tribals vs conservation

April 16, 2008 5:46 PM

Eviction Slip :"In the spring of 2003 about 8,000 tribal people and low-caste farmers living in the Kuno area of Madhya Pradesh, India, were summarily uprooted from the rich farmlands they had cultivated for generations and moved to 24 villages on scrub land outside the borders of a sanctuary created for a pride of six imported Asiatic lions."[via]
posted by dhruva (4 comments total)

But what will the lions eat now?

Other than that, interesting stuff. I remember reading a lot about the tribals v conservationists issue in India Today last time I was there.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:39 PM on April 16

Thanks for this, it's fascinating. Carefully read, it seems not to be an indictment of conservation but of the usual culprits of bureaucratic stupidity, greed and at least borderline if not actual corruption.

“Never mind the issue of human rights and social justice,” he said. “Even from a purely conservation point of view, these moves are suicidal.” He turned out to be right. Increased resentment rose toward conservation, which often expressed itself in the setting of forest fires, colluding with poachers and undermining conservation in any way possible, similar in many ways to responses of the Maasai and other African pastorals to being pushed out of their grazing lands.

It's a very clear illustration of how broadly well-intentioned public policy can go horribly awry as it's filtered through a network of organizations with various degrees of corruption, incompetence and conflict of interest.
posted by George_Spiggott at 7:01 PM on April 16

It's a very clear illustration of how broadly well-intentioned public policy can go horribly awry as it's filtered through a network of organizations with various degrees of corruption, incompetence and conflict of interest.

I did a project in Nagarhole National park, and at the entrance of the park was the area allocated to the displaced tribals. The problem was that the govt officials bulldozed the area before alowing the tribals to live there, and in doing so they removed all the topsoil, making it virtually impossible to grow anything there. Just another example of incompetence., or even worse pure thoughtlessness.
posted by dhruva at 7:11 PM on April 16

Thanks for posting this. Fascinatingly depressing bureaucratic ineptitude. There can be no areas of nuance in the path of a red pen.
posted by peacay at 11:35 PM on April 16