Wildlife Conservation Perspective
of Fringe Villagers and Their
Socio-economic Dependency: A Case
Study from Borail Wildlife Sanctuary,
Assam, India
Simmee Das, Shubhadeep Roychoudhury , Madhurima Das,
Hilloljyoti Singha, Abhijit Das, Niranjan Roy and Sunil Nautiyal
Abstract Wildlife conservation perspective generally refers to the attitude of local
people living in and around protected areas towards conservation of wild animals and
plant species in their natural habitat. Socio-economic dependency of rural communities on natural resources very often for livelihood purposes leads to negative attitudes towards conservation. Rising human population, intensified land use, human
pressure on animals, modification of natural resources, habitat fragmentation and
lack of foresight in the implementation of policies have been linked with disputes
affecting the rural communities living in and around protected areas and their socioeconomic development. Information on perceptions and attitudes of local communities is important to identify proper management programmes and strategies that best
suit the conservation of biodiversity alongside the socio-economic development of
local communities dependent on forests for their livelihood. Borail Wildlife Sanctuary is the only wildlife sanctuary in the southern part of Assam. The sanctuary is
important biologically as it supports the Cachar Tropical Evergreen Forest and many
rare and unique species. In recent times, anthropogenic pressure on forest and wildlife
is on the rise because of the increasing human population around the sanctuary. In
S. Das · S. Roychoudhury (B)
Department of Life Science & Bioinformatics, Assam University, Silchar, India
e-mail: shubhadeep1@gmail.com
M. Das
IBT Hub, Arya Vidyapeeth College, Guwahati, Assam, India
H. Singha
Department of Ecology & Environmental Science, Assam University, Silchar, India
A. Das
Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
N. Roy
Department of Economics, Assam University, Silchar, India
S. Nautiyal
Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources, Institute for Social and Economic
Change, Bengaluru, India
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
N. Roy et al. (eds.), Socio-economic and Eco-biological Dimensions
in Resource use and Conservation, Environmental Science and Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32463-6_14
287
of Fringe Villagers and Their
Socio-economic Dependency: A Case
Study from Borail Wildlife Sanctuary,
Assam, India
Simmee Das, Shubhadeep Roychoudhury , Madhurima Das,
Hilloljyoti Singha, Abhijit Das, Niranjan Roy and Sunil Nautiyal
Abstract Wildlife conservation perspective generally refers to the attitude of local
people living in and around protected areas towards conservation of wild animals and
plant species in their natural habitat. Socio-economic dependency of rural communities on natural resources very often for livelihood purposes leads to negative attitudes towards conservation. Rising human population, intensified land use, human
pressure on animals, modification of natural resources, habitat fragmentation and
lack of foresight in the implementation of policies have been linked with disputes
affecting the rural communities living in and around protected areas and their socioeconomic development. Information on perceptions and attitudes of local communities is important to identify proper management programmes and strategies that best
suit the conservation of biodiversity alongside the socio-economic development of
local communities dependent on forests for their livelihood. Borail Wildlife Sanctuary is the only wildlife sanctuary in the southern part of Assam. The sanctuary is
important biologically as it supports the Cachar Tropical Evergreen Forest and many
rare and unique species. In recent times, anthropogenic pressure on forest and wildlife
is on the rise because of the increasing human population around the sanctuary. In
S. Das · S. Roychoudhury (B)
Department of Life Science & Bioinformatics, Assam University, Silchar, India
e-mail: shubhadeep1@gmail.com
M. Das
IBT Hub, Arya Vidyapeeth College, Guwahati, Assam, India
H. Singha
Department of Ecology & Environmental Science, Assam University, Silchar, India
A. Das
Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
N. Roy
Department of Economics, Assam University, Silchar, India
S. Nautiyal
Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources, Institute for Social and Economic
Change, Bengaluru, India
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
N. Roy et al. (eds.), Socio-economic and Eco-biological Dimensions
in Resource use and Conservation, Environmental Science and Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32463-6_14
287