Vasant Saberwal - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Vasant Saberwal

Conservation Biology, 1997

Conservation and Society, 2021

The Exclusionary Logic Indian protected areas are managed with the explicit objective of reducing... more The Exclusionary Logic Indian protected areas are managed with the explicit objective of reducing human consumptive use of resources within their boundaries. This is particularly true of national parks, within which the annual firing of forests or grasslands, cattle grazing, cultivation, the collection of non-timber products and any human residence is technically illegal unless part of management objectives. The overall objective is to allow nature to take its course, with minimal human disturbance or management inputs of any kind. National park and wildlife sanctuary managers are not always successful in excluding people, but achieving a state of 'naturalness', devoid of the human presence remains a key objective for the former. 1 The roots of two principal tenets within Indian and international conservation ideology can be traced to philosophical writings and ecological theorizing. The first is the notion of 'natural wilderness' areas, within which human resource u...

Himalaya the Journal of the Association For Nepal and Himalayan Studies, 2001

Agrarian Environments, 2000

Studies in History, 2004

This paper is an exploration of how colonial forest policy in Uttara Kannara district of present ... more This paper is an exploration of how colonial forest policy in Uttara Kannara district of present day Karnataka was critically shaped by the interests of the Havik Brahmin community. Despite the protests of the forest department, the Havik community was provided a remarkably generous forest settlement to enable their production of areca nut, a high revenue earner for the revenue department. We explore the contours of the debates of the time and the strategies deployed by these areca nut cultivators. Ultimately, as is illustrated here, the forest department was able to enforce a restrictive conservation regime vis-‡-vis only certain sections of the population. By highlighting the capability of certain elites in negotiating with the state, we attempt to bolster the argument that colonial forest policy was neither excessively oppressive nor completely pliant in the face of local resistance.

Nomadic Peoples, 2004

In this collection of articles, we attempt to bring together some of the more recent viewpoints o... more In this collection of articles, we attempt to bring together some of the more recent viewpoints on different forms of pastoralism in South Asia. Our objective is to document the enormous variety of adaptations and strategies that pastoralists in South Asia have crafted to address variations in the environmental, social and political risks they confront. Their actions belie the common image of pastoralists as irrational, whimsical and politically passive migrants. Instead, it reveals them as consciously pursuing a variety of sophisticated strategies. The articles in this issue also document precisely how many pastoralists work with states, with markets and as communities as they pursue their livelihoods and organise socio-politically.

Journal of Peasant Studies, 2006

This article explores the interacting politics of development and conservation and the contradict... more This article explores the interacting politics of development and conservation and the contradiction between conservation and democracy through the specific experiences in the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), India. Unravelling the connections between the local, regional, national and the global, in the sphere of politics, conservation, and development, we examine the context within which the specific conservation outcomes have evolved. We argue that centralized governance of nature–especially wildlife conservation ...

Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, 2000

Wildlife conservation in India, as in most parts of the world, is complex and often contentious. ... more Wildlife conservation in India, as in most parts of the world, is complex and often contentious. What on die surface appears to be a simple issue of protecting wild animals and plants from forces beyond their control, on closer inspection quickly dissolves into a complex tangle of conflicting issues: human rights versus the protection of animals and forests, the exclusion of all humans from protected areas versus die possibility of human coexistence with wildlife and the exclusive state control over protected areas versus increased local participation in protected area management. Indeed, beyond the broad objective of preserving nature, there is often little in common among the various positions adopted by conservationists as to the specifics of what is to be protected, for, by and from whom. Conservation practice necessarily entails the imposition of regulations over access to certain resources with specific people or institutions attempting to define who has access to those resources and on what terms. The outcome of negotiated access to resources is largely a reflection of power relations at the local, regional or national level. There are critical questions revolving around our understanding of how ecosystems work and the need to employ accurate science in the management of protected areas, but here too the links between power and knowledge influence our perception of the natural world and the optimal means of managing it. Conservation practice is, therefore, a profoundly political process. I will make a simple point in this essay: what gets conserved, and by whom, will ultimately be determined by social and political processes as much, if not more, than by the scientific knowledge we bring to bear on resource management.

The Journal of Asian Studies, 2000

The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 1997

Acknowledgements: This article is based on research conducted among the Gaddi pastoralists of Him... more Acknowledgements: This article is based on research conducted among the Gaddi pastoralists of Himachal Pradesh during 1993-95. I am indebted to the herders of Bara Bangahal and Mandher villages for their generosity and patience in accommodating me and answering my many questions. The Himachal Pradesh Forest Department provided logistical and other support. Staff at the National Archives, Delhi; Himachal Pradesh Archives, Simla; India Office library, London; and the Forestry and Seely Mudd Libraries at Yale University assisted in tracking the documentation I have used here. The study was funded by the Biodiversity Support Program (a consortium of the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy and the World Resources Institute, with funding by the U.S. Agency for International Development), the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the American Institute of Indian Studies. The text has benefitted greatly from discussions with K. Sivaramakrishnan, Nancy Peluso, Mahesh Rangarajan, Pauline Peters, Joe Miller and the members of the Spring 1995 student colloquium of the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University.

Environmental History, 2001

... special word of gratitude for the following: Farhad Vania, Priya Das, K. Christopher, Suniti ... more ... special word of gratitude for the following: Farhad Vania, Priya Das, K. Christopher, Suniti Jha, RV Anuradha, Banusri Taneja, Shekhar Singh, Swati Sreshtha, Jaishree Suryanarayanan, Sunita Rao, Pradeep Malhotra, Pankaj Sekhsaria, Pratibha Pande, and Sanjay Upadhyaya. ...

Environment and History, 1998

Recent ecological research has questioned the scientific validity of a number of environmental di... more Recent ecological research has questioned the scientific validity of a number of environmental disaster scenarios, particularly those centred on the causal linkages between deforestation and desertification and intensified flooding. This essay explores the progression of theoretical models and empirical research linked to the understanding of the capacity of forested systems to regulate the hydrological regimes of a given area. Drawing upon writings of American and Indian foresters, I suggest that a diversity of viewpoints with regard to the climatic and protective capabilities of forests, expressed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries gradually gave way to a more unified - and highly alarmist - 'desiccationist' discourse by the middle of the 20th century. This position has been sustained within much of the popular press as well as in the publications of numerous conservation agencies, despite being based on models of forest functioning discredited in the ecological...

Contributions to Indian Sociology, 2001

Conservation Biology, 1996

The social sciences and humanities are essentially absent from most conservation biology or wildl... more The social sciences and humanities are essentially absent from most conservation biology or wildlife management courses in the developing world. This is a critical shortcoming because of human dependence on natural resources within protected areas and the escalating conflicts between humans and wildlife and between local communities and state agencies over access to resources. We call for increased input from the social sciences and the humanities in conservation biology and wildlife management curricula in the developing world. We suggest some materials and methods that should ideally be a part of such curricula. Las dimensiones humanas en el curriculum de la biologia de la conservaci6n en los paises en vias de desarrollo Resumen: En los paises en vias de desarrolo, las ciencias sociales y humanisticas estd~n ausentes en la mayoria de los cursos de biologia de la conservaci6n o de manejo de vida silvestre. Esta es una fuerte limitaci6n por la dependencia humana de los recursos naturales dentro de t~reas protegidas, asi como los crecientes conflictos entre humanos y vida silvestre asf como entre pobladores locales y gobierno por el acceso a los recursos. Solicitamos mayor aportaci6n de las ciencias sociales y humanisticas a los curricula de biologia de la conservaci6n y manejo de vida silvestre en paises en vias de desarroilo y proponemos algunos de los materiales y m~todos que debieran, idealmente, ser parte de tales curricula.

Conservation Biology, 2005

There seems to be a worldwide lack of political will for conservation that leads, inevitably, to ... more There seems to be a worldwide lack of political will for conservation that leads, inevitably, to an undermining of conservation policy. This is a standard complaint but one that has received little academic attention. In an attempt to better understand the gap between conservation policy and practice, we examined conservation policies and practice as they have played out in the Great Himalayan National Park, Himachal Pradesh, India, over the past two decades. In particular we consider the park's experience within two larger contexts: (1) Himachal's current development orientation, which seeks to transform the state into the electrical powerhouse of the country by building over 300 medium and large power projects and (2) electoral politics that result in politician's support for villagers and others denied access to national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Each of these factors works to undermine state conservation policies. Conservationists need to build political bridges with local communities if they are to use electoral power to work for rather than against conservation. Only such electoral power can be expected to force governments to adopt more cautious policies in advancing a particular development agenda. In the absence of strategic alignments in places such as Himachal Pradesh with strong democratic traditions, one must expect continued political support for potentially destructive megaprojects and an absence of political support for the conservation of biological diversity.