In this article, we explore how “commoning” plays a pivotal role in the collaborative and democratic management of forests to promote sustainable rural livelihoods. Commoning entails the everyday practices and social relations that enable people to come together, share, and act collectively. While existing literature offers insights into the institutional designs that underpin long-term collaborative management systems, less is known about the process of commoning. We seek to address this gap by asking, what social practices and relational arrangements contribute to the commoning of forests? And, how do these social practices and relational arrangements influence the creation of governance mechanisms that support forest livelihoods? To tackle these questions, we analyze the case studies of forest collectives called federations in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, India. Through our case studies, we demonstrate how social relationships facilitate key processes of experimentation, adaptation, autonomy, and inclusiveness. These processes enable collectives to explore innovative and unconventional networks to navigate uncertainties. Our findings reveal that by leveraging their social relations, communities enhance their autonomy while reducing their reliance on the traditional colonialist and capitalist practices of the state and the market. In doing so, they forge a path towards sustainable rural livelihoods grounded in collective empowerment and democratic decision-making.

中文翻译：

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促进森林共享以促进农村生计：印度维达尔巴 gram sabha 联合会的案例


在本文中，我们探讨“共享”如何在森林的协作和民主管理中发挥关键作用，以促进可持续的农村生计。共同性意味着日常实践和社会关系，使人们能够聚集在一起、分享和集体行动。虽然现有文献提供了对支撑长期协作管理系统的制度设计的见解，但人们对共享过程知之甚少。我们试图通过以下问题来解决这一差距：哪些社会实践和关系安排有助于森林的共享？并且，这些社会实践和关系安排如何影响支持森林生计的治理机制的创建？为了解决这些问题，我们分析了印度马哈拉施特拉邦维达尔巴地区称为联合会的森林集体的案例研究。通过案例研究，我们展示了社会关系如何促进实验、适应、自主和包容的关键过程。这些过程使集体能够探索创新和非常规网络以应对不确定性。我们的研究结果表明，通过利用社会关系，社区增强了自治权，同时减少了对国家和市场的传统殖民主义和资本主义做法的依赖。在此过程中，他们开辟了一条以集体赋权和民主决策为基础的可持续农村生计之路。