Policy Experts Call for Three-Tier Wildlife Habitat Classification to Reduce Human Conflict

Wildlife management experts are calling for a reclassification of wild habitats into three distinct tiers — strict protected areas, sustainable-use zones and human habitation zones — to better balance conservation outcomes with the safety and livelihoods of communities living alongside wildlife. The proposal draws on international wildlife management frameworks and recent amendments to India's Wildlife Protection Act.

Under the proposed framework, the first tier would comprise protected areas where wildlife is fully shielded from any form of utilisation. A second tier covering buffer zones and other forests would permit sustainable, regulated harvesting of wildlife, with revenues distributed to vulnerable communities. The third tier would encompass human habitation areas including croplands, from which large mammals causing repeated harm would be removed promptly using the most effective methods available.

Proponents argue that the current system, which applies broadly protective rules across many landscape types, has failed to provide adequate relief to communities suffering crop losses, livestock predation and physical danger from wildlife conflicts. They point to the insertion of the term 'conservation' — implying consumption alongside preservation — into the preamble of the amended Wildlife Protection Act as legal grounding for allowing sustainable use in appropriate zones. International models, particularly in southern and eastern Africa, have demonstrated that linking wildlife to economic benefit for local communities can improve both tolerance and conservation outcomes.

Critics of any relaxation of wildlife protections warn that poorly designed sustainable-use schemes can increase poaching, reduce biodiversity and undermine ecological connectivity. The debate reflects a deeper tension in Indian conservation policy between fortress conservation approaches and community-based natural resource management. Finding a workable middle path that ensures human safety while preventing the erosion of wildlife populations will require careful spatial planning, strong enforcement capacity and transparent benefit-sharing mechanisms.

Key figure — 3 proposed habitat classification tiers under revised framework