Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have long been valued as an important source of subsistence, income and employment. However, the sustainability of their extraction, especially from protected areas, is hotly debated; their cultural and economic importance is weighed against the environmental impact on biodiversity. Nagarhole National Park in South India has been a protected region since 1955 and covers an area of 64,330 hectares. In this paper, Ninan studies the value of NTFPs to tribals and the extended community living in the national park and in particular attempts to estimate the value of NTFPs to local households and the extended community. By calculating the net benefits to the community and individual households, both including and excluding the wider impact on wildlife in the area, Ninan reveals that whilst harvesting NTFPs may be beneficial on a local scale, on a wider scale the benefits are negative. Furthermore, Ninan investigates the willingness of tribals to relocate and the influences affecting these decisions, concluding that better incentives need to be offered if the government wants tribals living in the centre of the national park to relocate.

Prepared by Hilda Galt