women forest guards in tiger
reserve
rainforest information centre,
australia
The tribal people who live in and around
the Periyar Tiger Reserve in India once
enjoyed a sustainable lifestyle of shifting
agriculture, hunting and fishing. In the
1880s, however, the British administration
forcefully suppressed shifting cultivation,
planting teak and other commercially
valuable timber species instead. Tribal
people were forced to remain in one place,
and resorted to gathering wood from the
forest to sell and to use as fuel. Over the
decades, the relationship between official
forestry and tribal peoples remained one of
strong mistrust.
The Periyar Tiger Reserve is the most
biodiverse region in India, with tigers,
leopards, elephants, bison, wild boar,
giant squirrels, monkeys and some 470 bird
species. In 1996, as part of an
ecodevelopment program in the reserve,
forestry officials visited the local
communities to discuss the consequences of
wood collection on the nearby forest.“We
knew that our activities were destroying
the forest, we had seen the impacts
directly, but we couldn’t help it, we
needed to live,”said one of the women.
The eco-development project managers
knew that they needed the support of the
local women, and the women knew that they
needed to protect their environments in
order to survive. As a result, local
peoples’ committees were implemented, and
today some 100 women ranging in age between
20 and 55 volunteer to patrol the forest
for illegal wood collectors and poachers.
“Now when I see someone cutting even a
small green tree, I feel as if my own child
is being hurt.”
Today the women use fuel much more
sparingly, mostly for heating water. They
pay special attention to the valuable and
overexploited Sandal tree which produces an
essential oil used in religious ceremonies,
bath soap and perfumes. Their work has not
been easy, and they have had to battle
ridicule from the local men as well as
their own doubts and fears. “Will I be able
to do this? I used to be afraid of the
forests and the animals,” one veteran
forest guard remembered thinking. As a
result of their work, women have become
more respected in their communities and
more in touch with the forests they
protect.
how you can help
:
Rainforest Information Centre is
soliciting funds internationally to provide
the uniforms and raincoats that the women
have requested. To contribute, please
visit:
www.rainforestinfo.org.au/aboutthe.htm#Do
nations
