Description
This report is based on research and analysis undertaken with the objective of deepening the understanding of CCAs in India, primarily to achieve two goals. Firstly, to bring to light the unknown conservation efforts undertaken in India and secondly, to attempt an action plan that would cater to the individual and overall needs of these areas. This report is based on research in nineteen sites across six Indian states, studied over a year. The wealth of knowledge of CCAs available through a decade of research in India provided the lens through which the data, from the nineteen sites, was analysed. This report attempts to deepen the discussion by (re)defining CCAs and establishing, what appear to be, their core characteristics. The report continues to identify overarching threats and challenges faced by CCAs within the Indian context. The effects that these spaces create within the ecological, cultural and political spheres of the CCAs in question are also documented herein. In recent years, the view that conservation is a purely technocratic activity is changing. This allows for more spaces for community participation in conservation. The report is organised in two parts. It gives a brief analysis of the various laws and policies that have been and can been applied to support and strengthen CCAs. It also takes the reader through some case studies from different parts of India. In conclusion, the report attempts the ambitious task of weaving together the stories of conservation to synthesise the many experiences into a document that can be used to both further the discussion on these spaces and further practice within these such a category pf conservation.