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Following the mainstream narrative of biodiversity conservation, state-led policies of pastoralist removal from protected areas have been a common practice across parts of Asia and Africa. In the Himalayan region, restrictive access and removal of pastoralist communities from protected areas have been assumed to be the best remedy for rangeland conservation. But does this practice translate into any benefits for conservation? This paper critiques the current conservation model adopted in the Indian Himalayas. I argue that this model simply recreates a landscape favouring the state’s interests, produces exclusions, and may also negatively affect both society and ecology. I build on a case study of a grazing ban implemented in the state of Sikkim in the year 1998. Livestock herding in protected areas was restricted, and pastoral evictions were carried out across the state between 2000– 2002. Fifteen years after the ban, I conducted a mix methods study to understand the long- term social as well as ecological implications of the prohibition on grazing as well as that of the pastoral evictions in and around Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP). My methods included both semi structured interviews as well as ethnographic survey in addition to the secondary data analysis between the year 2015-2019. My results show that pastoral evictions result in the further impoverishment of weaker sections of the pastoral community while powerful pastoralists appropriate benefits from conservation policies. Additionally, evictions do not necessarily aid in “biodiversity conservation”; instead, they give rise to social conflicts within the local community and lead to the emergence of new conservation challenges. I conclude that instead of pastoral displacement, a successful conservation plan could be co-opting local knowledge and local institutions in identifying ways of cultural and conservation coexistence in the pastoral landscape of South Asia, paying closer attention to questions of equality and sustainability.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.13023/x6bb-gq87

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Saving Rangelands from Pastoralists? Understanding the Long-Term Socio-Ecological Consequences of the Current Rangeland Conservation Model in the Indian Himalaya

Following the mainstream narrative of biodiversity conservation, state-led policies of pastoralist removal from protected areas have been a common practice across parts of Asia and Africa. In the Himalayan region, restrictive access and removal of pastoralist communities from protected areas have been assumed to be the best remedy for rangeland conservation. But does this practice translate into any benefits for conservation? This paper critiques the current conservation model adopted in the Indian Himalayas. I argue that this model simply recreates a landscape favouring the state’s interests, produces exclusions, and may also negatively affect both society and ecology. I build on a case study of a grazing ban implemented in the state of Sikkim in the year 1998. Livestock herding in protected areas was restricted, and pastoral evictions were carried out across the state between 2000– 2002. Fifteen years after the ban, I conducted a mix methods study to understand the long- term social as well as ecological implications of the prohibition on grazing as well as that of the pastoral evictions in and around Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP). My methods included both semi structured interviews as well as ethnographic survey in addition to the secondary data analysis between the year 2015-2019. My results show that pastoral evictions result in the further impoverishment of weaker sections of the pastoral community while powerful pastoralists appropriate benefits from conservation policies. Additionally, evictions do not necessarily aid in “biodiversity conservation”; instead, they give rise to social conflicts within the local community and lead to the emergence of new conservation challenges. I conclude that instead of pastoral displacement, a successful conservation plan could be co-opting local knowledge and local institutions in identifying ways of cultural and conservation coexistence in the pastoral landscape of South Asia, paying closer attention to questions of equality and sustainability.