In recent decades, the rapid loss of biodiversity has become a global concern. A significant portion of the world’s biodiversity, concentrated in the Global South, is increasingly threatened by anthropogenic pressures such as land use change, degradation, urbanization, overexploitation, pollution, and climate change. These pressures are further exacerbated by weak governance, political instability, unrestricted economic growth, and fluctuations in international commodity markets. Additionally, countries in the Global South grapple with the legacies of colonialism, power imbalances in resource ownership, and the extraction of natural and land resources.
The establishment of protected areas (PAs) has been a fundamental aspect of conservation efforts, beginning with Yosemite National Park in 1864 in the USA. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines protected areas as “clearly defined geographical spaces, recognized, dedicated, and managed through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature along with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.” Many of these biologically diverse ecosystems are inhabited by traditional and indigenous communities.
In this research, I introduce the key concerns regarding reduced access to natural resources due to conservation projects in India, particularly as faced by tribal groups and women living within the Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal. I aim to employ the frameworks of environmental justice, intersectionality, and political ecology to address the justice concerns associated with protected areas in India. Conservation efforts undertaken by several countries have often resulted in extensive displacement and relocation, adversely impacting local tribal populations. However, these actions have been justified on the grounds of biodiversity conservation and are largely omitted from the dispossession literature (Lasgorceix et al., 2009).
While there is scholarship addressing land dispossession in India, there exists a gap in the literature concerning the gendered impacts of such displacement, particularly in the context of reserve forests. Specifically, there is a lack of comparative analyses regarding the welfare consequences and overall sustainability of these conservation projects. An overview of the scholarly literature indicates that conservation and eco-development initiatives have further marginalized already disadvantaged populations in the name of ‘development.’
