Attitudes of local people towards conservation and alternatives to forest resources: A case study from the lower Himalayas

This paper examines the attitudes of local people living in and around the forest corridor linking the Rajaji and Corbett National Parks, northern India. Door to door surveys were carried out, and using fixed response questionnaires people were interviewed to examine their views towards conservation and proposed alternatives to the forest resources for reducing biomass demand from the forest. The study revealed that in the area the concept of conservation of forests is well supported. Nevertheless, people are extracting biomass from the corridor forest for their sustenance. The dependence of the people on the forest is due to lack of alternatives to the forest resources: inability of the people to produce alternatives from market, and in some cases it is 'habitual' or 'traditional'. In a situation where forest resources will not be available, people without any alternatives to forest resources are ready to agitate against such rules. People who oppose such decisions are not always dependent on the corridor forest but are antagonistic towards the forest department and want to use this opportunity to retaliate by stealing from the forest. The former category of people are the ones for whom income generating activities would be important while the later category should be the targets of extension programs designed to establish permanent lines of dialogue with the forest department. To some extent human-animal conflict and apathetic attitude of the forest department are also responsible for antagonism of people.