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Smart Forests: India Case Study

India land rights mapping

The Smart Forests project includes four case studies in Chile , Indonesia , the Netherlands , and India , co-created with local communities through field schools and workshops.

In India, we examined participatory mapping technologies. We collaborated with Van Gujjar communities who live on the margins of their traditional forest lands, after having been forcibly removed from the Rajaji National Park by the Indian state between 2010-2014.

This case study demonstrates how smart forest technologies can reshape power dynamics between the state and the community in differing ways. Here, smart forest technologies are paradoxically used by the state both as surveillance tools and by the community to map lands and claim customary rights. This case study also suggests how smart forest technologies might reshape gender and generational dynamics within communities, and create new modes of seeing and sensing forest worlds.

The India segment of the Smart Forests film follows how Van Gujjar communities use digital and analogue technologies to create forest rights claims and map their territories.

You can also explore more resources about the India case study on the Map.

India

Smart Forests Film: India Segment

Smart Forests_V_India_screenshot

Van Gujjar women presenting the map during a workshop. Screenshot from the Smart Forests film.


The Smart Forests film has been created by Mind the Film, working together with on-site filmmakers, field school participants, and the Smart Forests research group. Full credits are available in the film.