This set of Recommendations has emanated from a two-day National Workshop on Critical Tiger Habitats and Critical Wildlife Habitats held at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on 8th and 9th May 2008.
Relocation measures in the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan in the 1970s have seen people returning to forests after being relocated. "Violent' efforts of the forest department to evict people from non-revenue villages from the core area also faced opposition from the residents of the village where they were relocated. The land allotted was hilly and unsuitable for cultivation.
The South West Bengal constitutes the districts of Purulia, Bankura, East and West Midnapur, Burdwan & Birbhum. From the District Gazettes and records of British period, it is known that large number of elephants used to move into the dense forest areas of Bankura, Burdwan, Midnappur and Purulia districts.
Concern over the possible impacts of physical and economical displacement from protected areas is widespread and growing. Partly as a consequence of this there is now an increasing tendency to promote only voluntary displacement from protected areas. There are, however, good reasons to be cautious before welcoming this policy shift. In the first instance we should note that the extent of past evictions is far from clear, but that the demand for future displacement is likely to rise. Second, it is not always easy to distinguish voluntary from forced displacement.
The relocation and resettlement of people from nature reserves is a controversial issue in the conservation community. The perceived poor success rate of resettlement efforts, combined with availability of few well-documented studies, warrants a detailed examination of this issue. The authors has analyzed a relocation and resettlement project in India
The Asiatic Lion has been of concern for many years as the population is said to have diminished to a scant twenty to one hundred or so animals. Previoulsy, reintroduction and translocation efforts had been undertaken to try and establish another population but these efforts were not successful due to lack of proper planning and methodology. Recent research has underscored the speculation that even the wild population may be suffering from inbreeding depression. July 2007
Isolated populations of endangered species are at much greater risk compared to populations that are well distributed. The risk is even more acute if the species in question survives as a single, small population confined to a single locality. Currently Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica) are up against precisely such odds. July 2007
The new state of Uttarakhand in north-west India contains grassland habitats that are potentially suitable for establishing new populations of the one-horned rhinoceros. Dhikala and Paterpani grasslands in Corbett Tiger Reserve and Surai grasslands in the Terai East Forest Division provide the last opportunity for the reintroduction programme in this state.
