Conversation with Prof Ashwini Chhatre to understand the value chains in a forest based economy - the different stakeholders, their roles and importance, challenges and opportunities.

ISB and CRB partnership program for securing community tenure in India focusing on  gender sustainability 

Key Highlights of the session

• A stakeholder economy that promotes  legal representation and shared value of communities is fundamental for a responsible forest based economy.
• The economic model should be based on innovation (technology solutions) and collaboration with government, business and communities for commodities that provide well informed alternatives for consumers.
• State agencies dealing with tribal, forest and rural communities facilitate construction of value chains whereby communities’ benefit from forest management and support responsible consumerism.
• A diversified network of agencies at regional, state and national level , both public and private can incentivise investments and enable knowledge sharing to build a global market for minor forest produce.
• Strengthening and leveraging multi-sectoral connections spanning across different sectors is key to expanding and upscaling.
• Securing trust for livelihood and resource security between producers and businesses and further with the consumers is possible through digital technology, responsible market linkages and scientific resource management.

Outcomes

·        Implementing Tenure security will enable communities to play a central role as primary stakeholders of the forest based economy and also create a strong sense of environmental stewardship in economic development.

·        Several partnership models between the State and business groups working with communities limited to specific landscapes across the country need to be better documented, assessed, disseminated and upscaled.

·        The scale of demand and supply requires resource mapping and grassroot alliance between aggregators that are trained and enabled with adequate technology.

·        Policies need to streamline and incentivize investments in minor forest produce catering the common as well as localized SDGs for the people and forests.

·        Academia and institutional support from organizations like BIPP-ISB and CRB can forge and catalyze the partnerships through scientific and business research required to build the skeleton of the potential value chains and governance systems discussed in the session.

This session was hosted as part of the India and Sustainability Standards Conference 2020