A project in India is trying to make it possible for traditional communities to learn to live alongside tigers in an internationally recognised reserve.

The Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, is the Indian tiger’s natural habitat. It was designated as a wildlife sanctuary in 1980. Over the last 30 years, the growth in human population has put pressure on the area’s deciduous forest, causing the tiger count to plummet and when poachers claimed the lives of 22 tigers, only one breeding male was left.

Recognising the urgent need to tackle the root causes of poaching, as well as reducing the villagers’ dependency on the forests for fuel, Dr Goverdhan Rathore set up the Prakratik Society.

http://www.positivenews.org.uk/artman/publish/article_1555.shtml