India seeks to protect tribal peoples in national parks

The Indian government has scrapped its controversial policy of expelling tribal people from wildlife-rich areas to turn them into national parks. Tensions have been growing between those advocating for the rights of India’s 84 million tribal people, and those fighting for wildlife reserves to be people-free ‘wildernesses’. The government’s new draft policy recognizes that coexistence between people and wildlife is possible, and that forest dwelling communities should be involved in the management of the park.

“Many of these tribal communities that have been living in these areas long before they were parks, living there for many many generations, they want to help to protect the land and their livelihoods from the real threats in this,” says Jo Woodman of Survival International, which helps protect the world’s tribal populations. “The real threat isn’t the tribal communities, its mining companies, its illegal mining, its logging, its encroachment.”

She says the government’s new draft law will help tribal communities work with conservationists to help preserve their land.

Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with Jo Woodman: