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Human–wildlife conflicts in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve and the politics of forest conservation

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  • Amrita Sen

    (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to identify the politics of forest conservation—processes through which formal stewardship methods are legally enforced circumventing customary community rights to the forests. Drawing on an ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve of West Bengal, this paper discusses the ways in which such bureaucratic provisions of forest conservation shapes ideologies about human–wildlife conflicts in India. The paper draws on empirical lessons and provides observations on the different kinds of forest notifications and their impacts on the customary rights of the forest-dependent communities in the Sundarbans. Although it has been widely established that forest conservation adversely impacts local livelihoods and results in dispossession from subsistence resources, it is indeed imperative to understand that in legitimising forested landscapes as ‘protected’ and inviolate, survival of different communities is also at stake.

Suggested Citation

  • Amrita Sen, 2019. "Human–wildlife conflicts in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve and the politics of forest conservation," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 46(4), pages 321-333, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:decisn:v:46:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s40622-019-00224-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s40622-019-00224-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Amrita Sen & Sarmistha Pattanaik, 2019. "The political agenda of implementing Forest Rights Act 2006: evidences from Indian Sundarban," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 21(5), pages 2355-2376, October.
    2. John Richards & Elizabeth Flint, 1990. "Long-term transformations in the Sundarbans wetlands forests of Bengal," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 7(2), pages 17-33, March.
    3. Robert Fletcher, 2012. "Using the Master's Tools? Neoliberal Conservation and the Evasion of Inequality," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 295-317, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sumana Banerjee & Abhra Chanda & Tuhin Ghosh & Emilie Cremin & Fabrice G. Renaud, 2023. "A Qualitative Assessment of Natural and Anthropogenic Drivers of Risk to Sustainable Livelihoods in the Indian Sundarban," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-27, April.

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