Conservation & Rights of Indigenous People : A Legal Perspective

Abstract

Ecosystem dwellers’ of all kinds – wild animals, plants and indigenous people inhabiting these natural spaces are in a crisis today.  Adding to the complications, are the wildlife conservation strategies of modern nation States that tend to view indigenous people as being opposed to cause of conservation. World-over, including in India, wildlife conservation and the rights of indigenous people tend to be viewed as mutually exclusive goals. This is despite reports of U.N and other international organizations, recognizing Indigenous peoples’ stewardship and relationship with nature.  Exclusionary conservation regimes in India too, have not taken the rights of forest dwellers, including inter alia their right to forest produce, into account. There is a need to reconcile the conflicting goals of conservation and indigenous peoples’ rights’, so as protect them both.  This paper is an exercise to that end.