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Local Residents Perception of Benefits and Losses From Protected Areas in India and Nepal

Environmental Management volume 49, pages 372–386 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

High densities of people living around protected areas (PAs) in South Asia require management strategies to balance conservation goals and livelihood needs. Based on a survey of 777 households around five PAs in India and Nepal, this paper provides a comparative perspective of Indian and Nepali households’ views of protected area benefits and costs, their attitude toward conservation in general, and attitude toward protected area staff. Results indicate mixed responses towards tourism, varying from very favorable in Nepal to less favorable in India. The majority (81%) held positive attitudes towards the existence and importance of PAs but had negative perceptions of PA staff (69%). Most residents perceived benefits from access to fuel wood, fodder and other PA resources including benefits from tourism, while crop and livestock losses from wildlife were the main costs. Households overall positive attitudes towards the PAs and conservation despite high losses from living around PAs suggests that local residents may support conservation if their livelihood needs are met. Comparisons of household attitudes and perceptions suggest that locally based strategies rather than top-down approaches are likely to be more effective. Extending PA benefits to smaller landholders, households that are highly resource-dependent or experiencing higher income losses from human-wildlife conflicts, and less educated residents are particularly important to balance costs and losses from living around protected areas.

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Acknowledgments

Karanth would like to thank R. DeFries, K. U. Karanth, L. Naughton-Treves, N. S. Kumar, P. M. Muthanna, A. Singh, N. D. Tiwari, G. V. Reddy, R. Shukla, E. Dcunha, K.V. Phaniraj, N. Bhatt, P. M. Kumar, S. Pareeth, S. Satyamurthy, R. Davidson, P. Karanth and A. M. Gopalaswamy, Centre for Wildlife Studies and Wildlife Conservation Society-India Program for their advice and support in the field. We thank A. Srivathsa and S. Gundecha for field assistance in India. We are grateful to the forest departments of the States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka and the following individuals H. S. Pabla, S. Sharma, R. Shukla, Somsekhar, and A. C. Poovaih for their support. Nepal would like to thank A. Spiteri and D. Khadka for the fieldwork and data input, and Stella Nepal for the maps of the Nepalese PAs. Support from Nepal’s Department of national park and Wildlife Conservation and Nepal Trust for Nature Conservation is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks to field assistants S. Choudhary, B. Choudhary, P. Basnet and A. Gauchan. Funding for research in India was provided by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. 1029219). Funding in Nepal was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 410-2003-0136).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    Krithi K. Karanth

  2. Centre for Wildlife Studies, 224, Garden Apartments, Rajniganda Block,Vittal Mallya Road, Bengaluru, 560 001, India

    Krithi K. Karanth

  3. National Centre for Biological Sciences, GKVK Bellary Road, Bengaluru, 560065, India

    Krithi K. Karanth

  4. Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Krithi K. Karanth

  5. Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Sanjay K. Nepal

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Karanth, K.K., Nepal, S.K. Local Residents Perception of Benefits and Losses From Protected Areas in India and Nepal. Environmental Management 49, 372–386 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-011-9778-1

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Keywords

  • Local attitudes
  • Conservation
  • India
  • Nepal
  • Park-people relationship
  • Perceptions
  • Protected areas
  • Tourism