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Notes
(^1) Balakrishnan, 2002.
(^2) Figures cited in Andrews and Sankaran, 2002.
(^3) Linked to human settlement is the phenomenon of
invasive species: see Figure 5 and discussion in text
below.
(^4) “Primitive Tribal Groups are Scheduled Tribes known
for their declining or stagnant population, low levels
of literacy, pre-agricultural technology, primarily
belonging to the hunting and gathering stage, and
extreme backwardness.” (Ministry of Tribal Affairs,
2004).
(^5) Lewis, 2003; Sivararamakrishnan, 2003; and litera-
ture reviewed therein.
(^6) The sanctuary had been the pet project of Salim Ali
of the Bombay Natural History Society and enjoyed
the support of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
See Gadgil, 2001; Lewis, 2003.
(^7) See Pimbert, 2003, for a thoughtful discussion of
“participation” in community-based conservation.
(^8) Balakrishnan, 2002.
(^9) Andrews and Sankaran, 2002.
(^10) His dubious assumptions about ethnology and
“racial” classification aside, C. Boden Kloss provides
useful descriptions of Great Nicobar and its inhabi-
tants. Some of his observations, made in 1901,
about social practices and settlement patterns of the
Shompen illuminate the present-day situation (Boden
Kloss, 1994).
(^11) There is broad agreement that dogs were introduced
to the ANI by the British in the 1850s, though the
precise time of their arrival on Great Nicobar can
only be conjectured. Sekhsaria, 2003.
(^12) Balakrishnan, 2002.
(^13) Balakrishnan, 2002.
(^14) Details reported in Babu et al., 2003: initial report of
results of ongoing ecological surveys.
(^15) The Gross Domestic Product of ANI increased ten-
fold between 1980 and 1996/97. Commercial
forestry, however, has been cut back drastically since
the late 1990s, and agricultural productivity is appar-
ently declining. The islands are more than ever
dependent on food imports. Transport of goods and
people to ANI is subsidised by the government.
(^16) Andrews and Sankaran, 2002.
(^17) Promoters of “global level tourism” in ANI complain
about the large amount of protected interior and
coastline area because “the places that can be devel-
oped are at a premium.” (Nambath, 2004).
(^18) See note 4 above.
(^19) Tribal affairs officers answer to the MTA and to the
state governor (in the case of ANI, the Lieutenant
Governor appointed by the central government).
Tribal Advisory Councils are constituted by elected
local government members and they advise the state
governors and local representatives of the ministries
(e.g., Tribal Affairs, Environment and Forests).
(^20) Both the report and the Supreme Court order are
printed in Sekhsaria, 2003 (pp. 73-86).
(^21) Reported in Andrews and Sankaran, 2002.
(^22) Pimbert, 2003.
(^23) For discussion of potential benefits and abuses of
bio-prospecting, see Johnson and Jonsson, 1995.
(^24) See report of the Conference of the Parties to
Conventions on Biological Diversity at its fifth meet-
ing, Nairobi, Kenya, May 15-26, 2000. Principle 1 of
the recommended Ecosystem Approach to biodiversi-
ty protection: “The objectives of management of
land, water and living resources are a matter of soci-
etal choice.”