Visual Voices: Bridging Nature and Society through Artistic Story Telling
Time: 17th November 2:30pm - 5:00pm
Conservation of nature and biodiversity has become a crucial element for the modern-day environment. In the past few decades, the concept of conservation has evolved significantly.. In recent times, the idea of conservation has become more holistic and participatory. However, it still largely remains confined to researchers and conservation activists. Amid growing ecological concerns it is now more important than ever to raise awareness about the significance of nature conservation and make conservation practices truly inclusive and community-driven.
Here art can be a powerful medium to spread knowledge and raise awareness about biodiversity conservation and environmental issues, irrespective of socio-economic boundaries and more importantly, linguistic barriers. Communicating through art is not new, from the ancient Bhimbetka cave paintings to various tribal folk arts, the importance of nature and its conservation has long been communicated through artistic expression. This masterclass session aims to introduce young, enthusiastic conservation practitioners to art as a communication medium, enabling them to share their voices creatively and reach audiences who may not yet be aware of the importance of conservation. This session will convey how to observe nature through artistic expression, demonstrate environmental issues visually and fascinating story telling through art. Additionally, participants will learn to design unique and affordable art products— such as posters, postcards, badges and magnets etc. — that can easily reach remote parts of wider world and promote awareness for nature conservation.
Workshop on Community Stewardship Toolkit : A Way Forward for Community Forest Resource Management Planning (CFRMP)
Date: 17th November
Time: 2:30pm to 5pm
Context
Tribal and forest-dwelling communities across India have been generational stewards of ecologically and culturally diverse landscapes. Their traditional systems of forest care, guided by deep ecological knowledge and moral economies of restraint, have sustained biodiversity and ecosystem functions for centuries. Yet, colonial and postcolonial forest governance frameworks—rooted in custodial and scientific management—largely excluded and invisibilized their role, treating communities as beneficiaries rather than decision-makers.
The Forest Rights Act (2006) has opened a critical window to reverse this exclusion by recognizing Community Forest Rights (CFRs) and empowering Gram Sabhas to govern and manage their community forest resources. The next frontier in operationalizing this right lies in the preparation and implementation of Community Forest Resource Management Plans (CFRMPs)—plans that translate rights into day-to-day forest governance.
While the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has clarified that CFRMPs are to be prepared by Gram Sabhas themselves, in practice, these plans risk being shaped by NGO or departmental templates that replicate earlier top-down models, largely followed during JFM microplanning process. As the Dharti Aaba–Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DA-JGUA) pushes forward decentralized CFR management support, it becomes vital to ensure that CFRMPs truly reflect community authorship, place-based knowledge, and lived stewardship practices rather than external prescriptions.
The Community Stewardship Toolkit – a set of participatory mapping and planning tools- offers a powerful lens and methodology to guide this transition. It has been developed and tested by Landstack with partners such as FES, PRADAN, Gram Vikas, RNBA and CIFOR, across tribal dominant central Indian and NER geographies over last two years,
This framework recognizes Care, Knowledge, and Agency as the three interrelated dimensions of community-led forest management. It provides participatory tools—ranging from mapping to stewardship assessment—that help surface local ecological knowledge, community (esp gendered) care labour, and customary governance practices, turning them into the foundation for forest management planning.
Objectives of the Workshop
The workshop aims to:
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Discuss the transformative potential of CFRMPs in ushering in an era of community-centric, rights-based forest governance.
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Explore how the Community Stewardship Framework can be used as a guiding tool to co-create truly community-led CFRMPs that are rooted in local realities and traditional ecological knowledge.
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Identify key principles and good practices to ensure Gram Sabha ownership, equitable participation (including women, youth, and pastoralists), and convergence with existing schemes (e.g., MGNREGS, CAMPA, DA-JGUA).
Workshop Flow
1. Context Setting — Landstack (20 minutes) (till 10.30)
Introduces the rationale for CFRMPs and the need for a stewardship-based approach to community-centric planning. Brief overview of MoTA guidance and DA-JGUA opportunities.
2. Panel Discussion: CFRMP – Opportunities and Challenges (45 mins) (till 11.15)
Panelists: Vasundhara, FES, PRADAN, Seva Mandir
Discussion themes: authorship and ownership of CFRMPs, inclusion, role of facilitators, integrating place-based knowledge, convergence and resourcing.
Tea break -------------------------------------- (30 mins) (till 11.45)
3. Masterclass: Community Stewardship Framework and its Application in CFRMP (45 mins) (till 12.30)
Facilitated by Landstack – introduction to the Care–Knowledge–Agency model and participatory stewardship assessment tools that can anchor CFRMP preparation.
4. Way forward for community-centric CFRMP (45 mins) ( till 1:15)
Same panelists reflect on how stewardship-based approaches can be embedded within ongoing CFRMP facilitation processes.
5. Closing remarks and Participant feedback (15 min)
Summary of key takeaways
"Commoning"of Commons in Practice
Master Classes:
17th November 2025 (10am to 1:30pm)
Via sharing of field experiences, innovations, challenges, and lessons for effective commons governance across 3 parallel masterclasses these sessions will equip practitioners with adaptable principles, frameworks, and action steps for effective commons governance.
Workshop:
17th November 2025 (10am to 5pm)
The workshop will explore strategies that strengthen community governance of commons and surface lessons that can inform policy and practice at larger scales.
Discover the foundational discussions that will set the stage for the main conference. This page details the lineup of pre and post conference events, including deep-dive workshops, expert-led masterclasses, and field-visits. These sessions are designed to explore critical themes in-depth, providing attendees with valuable insights, practical skills, and unique networking opportunities to enrich their overall conference experience.
These focused events offer unparalleled access to experts and niche topics, ensuring you gain specialized knowledge and build meaningful connections from the very beginning of your conference journey.