CHALLENGE

India aimed to involve the local community in the tourism value chain along with conservation efforts for biodiversity at the forest reserve.

INITIATIVE

The main features of the programme related to community involvement include:
– Development of homestays in nearby villages;
– Training of local villagers as tour guides in storytelling, identification of animal calls and sensitization towards tourists;
– Readiness assessment programmes;
– Enabling sense of ownership amongst locals to ensure conservation;
– Creating alternate activities and experiences; and
– Enhancing income of locals.

IMPACT

Today, the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve is regarded as one of the world’s most preferred tiger destinations, with over 80 tigers in the reserve and 200 in the larger landscape. Thanks to the functional connectivity of the reserve with other protected areas in the central Indian tiger landscape, tigers in Tadoba are now found restocking the gene pools of protected areas such as Navegaon-Nagzira, Umred-Karhandla and Tipeshwar, and forests as far afield as Kawal, Nagarjunsagar and Indravati.