RRG led a series of state and national level workshops for the dissemination of a recently completed sector report” India: Unlocking Opportunities for Forest Dependent People” by the World Bank and the Government of India.

A team of national and international experts carried out legal” socio- economic” forest management” and market supply and demand studies to evaluate the sector's potential to unlock opportunities for India's forest dependent poor” with focused studies of Jharkhand” Madhya Pradesh and Assam. As part of the national dissemination strategy” workshops are being held at the state and national level” completed in Himachal Pradesh (Shimla)” Andra Pradesh (Hyderabad)” and in Orissa (Bhubaneswar) in April with collaboration of the World Bank” state governments” Ministry of Environment and Forests” UK DFID and Teri Institute” and in June in Assam state (organized by KfW” Government” and the World Bank) and New Delhi.

Study authors and experts from around India presented cases of innovative interventions and findings of the legal analysis. RRG is presenting pertinent international experiences of forest policy reforms” decentralization” and community and local forest management and enterprise development. Augusta Molnar presented on Global Trends” Jintao Xu and Xuehong Wang on China's policy reforms and collective forestry” Pablo Pacheco” on Brazil and Bolivia's reforms and community experiences in the Amazon” and Juan Martinez” from the World Bank office in Mexico” will present indigenous and community enterprise and eco-management experiences in Central America and Mexico.

(Augusta Molnar)

Unlocking Opportunities (full report)