Major drivers for reducing vulnerability of forest-fringe communities in Kanha Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh and designing suitable adaptation strategies

Climate change has impacted forest ecosystems and their associated benefits/services that play an important role in global ecological balance and support the livelihood of the rural poor, especially in the forest fringe villages. A higher dependency on natural resources, lack of other livelihood options and disconnectedness from mainstream development make these villages more vulnerable to climate change. At the same time, forests in the protected areas face increased anthropogenic pressure due to tourism, settlements and unsustainable extraction of forest produce and fuel wood, which in turn, degrade the forest resources and threaten the associated livelihoods. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the vulnerability of forest fringe villages of Kanha Tiger Reserve (KTR) and suggest suitable adaptation strategies based on identified drivers of vulnerability. Scores of the vulnerability index were computed using an indicator-based approach, on data collected from 196 households spread over 17 villages across the buffer region of KTR. The major drivers of the vulnerability identified using principal component analysis are: socioeconomic status, enabling facilities, resource extraction, resource adjacency and economic assets. Furthermore, economic conditions, access to electricity, and diversity of occupants in a household were identified as the most important drivers of vulnerability in the region. Based on these findings, we suggest a need for enhancing the income of the tribal population through livelihood diversification, skill development for government-related programs, improvement of agricultural practices, development of health facilities, improved market linkages, CSR activities and involvement of local villagers in Tiger Reserve related activities. Though many activities are implemented within the KTR, these activities can be further strengthened based on the identified indicators of vulnerability. This study provides implications for formulating adaptation and forest management strategies and policies. Additionally, such findings can serve as a benchmark for designing suitable site-specific adaptation strategies based on the major drivers of vulnerability to reduce the vulnerability of forest-dependent villages in other protected areas of the country.