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Study Examines Use of Human Resettlement as Conservation Tool in Indian Tiger Reserves

When people and wildlife don’t mix— as in tiger reserves in India—moving the humans out is often unavoidable if the tigers are to survive. Critics have charged that this causes undue social disruption and economic hardships for the humans, undermining their welfare for that of the tigers.

But a new study by a Duke University researcher finds there is reason for optimism.

Relocating people who live in tiger reserves in India to settlements outside the protected areas is a “workable conservation solution” that can benefit both the endangered cats and the resettled humans, provided that key conditions are met, says Krithi Karanth.

“Relocation is a viable conservation tool—if it is done with the active consultation of the people being resettled,” says Karanth, a doctoral candidate at the Nicholas School. “They must be given a voice in the decision-making process. They can’t be forced out or denied fair compensation.”

Substantial financial support needs to be available to them for up to a year after the move, she says. And there needs to be long-term involvement by governmental and nongovernmental organizations that are committed to the relocated people’s success.

Village resettlements to promote tiger conservation date back to the 1960s in India, but few studies before Karanth’s have documented the impacts the practice has on the resettled people. Karanth published one of the first detailed case studies on the controversial practice in the October issue of the journal Biological Conservation.

Her study, “Making Resettlement Work: The Case of India’s Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary,” provides an in-depth analysis of the factors affecting the fate of a tiger-reserve resettlement at the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary in India’s Western Ghats. The region is a global biodiversity hotspot.

Karanth’s faculty advisors are Norman L. Christensen, professor of ecology and founding dean of the Nicholas School, and Stuart L. Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology.

“Krithi’s study helps fill in some very critical gaps in our understanding of why resettlement efforts succeed or fail,” Pimm says. “It will help reduce conflicts and lead to better outcomes for humans and tigers alike.”   

photo captions: A street in M.C. Halli, one of two resettlement villages; Krithi Karanth
Photos courtesy of Krithi Karanth dukenvironment