Incorporating traditional coexistence propensities into management of wildlife habitats in India

Traditional tolerance of wild animals, which may be harmful to humans, thei r settlements and livelihood have contributed substantially to India's succ essful record of conserving some of the larger mammals and their habitats. This attribute is at variance with the developed world, where a number of l arge mammals have been extirpated through active eradication campaigns. Inc orporating intrinsic traditional tolerance has so far, not featured in the country's conservation planning. On a broader level, the UNESCO Man and Bio sphere Reserve concept seeks to combine conservation concerns with sustaina ble use of ecosystems' resources through close cooperation with local commu nities, taking advantage of traditional knowledge, indigenous products and appropriate land management. However it falls short of incorporating varian ce among settlements in their propensity to coexist with wildlife and their habitats into reserve design. This paper, thereby, attempts to augment the biosphere concept by proposing a protocol which discriminates settlements on their propensity for coexisting with wildlife and their habitats. A fram ework for discrimination is suggested using a set of hypothetical parameter s which quantify attributes affecting the coexistence propensity of settlem ents. Based on this discrimination, a scheme for prioritizing settlements f or relocation is elaborated. It is also proposed that the prioritization is considered along with a landscape and socio-economical analysis before ult imate relocation decisions are made.