Abstract
Biodiversity conservation is a collaborative effort involving numerous stakeholders. Attempting to balance different interests and developing effective working relationships between stakeholders is vital for successfully addressing issues of biodiversity conservation. Presently, biodiversity conservation in India is monopolised by state forest departments (FD) with negligible participation from local communities (who are directly affected by forest laws) and researchers (whose work can improve conservation). This study examines the efficiency of multiple stakeholders-local communities, FD, researchers and politicians in conserving biodiversity at the Anamalai - Palni Hills of the southern Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu. Efficiency here is defined as the amount of positive assistance stakeholders provide towards conserving biodiversity. A systematic sampling strategy through self-administered questionnaires was used to understand stakeholders perception of one another and the challenges they faced. The results highlight the FD as having the highest efficiency in conserving biodiversity followed by local communities, researchers and lastly, political leaders. Stakeholder evaluation of one another efficiency revealed a homogenous opinion towards local communities and the FD. However, a considerable difference was observed towards researchers whereby their efficiency was rated lower by local communities in comparison to the FD. Dependency on forest resources that was curbed by the FD invariably affected the attitude of local communities towards biodiversity conservation. On the other hand, low pay rolling schemes, inadequate facilities and political interference hinder the management capabilities of the FD. Increased research and outreach activities would benefit Kodaikanal and Theni, provided a collaborative effort to conserve biodiversity is pursued.
Highlights
The conservation of biodiversity involves the interaction and collaboration of numerous stakeholders with varied interests and roles (Niraj et al 2012)
Through this study at limited access forest fragments of the southern Western Ghats, we aim to explore and inform the efficiency of key stakeholders- local communities, Forest Department (FD) and researchers, towards biodiversity conservation and to understand issues between and within each
Study Area The study was conducted in three areas, Kodaikanal, Theni and Valparai situated in the Anamalai-Palni Hills of the southern Western Ghats (Fig. 1)
Summary
The conservation of biodiversity involves the interaction and collaboration of numerous stakeholders with varied interests and roles (Niraj et al 2012). In the case of sea cucumber harvest by local communities in the Coromandel Coast of India, where this taxa was brought under the list of prohibited species in the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act without any consultations with the fisherman communities (Niraj et al 2012) In both cases, there could have been a loss of positive attitudes among the locals and thereby, a loss of benefits to wildlife conservation and subsequently for the other key stakeholders. There is a broad scope for local community participation in India, as there have been numerous informal initiatives headed directly by local communities These have been termed as Community Conserved Areas, which are natural (like forests, marine ecosystems, wetlands, and grasslands), ecosystems with wildlife and biodiversity value, being conserved by communities for cultural, religious, livelihood or political purposes, using customary laws or other effective means (Pathak 2009)
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