Adventure & Wildlife Magazine - Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 Vol 2 | Issue 1 | Mar - May 2017 | Page 5

ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
photo credit: themescompany
No rights in critical tiger habitats
T
he National Tiger Conservation Authority issued a
notice to states two weeks ago asking officials to
suspend granting of rights to tribals and other forest
dwellers under the Forest Rights Act in all critical tiger
habitats.
hundreds have been evicted in violent clashes recently.
The new order will only trigger more such clashes
and impoverish vulnerable communities, said Brajesh
Dubey at the conservation non-profit Foundation for
Ecological Security.
“In the absence of guidelines for notification of critical
wildlife habitats, no rights shall be conferred in critical “We are going to see more people displaced because the
tiger habitats,” said the notice to 17 states with tiger government wants to show they care about tigers,” he
said.
reserves.
The Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006 gives indigenous “But it has been proven that tribal communities help
people and forest dwellers the right to harvest and use prevent poaching and also help in conservation efforts.”
forest resources to maintain their traditional livelihoods.
India has about half the world’s estimated 3,200 tigers in
More than a fifth of India’s 1.2 billion population was dozens of reserves established since the 1970s.
expected to benefit from the law covering vast areas of
Wildlife tourism is a growing money spinner for
forest land roughly the size of Germany.
India, even as conservationists are divided over whether
But implementation has been slow and conflicts between visitors help protect threatened species or encroach on
states and tribal communities have risen as demand their habitat.
for land increases in one of the world’s fastest growing
economies.
Brinda Karat, a member of the opposition
communist party, asked the PM Narendra Modi to
Scarcity of land has also brought the competing needs of withdraw the order.
wildlife and humans into conflict across the country as
“This open contempt for laws that provide some
land is increasingly sought for industrial projects.
protection for the rights of millions of tribals and forest
Land reserved for wildlife including tigers, elephants dwellers is unprecedented,” she said in a letter to Modi.
and rhinoceros is also inhabited by tribal villagers and
Vol 2|Issue 1|Mar - May 2017
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