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Conservation through Sustainable Use The human use of nature is a polarizing topic in India and across the globe, often perceived as contradictory to traditional exclusionary conservation. However, India’s natural landscapes serve as important sources of biological resources for many communities. This collection of case studies on sustainable use practices throughout India aims to identify the policies, management strategies, and knowledge contexts that contribute to resource use without damaging biological diversity. Through a diverse array of personal accounts, stories and photographs from the field, and ongoing research studies across biogeographic zones, readers will connect with academics, practitioners, managers, and policy analysts who challenge us to rethink the conservation paradigm. These chapters provide a reflection on the history of conservation and sustainable use in India and illuminate a path towards a local and global future in which biodiversity and human well-being go hand in hand. The wide variety of authors in this book reflects the broad audience this book will be of interest to, from students studying environmental conservation and sustainability to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who work in the field and seek to learn about successful sustainable use systems and resulting lessons that have widespread application. This book will appeal to readers interested in the areas of environment sciences, biodiversity management, sustainable development, developmental studies, forestry, wildlife and protected area management, public policy, environmental policy, and governance. Anita Varghese is Director (Biodiversity) at Keystone Foundation. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Zoology (Bombay University), master’s degree in Ecology (Pondicherry University), and a doctorate in Botany (University of Hawaii). Her interests are in plant conservation specifically on sustainable use, non-timber forest products, long-term population dynamics of harvested species, invasive plants, cycads, and forest trees. Meera Anna Oommen is a trustee of Dakshin Foundation, Bangalore, and the Madras Crocodile Bank. She works on issues related to ecology, conservation science, and environmental history. Her recent work focuses on incorporating insights from multiple disciplines to understand the dynamics of human–wildlife conflict, aspects related to human–animal relationships, and the history of hunting in India. Mridula Mary Paul is a postgraduate researcher at the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. She has previously been Senior Policy Analyst with the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru, and practised environmental law before the Madras High Court. Snehlata Nath is Founder Director of Keystone Foundation and has worked on conservation-livelihoods-enterprise with indigenous people in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. She co-founded the NTFP Exchange Program network across Asia and has coordinated the India chapter for over 20 years. Conservation through Sustainable Use Lessons from India Edited by Anita Varghese, Meera Anna Oommen, Mridula Mary Paul, and Snehlata Nath First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Anita Varghese, Meera Anna Oommen, Mridula Mary Paul, and Snehlata Nath; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Anita Varghese, Meera Anna Oommen, Mridula Mary Paul, and Snehlata Nath to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-032-29083-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-38102-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-34349-3 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003343493 Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of Figures viii List of Contributors x Foreword xv Acknowledgements xvi 1 An introduction to sustainable use: And its contribution to biodiversity conservation in India 1 ANITA VARGHESE, MRIDULA MARY PAUL, MEERA ANNA OOMMEN, AND SNEHLATA NATH 2 Sustainable use and biodiversity conservation: When the twain shall meet! 6 SNEHLATA NATH, MEERA ANNA OOMMEN, MRIDULA MARY PAUL, AND ANITA VARGHESE PART I Governance 13 3 The governance of sustainable use: Historical legacy and contemporary deployment 15 MRIDULA MARY PAUL 4 Small islands, big lessons: Critical insights on sustainable fisheries from India’s coral atolls 27 NAVEEN NAMBOOTHRI, ISHAAN KHOT, AND ABEL JOB ABRAHAM vi Contents PART II Enterprises 41 5 Ensuring sustainable harvests through market-based tools and community-based organizations: A practitioner’s perspective 43 SNEHLATA NATH 6 Sustainable use of wild medicinal plant resources: Developing field methods for sustainable collection and direct market linkages 59 JAGANNATHA RAO R. AND DEEPA G.B. PART III Community knowledge 69 7 The pig and the turtle: An ecological reading of ritual and taboo in ethnographic accounts on Andamanese hunter-gatherers 71 MEERA ANNA OOMMEN 8 Rethinking indigenous hunting in Northeastern India: Some lessons for academics and practitioners 84 AMBIKA AIYADURAI AND SAYAN BANERJEE 9 Sustainable grazing practices: Conserving biodiversity in an Asian tropical grassland 97 PANKAJ JOSHI PART IV Intangible benefits 111 10 Counting to conserve: The role of communities and civil society in monitoring marine turtles 113 KARTIK SHANKER AND MURALIDHARAN MANOHARAKRISHNAN 11 Bringing reptiles into the conservation sphere: A personal account 131 ZAI WHITAKER 12 Linking ecotourism and biodiversity conservation: Lessons from India 142 KUNAL SHARMA AND LOKESH KUMAR Contents vii 13 Sacred groves of Central India: Beyond the botany and the ecology 165 MADHU RAMNATH PART V Conclusion 173 14 Sustainable use and biodiversity conservation: Experiences, challenges, and ways forward 175 ANITA VARGHESE, SNEHLATA NATH, MEERA ANNA OOMMEN, AND MRIDULA MARY PAUL Glossary 181 Index 182 Figures 4.1 Pole-and-line fishing for skipjack tuna as practised in Lakshadweep 29 4.2 Meeting with representatives of the Minicoy fisheries Jamaat, May 2018 31 4.3 A modern variant of Labari used for in-water storage of leftover baitfish 33 4.4 Launch of community-based fisheries monitoring programme in Agatti 35 4.5 Infographic depicting CBFM 36 4.6 Launch of Dakshin’s fisheries co-management initiative in Kavaratti, May 2019 37 5.1 The three pillars of sustainability 44 5.2 NTFP processing in progress 45 5.3 Tendu leaf collection in Madhya Pradesh 48 5.4 Terminalia chebula fruit collection in Chhattisgarh 49 5.5 Gum collection in Chhattisgarh 49 5.6 Medicinal plants raised in a nursery 51 5.7 Medicinal plant nursery 51 5.8 Farmers with root of Decalepis hamiltonii 52 5.9 Honey collection from combs of Apis dorsata on Nilgiri cliffs 53 5.10 Ecological, socio-cultural, and economic approaches used in the sustainable management of wild honey 55 6.1 Wild plant market channels before intervention 65 6.2 Wild plant market channels after intervention 66 8.1 Skull display in Nagaland 85 8.2 Idu Mishmi Shaman (Igu) 87 8.3 Otter skin 88 8.4 Head gear with artificial hornbill beak 90 9.1 Tropical grasslands of Banni in Kutch, Gujarat 98 9.2 Location of Nani Daddhar Taluka 99 9.3 Focus group discussion in Daddhar 100 9.4 Land use and vegetation types of Nani Daddhar Taluka 101 9.5 Prosopis mixed saline habitat in Daddhar 102 Figures ix 9.6 Ground-truthing expedition 102 9.7 Distribution of grazing areas 103 9.8 Hanj Tal 104 9.9 Distribution of wildlife in the grazing areas 106 10.1 Field staff and researchers of the monitoring programme in Rushikulya, Odisha, after a night of counting turtles during an arribada 117 10.2 Late Dhambru Behera, a senior field assistant in Odisha, explaining how the olive ridleys nesting at Rushikulya were his friends and would not harm anyone 118 10.3 Olive ridley nests being relocated to a hatchery managed by Dakshin Foundation in Rushikulya, Odisha by field staff (Magata Behera, Bipro Behera, and Mahendra Nayak) from Purunabandha village 119 10.4 Saw Thesorow and Saw John recording the clutch size of a leatherback nest in West Bay, Little Andaman Island 122 10.5 Saw Coloumbus, Saw John, Saw Thesorow, and Adhith Swaminathan attaching a satellite transmitter on a leatherback in the Andamans 123 11.1 The plant nursery of ITWWS 135 11.2 The newly completed gharial enclosure at the Croc Bank gets its first inhabitant 136 11.3 The king cobra rescuers of Agumbe (Ajay Giri, Rom, and Kumar) 138 11.4 The Aka-Bea, ANET’s first research boat 139 12.1 Guests at Binsar Forest Retreat, a private ecolodge model for ecotourism in India 143 12.2 Team BFR at Binsar Forest Retreat 150 12.3 Room interior at Binsar Forest Retreat 151 12.4 Nature walk at Binsar Forest Retreat 152 12.5 The grounds outside of Raju’s Homestay 154 12.6 Waterfall landscape at LWF field site 156 12.7 Pardhi naturalists with guests of Taj Safaris on a guided walk 157 12.8 Women at work threshing and hand-pounding 158