MARKS and sanctuaries are on the rise and so are people-park conflicts. Between 1975 and 1995 about 680,000ha per annum were converted into protected areas. Since prevailing wisdom considers people anti-conservation, some three million people living inside these areas, plus many more just outside but dependent on the forests for their survival, find themselves aliens in their own homes.
Rajaji National Park, Uttar Pradesh
About 5,000 Gujjars, a local pastoralist tribe, live inside the forest, some are resettled with miserable results. The rest are protesting eviction, even demanding a say in forest management. Grazing rights have been curtailed, so they often come in conflict with surrounding villages for grazing cattle in their pastures. The elephants' stamping habitat has been reduced because of human and commercial pressures (a pharmaceutical company and an army ammunition dump situated within the park), resulting in their concentration in a few pockets of the forest. Their wanderlust curbed, the pachyderms are marauding the vegetation of these pockets, besides making it difficult for Gujjars to graze their cattle in traditional pastures. Not surprising, some are killed in retaliation.
Nagarhole National Park, Karnataka
About 6,000 tribals live inside the park, many of them yet to be resettled. There are frequent confrontations with forest guards over collection of fuel wood. Two years ago, the displaced Jen Kurumbas and Betta Kurumbas reportedly burned down 20 sq km of forest in protest against the killing of a poacher by wildlife guards. Commercial pressures are mounting with a Taj Group hotel coming up within the park.
Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan
Arguably the most famous tiger haunt, Ranthambore is a classic case of how not to conserve. Unchecked poaching has caused the tiger population to drop to 20 (from 45 in 1989). With illegal mining, logging and grazing, the park has been denuded. Displaced people, unhappy with the way they were resettled, often work in nexus with mining syndicates and poachers.Conflicts with forest guards are rising.