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Collateral damage: impacts of ethno-civil strife on biodiversity and natural resource use near Indian nature reserves

Biodiversity and Conservation volume 23, pages 2515–2527 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Civil conflicts often affect the control of natural resources, altering their access and use. Using a combination of questionnaires, remote sensing, and a review of articles in the popular print media, we investigated the impact of a protracted armed conflict on forest loss, livelihoods, and forest use near two globally important tiger reserves in northeastern India. Over a 23 year period, we found evidence of large-scale forest loss in the vicinity of Nameri and Pakke Tiger Reserves. Nearly all (99 %) interviewees opined that the ethno-civil strife was to blame for declining forest cover. Most interviewees identified 1990 as the year of onset of strife-mediated deforestation. This is partially supported by a review of print-media articles that reported conflict, violence, displacement, and the onset of large-scale migration in the previous year. According to respondents, ethno-civil strife has radically altered access to, and use of forests, by resident communities (causing economic hardship, increased costs, and reduced availability of essential timber products), and has also accelerated forest loss and increased poaching. We conclude that forests and wildlife in these protected areas are at immediate risk from ethno-civil strife. Urgent interventions are needed to reduce the environmental and societal impacts of civil strife in this biologically crucial region of India.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Binod Borah, Prachi Galange and other assistants for help with data collection, and Rajendra Garawad, Tana Tapi and Forest Department staff of Pakke Tiger Reserve for crucial insights. Support was provided by the Australian Research Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science and School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, 4870, Australia

    Nandini Velho & William F. Laurance

  2. National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, 560 065, India

    Nandini Velho & Umesh Srinivasan

  3. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    Meghna Agarwala

  4. Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, 248 001, India

    Meghna Agarwala

Authors
  1. Nandini Velho
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  2. Meghna Agarwala
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  3. Umesh Srinivasan
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  4. William F. Laurance
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nandini Velho.

Additional information

Communicated by Pradeep Kumar Divakar.

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Appendix 1

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Velho, N., Agarwala, M., Srinivasan, U. et al. Collateral damage: impacts of ethno-civil strife on biodiversity and natural resource use near Indian nature reserves. Biodivers Conserv 23, 2515–2527 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0735-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0735-1

Keywords

  • Forest cover
  • India
  • Insurgency
  • Logging
  • Militancy
  • Park management

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