India, May 9 -- The recent disruptions in LPG supply across several parts of India have exposed an uncomfortable reality: the country's everyday energy security rests on a fragile and highly centralised system. Small hotels, roadside eateries and households alike struggled as cooking gas became irregular or unavailable.

In this context, the idea of social forestry deserves renewed attention. Introduced in India during the 1970s and 1980s, social forestry was never just about planting trees. It was a broader vision of community self-reliance, encouraging villages and local institutions to grow fuelwood, fodder and timber on common lands, roadsides, canal banks and private fields. At its core was a simple but powerful principle: essential ...