Human-wildlife interactions resulting in conflict remains a global conservation challenge, requiring innovative solutions to ensure the persistence of wildlife amidst people. Wild Seve was established in July 2015 as a conservation intervention program to assist people affected by conflict to file and monitor claims and receive ex-gratia payments from the Indian government.

Expansion and consolidation of Gir Protected Area, Gujarat, India – habitat of the Asiatic lion, and response of prey and predator to the management and dispersion trend of lions outside the Gir forests are interesting and noteworthy. During the last five decades (1965–2015), an approach for the Asiatic lion conservation is one of the best efforts in the world. Unlike other super predators, the number of lions has increased by 4-folds and wild ungulates by over 13-folds in the Gir forest during this period.

Human-nature relations are diverse, multifaceted and often contradictory, especially the relationships with animals. Mishmi people living on the Sino-India border claim tigers to be their brothers and take credit for tiger protection as they observe taboos against hunting tigers. Drawing on this notion of relatedness with tigers, local residents of the Dibang Valley question the governments’ recent plans to declare the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary into Dibang Tiger Reserve and its scientific surveys of tigers and habitat mapping.

This analysis of the draft wildlife action plan says that it takes note of the injustices historically carried out upon the local communities and addresses such injustice to be able to create local support for conservation. It also examines the extent to which the draft has explored complementarities between national laws and international obligations.

Fostering local community tolerance for endangered carnivores, such as tigers (Panthera tigris), is a core component of many conservation strategies. Identification of antecedents of tolerance will facilitate the development of effective tolerance-building conservation action and secure local community support for, and involvement in, conservation initiatives.

Effective wildlife conservation requires understanding and integration of cultural values and practices among communities within wildlife range areas. In Africa, elephants still roam outside protected areas and frequently interact with local people. Maasai-land in East Africa has a considerable elephant population, estimated to number 20,000 individuals, yet there is little understanding of the cultural values and perception of elephants among the Maasai people.