Dilip Gode, executive director of Vidarbha Nature Conservation Society (VNCS), has been working in the field of community development for the last 25 years. Supporter of Forest Rights Act (FRA), he is working with 52 villages in Gadchiroli, Gondia and Nagpur districts on skill-building and increasing livelihoods of forest-dependent communities and is protecting biodiversity on about 20,000 hectares of forest areas under FRA.
On the occasion of World Forestry Day which falls on March 21, Gode talks about increasing awareness among communities about the significance of forests and need for a participatory model in which locals are treated as stakeholders and not daily wage earners.

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