Bid to double global protected areas may affect India’s tribes

Subject: Environment

Sec: Protected Area

Context:

The bid to safeguard biodiversity by almost doubling protected areas across the globe will hit India’s tribal population the hardest, warned experts at a symposium on the rights of indigenous communities organised by the University of Arizona in the United States.

Details:

Indigenous peoples across the world will suffer if the U.N.’s Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework pursues and achieves its target of increasing protected areas from the current 16% to 30% of the world’s terrestrial area.
The Scheduled Tribes in India will bear the brunt of this expansion, as 89 of the 106 notified national parks in the country were established in areas that they lived.
This means that 84% of protected areas in Indiaoverlap with tribal areas.

Disproportionate impact:

While there are 17 national parks left that do not include major human habitation, such as those purely marine or functioning as zoos, others contain tribal populations.
Specifically, four national parks(Col. SherjungSimbalbara, Neora Valley, Singalila, and Fossil) house some tribal communities.
Scheduled Tribes (STs), who make up 8.6% of India’s population, are affected by 84% of the protected areas, showing a targeted impact on these communities.
Environmentalists have criticised the historical and ongoing criminalization of the lifestyle and livelihood practices of indigenous peoples through legislation like the Forest Act of 1927, underscoring a legacy of inequality in environmental conservation efforts.

No-win situation:

Odisha government has withdrawn over 48,000 casesagainst tribal people for offences like excise, forest violations, and land encroachment.
Expansions of protected areas, such as Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan and Nauradehi Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, predominantly affect Scheduled Tribes (STs) and other forest dwellers.
He also cites the notification for Barak Bhuban Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam, which declares the area free of encroachments, despite the indigenous Khasi people having documented residence there since 1914.
Indigenous peoples face a no-win situation: if they stay within protected areas, they endure restricted freedoms, lack of access to development, surveillance, and violence; if they relocate, there are no successful cases of rehabilitation and resettlement.

Human rights violations:

At a symposium, participants highlighted severe human rights violations faced by indigenous peoples in protected areas across Asia.
- For example, in Ujungkulon National Park, Indonesia, indigenous peoples lack access to basic amenities like proper housing and education.
- In Cambodia, Heng Saphen, an indigenous leader, was unjustly convicted for farming her own land within Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary. Additionally, Botum Sakor National Park saw its forest cover diminish to 18% due to logging after being transferred to a private firm.
The symposium also emphasized the detrimental effects of the increasing privatization of protected areas for ecotourism, which often leads to the exploitation of indigenous communities.
These communities are frequently showcased to tourists in a manner similar to exhibits in a zoo, where they are expected to wear traditional attire and perform cultural acts for entertainment, diminishing their dignity and cultural autonomy.

Important protected areas in news:

Global:
- Ujungkulon National Park, Indonesia
- Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary, Combodia
- Botum Sakor National Park, Cambodia
India:
- Col. SherjungSimbalbara national park, Himachal Pradesh
- Neora Valley national Park, Madhya Pradesh
- Singalila national Park, West Bengal
- Ghughwa National fossils Park, Madhya Pradesh
- Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan
- Barak Bhuban Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam

Source: TH