The science of relocating villages within tiger reserves – and its caveats

To achieve tiger conservation targets with minimal human-tiger conflict, relocation of human settlements within tiger reserves is seen as a solution. A recent study by researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India, published in the Journal of Wildlife Sciences, states that “it is neither feasible nor realistic to consider all villages for relocation”. The authors propose a framework for prioritising villages by setting national, landscape, and site-level goals. “[The paper serves as] an added guidance to identify villages for relocation that can provide the maximum benefit,” says Bilal Habib, one of the authors of the study.

India has a network of 1,014 protected areas, which covers approximately 5% of its total geographical area. However, more than 65% of this protected area network is human-modified and home to roughly five million people. The tiger reserves in the country are no exception. Alongside 3,682 tigers, there are approximately 1,500 villages with 65,000 families in the core and buffer areas of India’s tiger reserves, according to the report of the tiger task force, part of Project Tiger. The presence of human settlements in tiger reserves only adds to the complex nature of its long-term conservation.

In 2004-’05, following the extermination of tigers in the Sariska Tiger Reserve the previous year, the Tiger Task Force Report called for prioritising...

Read more