Wildlife-tourism, local communities and tiger conservation: A village-level study in Corbett Tiger Reserve, India

• Tourism is negatively impacting ecology and village society in Corbett Tiger Reserve.
• Agricultural land use has decreased by more than 50% between 1999 and 2011.
• Tourism drives financial disparity undermining conservation and creating conflicts.
• Tourist resorts as village actors are challenging traditional institutions.
• Stronger village institutions are needed to aid conservation objectives outside Tiger Reserves.

This paper presents the results of research conducted in a village on the south-eastern boundary of Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) which has experienced rapid and dramatic social–ecological change as a result of tiger-related tourism. Our aim was to better understand the impacts of wildlife tourism on the forest ecosystem, village structure, solidarity and institutions and consider the implications of this for tiger conservation management and policy. Our results indicate that while wildlife tourism established linkages between the village society and the global economy, it negatively impacted the local community and ecology. It also created a new village entity, tourist resorts, which are neither an individual nor a village member making dispute-resolution impossible under existing institutional structures. Our results suggest that future forest and conservation policy and management strategies should de-emphasize the monetary function of wildlife-tourism, and instead focus on building social capital and strengthening local institutions. This will likely increase the adaptive capacity of villages to the impacts of tourism and mitigate the associated ecological impacts.