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Accepted Paper:
Reconciling differing conceptions of conservation: Forest Rights Act and the Soligas - A case from southern India
Roshni Kutty
(ATREE)
C Madegowda
(ATREE and Soliga Abhivrudhi Sangha)
Siddappa Setty R
(ATREE (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment))
Paper short abstract:
Despite legal recognition of forest rights, failure to incorporate divergent world views and ignoring power inequalities can pose a challenge in meeting socially-just conservation objectives. We present a case about Soligas in India to make our point.
Paper long abstract:
Soligas, living in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRT) of Karnataka, became the first indigenous community whose collective claims to forest rights were recognized in October 2011, within a strict protected area. These rights include ownership over non-timber forest products (NTFPs), traditional knowledge and, protecting and managing their forests. A decade later, these rights are exercised for their dwellings and ownership over NTFPs. The right to manage and govern forests has not been exercised due to resistance from the forest bureaucracy. Soligas' concept of conservation is implicit within their simple lifestyles and is not an explicit effort at protecting and managing vast landscapes. They believe that "nature is an ancestor" and the forest as reciprocating (Bird-David, 1990). However, exposure to conservation ideas espoused by NGOs, and adopted while claiming forest rights has brought them to challenge forest department authority. The status quo is a negotiated space of adapted ideas of conservation and livelihoods, mindful of changing landscapes and power inequalities.