COVID-19 community support

On-the-ground support for central Indian communities

Communities living around Tiger Reserves who depend on tourism revenue for income face numerous challenges during our global pandemic because of the inability to travel and the absence of tourism. We provided basic needs to communities living around Panna, Bandhavgarh, and Kanha Tiger Reserves through financial support to the Last Wilderness Foundation, one of our Indian-based non-profit partners. 

Research
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For the last 5 years, Wild Tiger has been working in central India, which in addition to being a global priority tiger conservation landscape, is home to a high population of indigenous and traditionally marginalized people. These communities largely live at the edge of forests, and depend on these forests for their livelihoods and subsistence. Households also engage in seasonal migrant labor and amidst the COVID-19 lockdown, these migrants are traveling home from urban centers where the virus is present. Sarika is a co-author on a paper accepted in the journal Current Science titled Post-lockdown Spread of COVID-19 from Cities to Vulnerable Forest-Fringe Villages in Central India, which identifies potential methods to ease the spread of the virus if it reaches these rural, forest-dependent communities.