People's Dependency and Conservation Attitude: An Assessment for the Protected Area Management

The Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar state of India is situated in the foothills of the Himalaya. It is surrounded by hundreds of villages, which exert tremendous biotic pressure on the Reserve leading to deterioration in wildlife habitat as well as depletion in biological resources. The villagers were traditionally dependent on the resources of the Reserve for livelihood and sustenance. Removal of forest resources from wildlife protected areas has become illegal in India and the villagers are prohibited to extract these resources. Such an attempt often results into hostile attitude of local community towards forest staff and wildlife. Due to proximity to the forest, human-wildlife conflict is also prominent in the villages. All these factors ultimately builds-up negative opinion towards wildlife conservation. The study aimed at knowing the extent and pattern of villagers' dependency on the Reserve. It also tried to assess conservation attitude of people analyzed as a function of socio-economic, forest dependence, awareness and human-wildlife conflict factors.