Conservation And Displacement

ISBN-13: 9783847301493 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 264 str.

Lai Ming Lam

Opis

The removal of local residents from protected areas remains the most common conservation strategy in developing countries; however its wide-ranging impacts on displaced societies have rarely been addressed. This book is based on 15 months fieldwork carried out among a group of displaced park residents knowns as Rana Tharus in the country of Nepal. The book documents that the unplanned resettlement scheme of Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve failed to mitigate the socio-economic losses that Rana Tharus experienced due to their displacement. The undivided household unit was no longer their first preference when the new economic realities made themselves felt, and gender and partilineal kin relationships became more tense. The traditional labouring system (Kamaiya) that existed between wealthy and poor Rana Tharus declined due to increasing poverty. All these had erased their ability to maintain sustainable livelihoods that they had previous enjoyed. The analysis should help shed some light on current conservation practices and should be especially useful for policy makers, conservationists, or anyone who concerns the welfare status of diplaced communities.

O autorze

Lai Ming is an assistant professor in Osaka University and has obstained her PhD (Anthropology) from the University of Adelaide, Australia. Her research work focuses on the welfare impact of conservation-led displacement on local communities particularly in Nepal. She is the founder of Future Village project which aims to improve rural livelihoods.