The protected forest was primarily a jhum (shifting cultivation) field where jhuming was heavily practiced. Because of large landholding per capita and less population, the jhum cycle (returning to the same field for cultivation) was very long (20-25 years). The long jhum cycle ensured a high regeneration of the forest.
The village had a traditional community reserved forest which was seen as a common property resource reserved for people to use in emergencies. But sustainable management aspects or conservation principles were not employed while extracting the resources. There were certain regulations but these were practically never enforced or implemented.
Due to these social and other pressures, the local forests and community reserves were severely depleted in most of the accessible areas, except deep ravines and other difficult areas. It is in this context that NERCORMP-IFAD* came to this village in 2004.
*North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project for Upland Areas (NERCORMP) is a Joint Project of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of India, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, North East Council, Shillong, Meghalaya.
Arrival of NERCORMP-IFAD to the village in 2004.
NERCORMP-IFAD constituted a natural resource management group (NaRMG) from within the community.
The NaRMGs in consultation with the traditional village authority declared some forests as reserve area and designated it as community conserved area (CCA).
The NaRMG and the traditional village authority constituted from amongst their members a reserve forest management committee (RFMC), which is empowered to settle forest-related disputes.
The rules and regulations were passed in the meeting on the 10th of September 2004 along with the penalties and fines for violations.