Embedded conservation: The case of Bera village, Alwar District, Rajasthan

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Embedded conservation: The case of Bera village, Alwar District, Rajasthan

Bera is a village of approximately 40 households located in Core II of Sariska Tiger Reserve. The population of Bera is comprised entirely of Gujar pastoralists, who depend on the forest for animal fodder, as well as for fuel wood and various non-timber forest produce. Since 1979, when 866 sq km of the region’s forest were brought under the remit of Project Tiger, Bera’s continued occupation of the area has been considered illegal. The village has ceased to be recognised as inhabited in the District Census Abstract (1991), and has been largely ignored by the state government, who neither tax the community nor offer possibilities for development. Since the early 1990s, KRAPAVIS (Krishi Avam Paristhitiki Vikas Sansthan), a local NGO, has been working with the people of Bera to enhance their capacity for resource conservation and to campaign for the rights of the region’s pastoralist communities.