The regulatory community decentralisation and the environment in the Van Panchayats (Forest Councils) of Kumaon, India

As a new strategy to conserve resources, decentralisation of political authority has displaced earlier coercive conservation policies in many countries. More than 60 countries claim to have decentralised forest control. In these countries, communities are supposed to be involved in joint strategies to conserve forests. The story is similar for other resources such as wildlife, water, and watersheds. Decentralisation is becoming ubiquitous even for provision of services, development programmes, health and education. This is not surprising. Decentralisation aims to achieve one of the central aspirations of equitable political governance: humans should have a say in their own affairs. Given the ubiquity of decentralisation initiatives, two questions require critical attention: (1) What accounts for decentralisation of political authority toward local decision makers? Voluntary relinquishing of power seems to fly in the face of expected state behavior. (2) Do the actual effects of decentralisation policies match claims that decentralisation is better on grounds of efficiency, equity, or political empowerment?