<p>Mumbai: A new study by UNDP India stated that recognising and vesting rights under the <a href="https://tribal.nic.in/FRA.aspx">Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006</a>, can open pathways for tribal governance.</p><p>The study throws light on national and state-level innovations that have widened its reach, alongside observing that communities can lead the way in sustaining livelihoods, strengthening local democracies, and regenerating the landscapes we all depend on, given they have secure rights and are supported by enabling institutions.</p><p>The study has been authored by <a href="https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2025-08/securing_rights_enabling_futures_policy_lessons_from_forest_rights_act_and_future_pathways_undp.pdf">Kanchi Kohli and Shyama Kuriakose</a>.</p><p>“Tenurial rights of tribal communities are important to understand governance legacies, socio-legal conflicts of the present, and carve out collaborative solutions for the future. Engaging with forest rights is a continuing engagement that requires breaking through institutional and methodological silos. It requires an imagination that requires convergence through the local to global policy spectrum," said Kohli.</p>.Coca-Cola Foundation, UNDP join hands for plastic waste management in Asia.<p>The study goes beyond seeing FRA as just a rights-recognition law. It positions the Act as a governance tool -- a vehicle for tribal empowerment, ecological sustainability, and convergence with sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially in the post-rights phase.</p><p>It has been nearly 20 years since the FRA came into effect, but many tribal communities are still waiting to fully benefit from it. </p><p>While new mission-mode programmes such as DA-JGUA (Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiya) are underway, Kohli and Kuriakose's study calls for long-term institutional measures, systems, and mechanisms to enable inter-departmental collaboration for the exercise of rights. It also emphasises the need to meaningfully include Scheduled Tribe Forest Rights holders in all flagship programmes and schemes, particularly those related to conservation and livelihoods.</p><p>The study recommends additional measures required to connect Forest Rights and tenures with key issues such as gender equity, food and health security, environmental sustainability on one hand and poverty alleviation, tribal empowerment, and decentralised governance on the other.</p>
<p>Mumbai: A new study by UNDP India stated that recognising and vesting rights under the <a href="https://tribal.nic.in/FRA.aspx">Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006</a>, can open pathways for tribal governance.</p><p>The study throws light on national and state-level innovations that have widened its reach, alongside observing that communities can lead the way in sustaining livelihoods, strengthening local democracies, and regenerating the landscapes we all depend on, given they have secure rights and are supported by enabling institutions.</p><p>The study has been authored by <a href="https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2025-08/securing_rights_enabling_futures_policy_lessons_from_forest_rights_act_and_future_pathways_undp.pdf">Kanchi Kohli and Shyama Kuriakose</a>.</p><p>“Tenurial rights of tribal communities are important to understand governance legacies, socio-legal conflicts of the present, and carve out collaborative solutions for the future. Engaging with forest rights is a continuing engagement that requires breaking through institutional and methodological silos. It requires an imagination that requires convergence through the local to global policy spectrum," said Kohli.</p>.Coca-Cola Foundation, UNDP join hands for plastic waste management in Asia.<p>The study goes beyond seeing FRA as just a rights-recognition law. It positions the Act as a governance tool -- a vehicle for tribal empowerment, ecological sustainability, and convergence with sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially in the post-rights phase.</p><p>It has been nearly 20 years since the FRA came into effect, but many tribal communities are still waiting to fully benefit from it. </p><p>While new mission-mode programmes such as DA-JGUA (Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiya) are underway, Kohli and Kuriakose's study calls for long-term institutional measures, systems, and mechanisms to enable inter-departmental collaboration for the exercise of rights. It also emphasises the need to meaningfully include Scheduled Tribe Forest Rights holders in all flagship programmes and schemes, particularly those related to conservation and livelihoods.</p><p>The study recommends additional measures required to connect Forest Rights and tenures with key issues such as gender equity, food and health security, environmental sustainability on one hand and poverty alleviation, tribal empowerment, and decentralised governance on the other.</p>