A political ecology of forest conservation in India : communities, wildlife, and the state

This book critically explores the political ecology of forest conservation and the political making of globally recognized forest landscapes, drawing on examples from India. The book specifically demonstrates the nuances within human-environmental linkages, by showing how environmental agendas are not only ecological in content, but also political. In India a large part of the forests and their surrounding areas were inhabited far before they were designated as protected areas and inviolate zones, with the local population reliant on forests for their survival and livelihoods. Thus, socio-ecological conflicts between the forest dependents and official state bodies have been widespread, with growing conservation driven dispossessions. This book uses a political ecology lens to explore the complex interplay between current norms of forest conservation and environmental subjectivities. It illustrates contemporary articulation of forest rights and the complex mediations between forest dependents and different state and non-state bodies in designing and implementing regulatory standards for wildlife and forest protection. The book foregrounds issues of identity, migration and power while discussing the politics of conservation and shows how the contemporary making of conservation impacts different forest community groups. Through a political ecology approach, the book is not only human-centric but makes significant use of the role of non-humans in foregrounding the conservation discourse, with a particular focus on tigers. This book will be of great interest to students and academics studying forest conservation, human-wildlife interactions, environmental sociology and political ecology. This book critically explores the political ecology of human marginalization, wildlife conservation and the role of the state in politicizing conservation frameworks, drawing on examples from forests in India. The book specifically demonstrates the nuances within humanenvironmental linkages, by showing how environmental concerns are not only ecological in content but also political. In India a large part of the forests and their surrounding areas were inhabited far before they were designated as protected areas and inviolate zones, with the local population reliant on forests for their survival and livelihoods. Thus, socioecological conflicts between the forest dependents and official state bodies have been widespread. This book uses a political ecology lens to explore the complex interplay between current norms of forest conservation and environmental subjectivities, illustrating contemporary articulation of forest rights and the complex mediations between forest dependents and different state and non-state bodies in designing and implementing regulatory standards for wildlife and forest protection. It foregrounds the issues of identity, migration and cultural politics while discussing the politics of conservation. Through a political ecology approach, the book not only is human-centric but also makes significant use of the role of non-humans in foregrounding the conservation discourse, with a particular focus on tigers. The book will be of great interest to students and academics studying forest conservation, human–wildlife interactions and political ecology. Cover 1 Half Title 4 Series 5 Title 6 Copyright 7 Contents 8 List of figures 9 List of tables 10 Acknowledgements 11 Foreword 14 1 Introduction: a political ecology of forest conservation in the Indian Sundarbans 16 2 Reclaiming riverine forests: an environmental history of the Sundarbans 37 3 People and forests: understanding social structures in a vulnerable ecology 54 4 Forest-based livelihoods, survival crisis and politics of belonging in conservation landscapes 93 5 Decentralizing conservation processes through rights-based frameworks: Forest Rights Act and Joint Forest Management 132 6 A political ecology of non-human subject making in forest conservation 176 7 Conclusions 190 Index 208 "This book critically explores the political ecology of human marginalization, wildlife conservation and the role of the state in politicizing conservation frameworks, drawing on examples from forests in India. The book specifically demonstrates the nuances within human-environmental linkages, by showing how environmental concerns are not only ecological in content, but also political. In India a large part of the forests and their surrounding areas were inhabited far before they were designated as protected areas and inviolate zones, with the local population reliant on forests for their survival and livelihoods. Thus, socio-ecological conflicts between the forest dependents and official state bodies have been widespread. This book uses a political ecology lens to explore the complex interplay between current norms of forest conservation and environmental subjectivities, illustrating contemporary articulation of forest rights and the complex mediations between forest dependents and different state and non-state bodies in designing and implementing regulatory standards for wildlife and forest protection. It foregrounds issues of identity, migration and cultural politics while discussing the politics of conservation. Through a political ecology approach, the book is not only human-centric but makes significant use of the role of non-humans in foregrounding the conservation discourse, with a particular focus on tigers. This book will be of great interest to students and academics studying forest conservation, human-wildlife interactions and political ecology"-- Provided by publisher