The great Indian conservation debate: Contextualizing poverty

Abstract

Protected Areas (PAs) have witnessed a proliferation in recent decades with approximately 13% of world’s terrestrial surface classified as some form of PA1 by 2010 (WDPA, 2011). However, the impact of this preferred conservation policy on the economic well-being of populations inhabiting the region surrounding PAs is unclear. It is particularly crucial to assess the linkages between poverty and conservation as there is a significant overlap between global biodiversity hot spots and the incidence of poverty (Sachs, 2009). Moreover, conservation and poverty alleviation are two of the most crucial yet long-standing global challenges 2. If these two are indeed complementary, then policy recommendations to increase conservation efforts would hold serious merit. We propose to address two fundamental questions that arise from creation of PAs - does poverty influence their creation, and how, subsequently, PAs affect poverty. Inferences on these relationships (or lack thereof) would have significant bearings on conservation and development policies, especially for the developing nations rich in biodiversity but poor in public welfare outcomes. We explore these questions in the Indian context - a country that has varied ecological zones with 10% of world’s species, abundant PAs, and is battling poverty.