Conservation approaches and development of local communities in India: debates, challenges and future perspectives

Protected areas (PA) are a cornerstone of conservation approaches in many developing countries. The concept of wilderness is of ten considered central to protected area designation and management. This article discusses the key issues around contested knowledge and ideologies that have framed the politics of conservation and resource use in India, exploring the social consequences on local communities of the wilderness conservation culture. It also describes recent efforts to reconcile conflicting conservation and development priorities through eco-development programmes, highlighting their constraints and gaps. Lastly, it analyses the emerging community-livelihood centred approaches, which appear to of fer a way forward in reducing endemic park-people conflict resulting from a restrictive and singular approach to conservation that views nature and indigenous resource use practices as mutually incompatible. Some suggestions to conciliate conservation and local development objectives are finally drawn.