, according to analysts.


The app was developed by the Indian School of Business (ISB) to track community rights in India, where the 2006 Forest Rights Act aimed to improve the lives of rural people by recognising their entitlement to inhabit and live off forests.


With a smartphone or tablet, the app can be used to track the status of a community rights claim.


After the claim is approved, community members can use it to collect data on tree cover, burned areas and other changes in the forest and analyse it, said Arvind Khare at Washington D.C.-based advocacy Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI).


"Even in areas that have made great progress in awarding rights, it is very hard to track the socio-ecological impact of the rights on the community," said Khare, a senior director at RRI, which is testing the app in India.


"Recording the data and analysing it can tell you which resources need better management, so that these are not used haphazardly, but in a manner that benefits them most," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.


For example, community members can record data on forest products they use such as leaves, flowers, wood and sap, making it easier to ensure that they are not over-exploited, he said.


While indigenous and local communities own more than half the world's land under customary rights, they have secure legal rights to only 10 percent, according to RRI.


Governments maintain legal and administrative authority over more than two-thirds of global forest area, giving limited access for local communities.


In India, under the 2006 law, at least 150 million people could have their rights recognised to about 40 million hectares (154,400 sq miles) of forest land.


But rights to only 3 percent of land have been granted, with states largely rejecting community claims, campaigners say.


While the app is being tested in India, Khare said it can also be used in countries including Peru, Mali, Liberia and Indonesia, where RRI supports rural communities in scaling up forest rights claims.


Data can be entered offline on the app, and then uploaded to the server when the device is connected to the internet. Data is stored in the cloud and accessible to anyone, said Ashwini Chhatre, an associate professor at ISB.


"All this while local communities have been fighting simply for the right to live in the forest and use its resources. Now, they can use data to truly benefit from it," he said.


Photo credit:REUTERS/Danish Ismail

Copyright © Source (mentioned above). All rights reserved. The Land Portal distributes materials without the copyright owner’s permission based on the “fair use” doctrine of copyright, meaning that we post news articles for non-commercial, informative purposes. If you are the owner of the article or report and would like it to be removed, please contact us at hello@landportal.info and we will remove the posting immediately.

Various news items related to land governance are posted on the Land Portal every day by the Land Portal users, from various sources, such as news organizations and other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. The copyright lies with the source of the article; the Land Portal Foundation does not have the legal right to edit or correct the article, nor does the Foundation endorse its content. To make corrections or ask for permission to republish or other authorized use of this material, please contact the copyright holder.

Share this page