Commons and Wildlife Conservation

This entry looks at the commons (land and other resources that are subject to common use) and wildlife conservation (protecting plant and animal species and their habitats). Historically, the societies of Northeast India had developed sophisticated ideas about shared resources. These were challenged by colonial and postcolonial concepts, an encounter that has many dimensions. Here, this entry focuses on just one: the emergence of zones that the state set aside for the protection of wildlife. ‘Vertical’ conservation spread throughout Northeast India, and this led to tensions between humans over who actually own the local habitat and has the right to fashion it. It also created new confrontations between humans and protected ‘flagship species’. Social scientists suggest that we can mitigate these complications by imagining ‘interspecies communities’ that embrace humans, animals, and plants.