Does ‘‘Participation’’ in Common Pool Resource Management Help the Poor? A Social Cost–Benefit Analysis of Joint Forest Management in Jharkhand, India

— Joint Forest Management (JFM) has succeeded in halting forest degradation in India, but its poverty reduction objective has not fully been evaluated previously. This paper compares JFM forests and government-managed forests to assess their respective net social benefits to different groups of local villagers. It shows that the JFM regime reflects the social preference of the rural nonpoor, and that the poor are net losers over a 40-year time horizon. Future plans for JFM need to include suitable compensatory mechanisms to reduce the poverty of the poorest within a village. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.