Displacement and relocation of protected areas: a synthesis and analysis of case studies.

Abstract

Antoine Lasgorceix (antoine.lasgo@hotmail.com) has been an intern with Kalpavriksh, an environmental action group based at Pune and Ashish Kothari (ashishkothari@vsnl.com) is with Kalpavriksh. Relocation of human populations from the protected areas results in a host of socio-economic impacts. In India, in many cases, especially relating to tribal communities that have been relatively isolated from the outside world, the displacement is traumatic from both economic and cultural points of view. This paper provides brief case studies of displacement (past, ongoing, or proposed) from protected areas, number of villages/families displaced, the place where these villages/families were relocated to, governance of the relocation process, and the kind or nature of relocation (voluntary, induced or forced). It finds that not even a single study shows the ecological costs and benefits of relocation, comparing what happens at the old site to what happens at the rehabilitation site. This is a shocking gap, given that relocation is always justified from the point of view of reducing pressures and securing wildlife habitats. Relocation of human populations from within areas notified for wildlife conservation (protected areas or PAs) has been undertaken in several countries, as a means of trying to reduce pressures on wildlife. It is not the aim of this essay to dwell on the ecological and social justifi cation for such relocation. Instead, it attempts to describe and analyse the full range of relocation cases in India in the last few decades, discuss the impacts of these displacements from both environmental and livelihood perspectives, and offer recommendations on the way to enhance the process by which relocation decisions are taken and implemented.1