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In this paper, the results of a recent case study of forest conservation and management in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, India are reported. Changes in land use, grazing, household fuelwood collection and inadequate management institutions are identified as key factors causing forest degradation. The paper demonstrates that quantitative analysis, employing data from fairly large samples of households and villages, is a useful supplement to the qualitative methods dominating in studies of conservation and natural resource management institutions. The results question a number of common hypotheses and beliefs about natural resource use and management institutions. Results show (1) that the poor are not the major agents of forest degradation, as often hypothesised (2) that distance from the Reserve is a major factor in determining use patterns, and that the largest use pressure stems from villagers residing outside but close to the Reserve (3) that although fuelwood markets do not appear instrumental in forest degradation, markets for milk may be (4) that village population size and natural resource scarcity may not affect the likelihood of collective action in the way it is normally envisaged (5) that reliance on formal and informal village natural resource management institutions is insufficient to safeguard forests and commons from degradation. The analysis maps out the available win-win options for simultaneously improving conservation and rural livelihoods, including substitution of farm-produced fodder and fuelwood for forest Resources. [author]
