Communities and Conservation : Natural Resource Management in South and Central Asia/edited by Ashish Kothari Neema Pathak, R.V. Anuradha and Bansuri Taneja. 1998, 505 p., map, $45. ISBN 81-7036-739-5.
Contents: Preface. I. Introduction: 1. Community-based conservation: issues and prospects/Ashish Kothari, R.V. Anuradha and Neema Pathak. 2. Diversity and sustainability in community-based conservation/Michel Pimbert and Jules Pretty. II. Country Overviews: 3. Community-based conservation in India/Arvind Khare. 4. Conservation by local communities in the Maldives/Muhammed Zuhair. 5. Towards community-based conservation in Mongolia/D. Myagmarsuren. 6. Involving local communities in conservation: the case of Nepal/Bharat Shrestha. 7. Community-based conservation: experiences from Pakistan/G.M. Khattak. 8. The practice of community-based conservation in Sri Lanka/Avanti Jayatilake, Nirmalie Pallewatta and J. Wickramanayake. III. Emerging Issues: 9. Issues and opportunities in co-management: lessons from Sri Lanka/Philip J. DeCosse and Sherine S. Jayawickrama. 10. Grassroots conservation practices: revitalizing the traditions/Madhav Gadgil. 11. Conserving the sacred: ecological and policy implications/P.S. Ramakrishnan. 12. Tribal communities and conservation in India/Amita Baviskar. 13. Conservation through community enterprise/Seema Bhatt. 14. Conserving a community resource: medicinal plants/Darshan Shankar. 15. Institutional structures for community-based conservation/G. Raju. 16. Gender and equity concerns in joint forest management/Madhu Sarin with Lipika Ray, Manju S. Raju, Mitali Chatterjee, Narayan Banerjee and Shyamala Hiremath. 17. Legal and policy issues in community-based conservation/B.J. Krishnan. IV. Case Studies: 18. Self-initiated conservation in India's Protected Areas: the cases of Kailadevi and Dalma Sanctuaries/Priya Das and K. Christopher. 19. People's Protected Areas: Alwar district, India/Rajendra Singh. 20. Traditional community conservation in the Indian Himalayas: Nanda Devi biosphere reserve/R.K. Maikhuri, Sunil Nautiyal, K.S. Rao, K.G. Saxena and R.L. Semwal. 21. An NGO initiated sanctuary: Chakrashila, India/Soumyadeep Datta. 22. Conservation by local communities in North-East India/D. Choudhury. 23. Community enterprise for conservation in India: Biligiri Rangaswamy temple sanctuary/Sharachchandra Lele, K.S. Murali and Kamaljit S. Bawa. 24. Tribals and conservation: Chinnar sanctuary, India/U.M. Chandrashekara and S. Sankar. 25. Communities protecting coastal resources: Rekawa Lagoon, Sri Lanka/S.U.K. Ekaratne, John Davenport, D. Lee and R.S. Walgama. Glossary.
"Throughout the world, community involvement in conserving the natural habitat, wildlife and biodiversity is becoming the preferred method, marking a shift away from the top-down approach that has characterized such efforts in the last few decades. This volume of original essays constitutes perhaps the first comprehensive treatment of recent community-based conservation efforts in South and Central Asia and explores a wide range of policies, practices, strategies and issues related to participatory conservation.
"With its unique blend of theory and practice and its wide comparative coverage in terms of issues discussed and countries studied, this volume will be essential reading for all those involved with environmental studies, natural resource management, bio-diversity, ecology, community development and development studies. It will also be of interest to policy-makers, administrators, NGOs and donor organizations."
[Ashish Kothari is Lecturer in Environmental Studies at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi.]