Success in Community-based Conservation
The presence of external actors, and the exchange of conservation for ‘development’ enabled hunting bans to be initiated and sustained in traditional hunting communities at Khonoma and Pangti. Even as conservation was institutionalized within the community, it continued to be dynamic, with different power structures staking ownership over the benefits of conservation.
The presence of external actors, and the exchange of conservation for ‘development’ enabled hunting bans to be initiated and sustained in traditional hunting communities at Khonoma and Pangti. Even as conservation was institutionalized within the community, it continued to be dynamic, with different power structures staking ownership over the benefits of conservation.
Overhunting leading to empty forests devoid of wildlife is a serious conservation issue, especially in the forests of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot in northeastern India. The presence of autonomous and decentralized governance systems offers scope for reducing wildlife decline through community-based conservation in the region. Community-based conservation is seen as an effective way of achieving wildlife conservation by involving local communities, and is increasingly adopted by governments and NGOs. This study focuses upon the processes of cooperation, negotiation and conflict resolution between institutions that initiate and participate in sustaining community-based conservation initiatives in Nagaland. Examples of two community-driven conservation initiatives at Khonoma, Kohima district and Pangti, Wokha district identify the presence of external actors, and the exchange of conservation for ‘development’ that enabled wildlife conservation (specifically hunting bans) to be initiated and sustained in traditional hunting communities. Finally, when conservation processes are institutionalized within the community, they continue to be dynamic and negotiable, with different groups staking ownership over the process in the backdrop of local power dynamics.
This project was funded by a small projects grant from the Inlaks Foundation
This project was funded by a small projects grant from the Inlaks Foundation
Voluntary Resettlement out of Indian Protected Areas
Abstract: Exclusion of people from wilderness to minimize anthropogenic threats to wildlife forms the historical basis for the establishment of some protected areas. Conservation efforts to resettle people from protected areas remain controversial as they often fail to address people's expectations and rebuild lives, especially in Africa and South Asia. Resettlement projects are especially challenging for the Indian government, with an estimated 4.3 million people sharing spaces with megafauna such as tigers and elephants within protected areas. Current Indian government policies focus on cash-based or a combined cash-land compensation package for families voluntarily relocating. We surveyed 592 households from four Indian protected areas and evaluated people's decisions to move relative to government policy provisions. Many (89%) households wanted to move for better education, healthcare, roads, agriculture, less human-wildlife conflict, and the government-aid package. Wage-labor dependent households chose to move due to high human-wildlife conflict, poorer small landholders for better agricultural opportunities, and larger households to avail government package benefits. Current government policies place heavy emphasis on agriculture-based livelihoods, poorly support other developmental needs or provide for alternative livelihoods. We call for greater transparency and participation of beneficiaries in the process, policy expansion to diversify skills and vocational training, accompanied by independent long-term monitoring post-resettlement.
You can read the paper here: Re-Building Communities: Voluntary Resettlement From Protected Areas in India
You can read the paper here: Re-Building Communities: Voluntary Resettlement From Protected Areas in India
Mitigation Use against Human-widlife Conflict around Indian Protected Areas
Buffer areas surrounding India's PAs experience elevated levels of crop, property and livestock loss owing to high human-wildlife interactions. Upto 71% families report losing crops to wild herbivores such as elephants, wild pigs and nilgai. Whereas 17% report livestock depredation by carnivores such as leopards and tigers. How do these rural families prevent such losses? Under what conditions can they employ mitigation measures designed to minimize these losses? Analyzing data from > 5000 families living around 11 protected areas, we find:
1. Families report losing an average of almost INR 13,000 to wild herbivores, and INR 4400 to carnivores,
2. Up to 32 wildlife species are reported responsible for damage across western, central, and southern Indian parks,
3. > 10 different mitigation measures are used to protect crops and livestock,
4. Night-time watch, fencing, scare devices are the most commonly used measures,
5. Despite widespread use of multiple measures, people continue to face high economic losses.
This suggests an urgent need for identification of effective crop and livestock mitigation measures that can minimize the costs of living alongside wildlife.
Read the publication here
Effects of Habitat Structure upon Small Mammal Abundance in the Tropical Forests of Northeastern India
This project is a collaborative effort involving André P. Silva and Krishnapriya Tamma who patiently taught me the ABCs of small mammal trapping. A big thank you to the fantastic volunteers who helped during data collection: Abhishek Gupta, Renuka Rajiv, Sanket Raut, Surabhi Nadig, Satyasarathi Mishra and Senan D'Souza. And to Dr. James P. Gibbs, my advisor at SUNY-ESF for being incredibly supportive throughout the process.
|
The relations between species and habitats give us important, basic insights into species' natural history: Where does an animal live? What is its diet? What type of competitive processes does it face? What effect does it have on the ecosystem it inhabits? and so on. Small mammals are one of the most poorly understood groups of mammals on the planet. This holds especially true for the community in the exceptionally biodiverse forests of northeastern India. For my Masters thesis, I ask the question- How does habitat structure affect the abundance and distribution of the tropical forest small mammal community? The study was carried out within 3 protected areas in northeastern India- Balpakram National Park & Nongkhyllum Wildlife Sanctuary (Meghalaya) and Intanki National Park (Nagaland). I employed a mark-recapture technique through live-trapping using Sherman traps. I also measured habitat characteristics such as tree density, shrub density, percentage of rocks, burrows and related factors that might influence small mammal distribution. Multinomial N-mixture models were used to estimate species abundance. You can read the thesis here. |