Research reveals people in the western Terai Arc Landscape, India, are prepared to relocate their homes and families to help conserve tigers.
Undertaken by researchers from the University’s Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology (DICE), the research evaluates the ecological and habitat needs of wildlife in the region and the socio-economic needs and priorities of the local forest-dependent community, known as the Gujjars.
The research aims to provide an objective framework for conservationists and policymakers to prioritise efforts in order to reach their goal of doubling tiger numbers by 2022.
Described in two published papers, the research provides evidence that recovery of wild tiger populations can be achieved hand-in-hand with meeting the livelihood aspirations of the Gujjars.
The research papers are below:
Identifying realistic recovery targets and conservation actions for tigers in a human-dominated landscape using spatially explicit densities of wild prey and their determinants (Abishek Harihar, Douglas C. MacMillan from DICE, and Dr Bivash Pandav from the Wildlife Institute of India) published in Diversity and Distributions.
and
Human resettlement and tiger conservation – Socio-economic assessment of pastoralists reveals a rare conservation opportunity in a human-dominated landscape (Abishek Harihar, Douglas C. MacMillan from DICE, and Mousumi Ghosh-Harihar from the Wildlife Institute of India) published in Biological Conservation.
DICE is part of the University of Kent’s School of Anthropology and Conservation.
For more information contact Katie Newton.