Abstract

Darrah Wildlife Sanctuary as a whole is a repository of biodiversity and supports a rich variety of both plants and animals. But this richness or variety is facing mounting biotic pressure due to ever increasing population. The sanctuary has the potential of rendering protection to tiger and other wildlife but only in the absence of human disturbance and other anthropogenic activities. ‘Protected areas’ (PAs) are the cornerstones of most national biodiversity conservation strategies but the demarcation of the area does not ensure the survival of all species in totality because man, who utilizes this area for cultivation, thereby reducing the habitat cover and also giving rise to man-animal conflict, also inhabits these areas. Even in the present study, the population of humans inside and fringe villages are dependent on the forest resources for their various needs. Ranging from cultivation to collection of timber, fuel wood, cutting trees, lopping, grazing, mining, they over exploit the forest and the wildlife suffers greatly for what is mostly temporary commercial gain. The same scenario exists in many developing countries.