0742-A1

Dependence of Indigenous and Local People on Wildlife Sanctuaries: An Empirical Study from India

C.S. Shylajan^[1] and G. Mythili

Abstract

This paper examines empirically the nature and extent of dependence on a Protected Area (PA) of Wildlife Sanctuary by indigenous and local people for meeting their livelihood needs, both for consumption and for commercial purposes. We have estimated the economic use value of various non-wood forest products extracted by the forest-dwelling people. Both products for the market and for subsistence use have been included for valuation. The study also explores the factors influencing forest dependence using a forest dependency model.

The study was conducted using a household survey applying stratified random sampling method. It shows that two major indigenous communities heavily depend on the PA for their livelihood needs. The findings are consistent with those of similar studies that show that alternative income sources would greatly reduce the dependence on the forest of local people and hence ease the conflict between their interests and those of the forest management authorities. The study shows that overall socio-economic improvement of forest-dependent communities would reduce the human pressure on the PA and promote conservation of biological diversity in a more sustainable way.

1. Introduction

Conservation of forest produces a variety of benefits such as direct use values, indirect use values, option values and existence or non-use values (Weisbrod 1964; Krutilla 1967; Arrow and Fisher 1974). However, timber has been considered as the most recognised economic product from tropical forests and other non-timber forest products (NTFP) or non-wood forest products (NWFP) have been labeled as 'minor forest products' or special forest products. Forest has been a major source of many valuable non-wood forest products and services especially for local communities for meeting their livelihood needs. It yields substantial benefits to the household economy of indigenous and local people (Godoy et al. 2002). For most of these products, especially for products of subsistence use, there are no proper markets for transaction. Hence, economic valuation becomes difficult and they are not properly accounted for. The present study makes an attempt to estimate the local use value of non-timber forest products in a protected area of wildlife sanctuary and examines community dependence on the same for a selected region of India.

The study was conducted in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, which lies in the Western Ghats of the state of Kerala, located in the southern part of India. Western Ghat region is one of the 'Hot Spots' in India with rich plant and animal biological diversity. People living in and around the sanctuary not only extract products such as food, fodder, fuel-wood for their subsistence needs, but also are engaged in extraction of various non-wood products including medicinal plants for commercial purpose. However, there are many instances of intense conflict between the forest-dependent indigenous people and the government agencies in charge of protecting the wildlife sanctuary. Recently, wildlife management proposed a complete ban on extraction of NTFP inside the sanctuary. It was in this context, the present study was conducted. The valuation of forest benefits, especially to local people, is important to answer what benefits forest communities need to give up if biological reserves are to be fully protected or how the restrictions are going to affect the livelihood needs of the forest inhabitants. Hence, it is important to know to what extent the local people depend on and what factors determine their dependency. The present study has following objectives:(a) to examine the extent and nature of dependence on forest by various indigenous and local communities (b) to impute income generated from NWFP extraction using household data (c) to estimate economic use value of NWFP of subsistence and commercial importance and (d) to examine the factors influencing the dependence on extraction of NWFP.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The second section surveys some relevant literature. The third section discusses methods and data. The empirical results and discussion are given in fourth section. The final section provides conclusion.

2. Literature review

Several studies show that forest dwelling rural people heavily depend on wild resources for their livelihood needs. In Indian context, for instance, Kant et al (1996) clearly showed the critical role of non-timber forest products in the welfare of local communities. Their estimate shows that among the non-tribe, average household NTFP income varied between Indian Rupees (INR) 581 to INR 3930.

Mallik (2000) examined the role of NTFP in the subsistence economy of forest dwellers in the state of Orissa. As per this study, the percentage of income derived from forest varied from 22 per cent to 41 per cent in different forest areas.

Godoy et al (2002) find fault with expressing the local value of tropical rain forests in per hectare basis. To them " this approach is problematic because it produces low values to local users, underestimating the importance of the forest expressed as a share of household consumption or earnings. The study contributes in three ways: (a) the contribution of forests to annual household consumption and (b) earnings; and (c) the value of a hectare of rain forest to villagers measured through the biological goods consumed and sold.

The brief review of literature shows that there is no single empirical study on economic valuation exercise from Western Ghat region of Kerala although there are some related studies conducted for other parts of India. However, site-specific studies are important due to difference in the nature of forests, institutional mechanism for protection of forests etc.

3. Methodology and Data

3.1 Study area and survey design

There are three major indigenous communities living inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary: Kattinaikkan (KN), Paniyan (PN), and Kuruman (KR). Kattunaikkan community is considered as descendants of a nomadic primitive hunter-gatherer group who roamed on the hilltops and caves. Traditionally they are honey collectors, food gatherers and hunters. The Paniyan is a numerically dominant tribal community. Kuruman is another major group of tribal community. To examine the extent and nature of dependence on forest by those communities with varying socio-economic status, a household survey was done to elicit data (Shylajan 2001). Both tribal and non-tribal communities living in interior forests and peripheral area are the target groups of the study. For conducting primary household survey, one Village Panchayat has been selected from the main portion of the protected area. Out of total residential households, eight percent of the households, i.e., 194 households have been selected for sample survey. The households for survey were selected using a stratified random sampling method. The primary data have been obtained through a household survey with the use of questionnaire, both structured and unstructured. For the present study we have used the term 'non-wood forest products' as suggested by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO 1995). The field survey was conducted during April 2000 to November 2000.

3.2 Calculation of household income from NWFP

One of the commonly used techniques for valuing the gross annual value of non-wood forest products has been the incomes approach or products and services approach, whereby the physical production of goods and services is valued using actual or surrogate market prices of the resource. We have measured the share of products consumed by the household and of that sold in the market. Products consumed at home are valued at their retail purchasing price in the village town. Wherever the market price was not available, we have used price of substitutes. We estimated both gross and net returns from non-wood forest products of commercial use. The major part of the cost is labour time involved in extraction. Cost of transporting the products to market (if any) is also included. The wage rate at the time of survey was used as opportunity wage to compute cost of labour time involved for collection of NWFP. For those products, which were extracted during nights, the time spent during the night has also been included to calculate cost of labour.

3.3 Determinants of Forest Dependency: Empirical Model

We consider the following relation to examine the factors determining the extent of forest dependence, which is measured by total cash income derived from collection of NWFP. The definition of the variables included in the model has been given later in Table 4.

Y = b₀ + b₁X₁ + b₂X₂ + b₃X₃ + b₄X₄ +b₅X₅ +b₆X₆ +dD₁ + gD₂ + m

To test the relation between the dependent variable and explanatory variables, the equation is estimated using Censored Regression or Tobit Model. In a Censored sample, some observations on the dependent variable, corresponding to known values of the independent variables, are not observable. We do not observe the dependent variable over the entire range. Hence, we utilize the Tobit model (Tobin, 1958) and estimate the model using maximum likelihood method.

4. Results and Discussion

This section focuses on empirical part of the study and discussion. The demographic details of the sample households show that out of the 194 sample households, around 59 percent are non-tribe and the remaining 41 percent belong to three different indigenous communities, viz. Kattunaikkan (KN), Paniyan (PN) and Kuruman (KR). The average family size is 4.56. The average family size is almost same for tribal and non-tribal.

The overall dependence on forest by the sample households for various purposes based on their community is given in Table 1. It shows that all the sample households in the Kattunaikkan community depend on forest for the collection of NWFP for sales and collection of food items for subsistence use. It shows that the households' dependency on forest for the Kattunaikkan community is the largest as expected.

Location of the households in the protected area is one of the important factors, which is hypothesized to influence the extent of dependence. Out of 71 sample households in the interior area, 36 percent of the households collect various non-wood forest products for sale. On the other hand, in peripheral area, percentage share of households who go for extraction is less (22 percent). In the peripheral area, the alternative source of livelihood is more compared to interior area. Income from occupation and cultivation is more for people living in the peripheral area due to more access to employment opportunities outside the sanctuary.

Table 1: Percentage distribution of sample households depending on forest for various purposes

Note: KN = Kattunaikkan, PN = Paniyan, KR = Kuruman, NT = Non-tribe. Figures in the parentheses are percentage of households in the particular community to the total.

Table 2 shows the average value per household from NWFP extraction. Per household value from sale of edible products were INR.2673 and INR.604 for medicinal plants. It shows that the quantity of NWFP extraction used for commercial purpose forms a major part of per household value. The functioning of a co-operative mechanism of marketing and incorporation to the market economy play an important role for enhancing commercial value of forest products. The impacts of such incorporation may lead to selective harvesting of high valued products and may result in excessive extraction (Shylajan 2001).

Table 2: Average Value per household of NWFP extracted by indigenous communities

* Value includes collection by non-tribes also and it is negligible.

Table 3 shows per household income from NWFP collected for commercial use by two major indigenous communities. Gross incomes per household are INR.9542 and INR.1936 for Kattunaikkan and Paniyan communities respectively. For Kattunaikkan community, 37 per cent of their total annual household income is derived from sale of NWFP. If we deduct cost of collection and transportation the net incomes are derived as INR.4265 and INR.325 per household respectively for Kattunaikkan and Paniyan communities. Further, if we allow for cost of labour time spent during night in collecting honey, net income per household becomes less.

Table 3: Mean annual household income of two major indigenous communities from NWFPs of commercial use

The definition of the variables used in the forest dependence model and their expected signs are given in Table 4. The estimated results are given in Table 5.

Table 4: Definitions and terms used in Tobit model and their expected signs

The estimated results show that except for two variables, all others have expected signs. There is a significant negative relationship between the dependent variable and annual household income from cultivation. The inverse relationship between household income from non-wood forest products and income from cultivation indicate that households with more agricultural income depend less on NWFP. The inverse relationship between the dependent variable and area under paddy cultivation clearly shows that households who have alternative secured source of livelihood may prefer not to depend more on forest for extraction of various NWFP.

"Location" is a dummy variable introduced to know whether the settlement or hamlet in the forest area influences the intensity of extraction of various forest products. Our assumption is that if people live nearby the source of forest products, there is more chance of extracting the products more intensively. The coefficient of the dummy variable for location has expected sign but not statistically significant at 5 percent level. "Community" is also a dummy variable, which is consistent with the observation that both Kattunaikkan and Paniyan communities collect more NWFP and earn more income compared to Kuruman community. The coefficient is statistically significant.

Table 5: Estimated results of the forest dependency model

* Significant at 5% level.

Another important variable that determines the decision of the members of the household to depend or not to depend on NWFP is level of education. The educated adults may prefer other type of employment to collection of forest products, which is considered to be a low profile occupation. Another important factor, the coefficient of which has a sign against the hypothesis, is the number of adult men in the household. The result shows that there is a negative relationship between number of adult men in the household and income from forest products. However, the result is not statistically significant. The reason may be that the women also actively participate in extraction activities. The negative relationship between annual household occupational income and dependent variable is expected.

5. Conclusions

The conflict between protected area management and the local people residing inside protected area is an unresolved issue in the protection of forest biodiversity. In this paper, we have done an empirical study of forest dependence by indigenous and local communities on a wildlife sanctuary in India. The analysis on overall dependence on forest shows that two indigenous communities depend heavily on forest for various purposes such as extraction of non-wood forest products for subsistence as well as commercial use, fishing, hunting, collection of bamboo, grass etc. The regression analysis shows that income from other sources like cultivation is inversely related to extraction of NWFP. This study corroborated with the other studies that providing alternate source of income for the livelihood either through employment opportunities or by a secured source of income from cultivation would help reduce the pressure on protected area.

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