In the Anthropocene age, scientists, policymakers and practitioners are increasingly paying attention to sustainable human future. At the same time, the question of equity requires focused attention for positive sustainable future in the context of rising inequalities and inequities. This includes the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development, which recognized equity at the core of sustainable development, not only reducing inequalities as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but also recognizing its centrality to several other goals.
Various international commitments have been promoting protected area (PA) network as a major strategy to halt biodiversity loss but failed. Besides, PAs, as exclusionary model, directly affected the land tenure and forest rights of local communities, and thereby increased inequity and diminished human wellbeing and biodiversity, questioning sustainable conservation. The Aichi Target 11 under Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) stated that PAs should be ‘effectively and equitably managed’ that recognise and respect the rights of local communities and costs and benefits are fairly shared. This paper attempts to understand how far various dimensions of equity can be achievable in practice despite forest governance legislation favouring participation of politically weak local communities. For this, implementation process of India’s recent historic legislation, the Forest Rights Act 2006 (FRA 2006) that legalised the tenure rights of local communities and provided access to resources for material as well as non-material benefits, has been critically examined. This legislation addressed the equity dimensions and benefit sharing while governing PAs. We also attempted to provide insights about the constraints in realizing the equity dimensions during implementation of forest governance reform in developing countries including India. It is argued that it is imperative to addressthe issue of equity to reduce conflicts and enhance legitimacy and stewardship for environmental sustainability.
