Human resettlement and tiger conservation – Socio-economic assessment of pastoralists reveals a rare conservation opportunity in a human-dominated landscape

Resettlement of people for conservation is a contentious issue, but remains an important policy for conserving

should ideally be supported with careful evaluation of the needs of wildlife, socio-economic

a semi-structured questionnaire survey of 158 households across a gradient of tiger occupancy, we found

opportunity to expand inviolate areas for tigers in the western Terai Arc Landscape. The main ‘push

education and health facilities. Thus, our findings represent a rare instance where excessive extraction

The desire for resettlement was also re-enforced by losses of livestock to diseases (72.7%) and carnivores

resettled households. Demand for resettlement was uniformly strong regardless of local tiger occupancy,

given higher livestock depredation and possibilities for conflict. Our findings, therefore, represent a novel

of predator pressure, and could build a constituency for tiger conservation among local communities

consistent with national and global objectives.