The Ecological Restoration Alliance invites you to its next webinar: From Rights to Restoration: The Paivihir Journey of Community Forest Rights. This time, community members from the Paivihir village near Melghat Tiger Reserve join us to narrate how they’re using their forest rights – granted under the Forest Rights Act – to revive their relationship with nature, restore & conserve the local dry deciduous forest ecosystem and create prosperity in their village.
You can register on this link, or by scanning the QR code on the poster below.
Date: July 1, 2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Venue: Zoom Meeting
Narration: This webinar will be partially conducted in Hindi, with follow up translations in English.
About the webinar:
Why is it important to grant forest rights to indigenous and local communities?
What role can these communities play in conservation and restoration? What does it take to earn community forest rights under India’s Forest Rights Act?
For over a decade, the Korku and Gavli communities of Melghat have been restoring deforested lands in Payvihir village near the Melghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. This webinar narrates their journey from one of struggle and seasonal migration to reclaiming community rights over their forest landscapes, and building prosperity within their village.
Join us as community members from Paivihir describe rediscovering their relationship with the forest, and getting the Forest Rights Act implemented on their lands.The talk is a first-hand account of how community-led forest governance is helping conserve and slowly restore the local dry deciduous forest. It also makes the case for how indigenous communities strengthen conservation and low impact livelihoods, and can revive lost cultural connections while managing their forests equitably.
About the Speakers:
Ramlal Kale is a member of the Gram Sabha of Paivihir. He has been a key community voice in Paivihir’s journey of implementing Community Forest Rights under the Forest Rights Act. He has contributed to mobilising community members, strengthening the role of the Gram Sabha, and supporting local decision-making around forest management.
Purnima Upadhyay is lawyer and the founder of KHOJ, a grassroots organization committed to empowering marginalized communities. She has played an important role in strengthening the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Her work focuses on building awareness around the Act, supporting indigenous and forest-dependent communities in the process of securing Community Forest Rights, and enabling Gram Sabhas to play a stronger role in forest governance.