Vol. 5 · No. 2 · 2001 · pp. 154-162 (9)
Of Lions, Herders and Conservationists:Brief Notes on the Gir Forest National Park in Gujarat (Western-India)
Michael J. Casimir
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In this paper I shall briefly examine one such natural reserve in South Asia, where conflicts between transhumants, mainly sheep herders, and local government forest departments (e.g. Kavoori 1996) are on the increase. I focus on the situation of the Maldhari, buffalo and cow-breeding herders of the Gir forest in the state of Gujarat in an arid region of western India. The Maldhari are confronted by a dual problem: their expulsion from their forest pasture lands and the growing number of attacks from the Asiatic lion, for whose protection a sanctuary and the Gir Forest National Park within it were established (see Map 1).