Escalation of human–wildlife conflict (HWC) is a barrier to the conservation of ecological corridors across the globe. The existing mechanisms to counter HWC are either economically and socially taxing, or ineffective for long-term management. We assessed HWC in the corridor linking the Rajaji and Corbett Tiger Reserves in Uttarakhand, India, and its drivers, along with the benefits derived by local communities from the forest. We designed an innovative incentive-based mitigation mechanism to encourage coexistence of people and wildlife around the corridor. Costs incurred due to conflict and benefits derived from the forest were assessed using semi-structured questionnaire-based personal interviews (n = 757) with representatives from forest dependent households (hh). Fuelwood (1678.7 ± 131 kg hh−1 year−1), fodder (4772 ± 186 kg hh−1 year−1) and green/dry grass (3359 ± 104 kg hh−1 year−1) contributed 3 ± 1%, 6 ± 0.5% and 9 ± 1%, respectively, to the annual income of dependent households. 69% of the households practising agriculture reported crop damage by wild animals, 19% of the households that owned livestock reported livestock loss, and 1.58% reported attack on humans resulting in injuries. The cost incurred due to crop raiding and livestock depredation was US $ 159.83 ± 1.0 hh−1 year−1 and US $ 229.32 ± 34.0 hh−1 year−1, respectively. Crop loss was positively associated with the number of crops grown per season and cultivation of sugarcane, wheat and pulses, and negatively with distance from forest and cultivation of fodder and finger millet. Livestock depredation was negatively associated with distance from forest and positively with number of livestock owned, primarily calves. The accounting profit from cultivating a hectare of land, in the absence of crop depredation by wild animals, was estimated at US $ 3571.84 ha−1 year−1 and US $ 361.44 ha−1 year−1 for the plains and hills, respectively. This value can be used to calculate the payments to be paid to local communities to encourage them to adopt HWC resistant agricultural and pastoralism practices. The net present value of benefits from participating in the payments to encourage coexistence programme for 5 years, discounted at 12%, was US $ 12,875.7 ha−1 for the plains and US $ 1302.9 ha−1 for the hills.
The wellbeing of mountain communities is determined by the availability and accessibility of ecosystem goods and services. We assessed the relationship between forest quality and wellbeing of local communities of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) in the Upper Ganga River Basin, Western Himalayas, India. We used 14 relevant Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations as indicators to assess wellbeing. Data on these indicators were collected in 22 villages that were selected based on secondary demographic information, remoteness, and the state of the forest resources, which we classified into degraded and less-degraded. Semi-structured questionnaire-based interviews were conducted in randomly selected households (n = 764). The households located close to forests scored higher on wellbeing indicators than the households located further away from forests as they have better accessibility to forest resources and freshwater, which provides alternatives to market and agricultural products. Households with access to less-degraded resources also had access to wild fruits, vegetables, and medicinal plants adding to their food and health security. Our study found that the combination of climate change, declining forest resources, and the expansion of the market-based economy is leading to shifts in traditional cropping patterns and hence the nutritional status and forest use patterns of local people, making them vulnerable to diseases and hunger. Accessibility to an intact forest patch near a village contributes to the wellbeing of people and increases their resilience in the face of climate change and the changes dictated by the market forces.
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