Question

Which of the following conservation strategies do not directly involve community participation?
A)Joint forest management
B)Chipko movement
C)Beej Bachao Andolan
D)Demarcation of Wildlife Sanctuary
E)None of these

Answer 1

Hint: Like the global commons, our environment is no one man’s property and joint responsibility and action is required to maintain it. All over the world grassroot movement and social movements have taken up the cause of protecting the environment.

Complete answer: Community participation means people belonging to a group or a community come together to solve their own problem. Community participation in natural resource management makes conservation practices efficient as well as helps the people of the community overcome disease, hunger and poverty. Let us look at the options given to us:
Joint forest management is practice under which the people of the forest and the forest department of the government work together to manage the resources of the forest. This partnership has been mentioned in the National forest policy of 1988 and requires communities to organize forest protection committees, village forest committees, village forest conservation and development societies in return of which they can use some forest products.

Chipko movement started in 1973 and involved the mobilization of people of Uttarakhand to protect their trees, spread ecological awareness as well as address the issues of the people of the hills. Beej Bachao Andolan started in 1980 in Tehri District to encourage the farmers to grow traditional crops, adopt traditional and indiegnous farming practices and discontinue cash crops. The task of demarcation of wildlife sanctuary is in the hands of the government. Under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, the state government or central government decides an area to be fit to be declared national park or wildlife sanctuary. Biosphere reserves are declared under UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve program.

Therefore option (D) is correct.

Note: Save Silent Valley movement in Kerala, Jungle Bachao movement in Bihar, Appiko movement in Karnataka, Narmada Bachao Andolan in Gujarat are some of the environmental movements in India. The bishnois of Rajasthan are famous for their environmental activism and community participation in protecting the forest.