Pursuing Indigenous Community of Wildlife Hunting Tribes Communities of Tharparkar, to protect wildlife, through social mainstreaming, organisation and capacity building

 

Tharparkar District is a semi-arid and sandy area in the South Eastern region of Pakistan, on the eastern border of India. The district is spread over 22,000 sq. Km. with a human population of about 1 million. The majority of people are poor. Unfortunately wildlife and its habitat are under severe pressure and threat due to illegal hunting and poaching in whole Tharparkar including Nagarparkar. The local wildlife and forest department do not possess the capacity to halt illegal hunting or deforestation.

 

Hunters from outside towns hire indigenous Kolhi and Bheel people to spot animals and their young ones or eggs for meager amount of money. Kolhi / Bheels are very poor and marginalized, culturally and economically, they do not have much choice for earning their livelihoods, therefore they have become part of a process of wild habitat destruction and wildlife destruction itself, as they earn their livelihood by helping hunters and poachers in tracking animals and their eggs/ young ones. These communities are very low at the social ladder and thus are being discriminated as untouchables by the majority population. Since they don’t have a social dignity therefore they don’t hesitate to hunt animals for money.

Since the local Kolhi/ Bheel community has been generally blamed for being an instrument to destroy ecology of the area, therefore the primary objective of the project is to establish a long term partnership with the local communities of indigenous Kolhi/ Bheel people to protect the biodiversity of Tharparkar, and convert them pro-environment from anti-environment community.

 

The project aims to develop self esteem and dignity among these indigenous communities through organizing them and build their collective organizational capacity. The project aims at counseling and pursuing indigenous tribes of Kolhi / Bheels to give up this harmful practice and rather become wildlife friendly community. This could only be done through offering them alternative livelihood opportunities. These livelihood means includes handicrafts making, masonery, carpet making, etc. in which these communities have shown some interest. However this transition from hunting to other usual trades will take some time and reources. There is a need to further broaden the project and creation of a revolving fund through which these people can buy required tools and raw material to start a new and respectable livelihood.

 

Mr. Tanveer Arif

CEO, Society for Conservation and Protectin of Environment (SCOPE)

D-141 (annexy) Block-2 P.E.C.H.S