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Home/Anthropology/Mains PYQ/2024/Paper II/Tribal Problems & Displacement
UPSC MainsAnthropology Optional Paper II 2024 20 Marks Model Answer Available

Tribals as Custodians of Natural Resources and Climate Change — 2024 Paper II

Question · 2024 · Paper II · 20 Marks

Custodians of natural resources are the tribals, but they are the most deprived. Critically examine how climate change will impact their survival in future.

Model Answer

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Introduction The global paradox of indigenous populations is that while they manage nearly 80% of the world's remaining biodiversity, they constitute the most impoverished and vulnerable demographic. Anthropologically, this represents a severe case of Climate Injustice. For Indian tribes, whose Habitat, Economy, and Society (D.N. Majumdar) are symbiotically integrated, climate change threatens not just their livelihoods, but their ontological security and bio-cultural survival.

Tribals as Custodians: The Paradox of Deprivation Tribal communities possess profound Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) that prevents the "Tragedy of the Commons."

  • Ethnoecology in Practice: The Bishnois protect desert ecology, the Soligas of Karnataka use controlled fires to manage forest health, and the Dongria Kondhs maintain the sacred geography of the Niyamgiri hills.
  • The Deprivation Reality: Despite this custodianship, historical alienation through colonial forest laws, developmental displacement (mining, dams), and poor implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA, 2006) have rendered them landless, impoverished, and highly vulnerable to external shocks.

Critical Examination: Climate Change Impacts on Future Survival

  1. Subsistence and Nutritional Insecurity
  • NTFP Decline: Climate variability (erratic rainfall, forest fires) directly impacts the yield of Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) like Mahua, sal seeds, and tendu leaves, which constitute 40-60% of tribal income in central India.
  • Foraging Crisis: Hunter-gatherer Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) like the Chenchus or Baigas will face acute malnutrition as forest flora and fauna deplete, pushing them toward debt-bondage and distress migration.
  1. Breakdown of Traditional Knowledge Systems (Cultural Lag)
  • Phenological Shifts: Tribal agricultural and ritual calendars are based on local ecological rhythms (flowering of trees, bird migrations). As climate change rapidly alters these patterns, their TEK becomes obsolete, leading to a crisis of confidence and repeated crop failures.
  • Loss of Ritual Ecology: Festivals like Sarhul (worship of the Sal tree) or Dree (agricultural prosperity) lose their context when the underlying ecology degrades, leading to cultural erosion.
  1. "Green Grabbing" and Eco-Colonialism
  • The Climate Mitigation Paradox: Efforts to combat climate change often marginalize tribals further. Large-scale renewable energy projects (mega-solar parks), lithium mining for EVs, and Compensatory Afforestation (under CAMPA) often take over traditional tribal commons without Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), a phenomenon termed "Green Grabbing."
  1. Climate-Induced Displacement (Ecological Refugees)
  • Coastal and Island Vulnerability: Rising sea levels pose an existential threat to island PVTGs like the Shompens and Great Andamanese.
  • Pastoral Crisis: Desertification disrupts the transhumance routes of nomadic pastoralists like the Gaddis, Bakarwals, and Maldharis, leading to resource conflicts with settled agriculturists.
  1. The Epidemiological Transition
  • Rising temperatures are expanding the geographical range of vector-borne diseases (malaria, dengue) into higher altitudes (affecting Himalayan tribes). Coupled with poor public health infrastructure in Schedule V and VI areas, this creates a severe health burden.

Anthropological Framework for Adaptation and Justice To ensure tribal survival, climate policy must transition from viewing tribals as "passive victims" to "active agents" of resilience:

  • Rights-Based Conservation: Strict enforcement of Community Forest Resource (CFR) rights under FRA, 2006, giving Gram Sabhas the democratic power to manage their habitats.
  • Co-production of Knowledge: Integrating TEK (like indigenous weather forecasting and drought-resistant millet varieties) with modern scientific climate modeling.
  • Direct Climate Finance: Channeling global and national adaptation funds directly to tribal institutions rather than state bureaucracies.

Conclusion For tribal communities, climate change is not merely an environmental crisis; it is a profound threat to their identity, territory, and worldview. A just climate transition requires abandoning top-down eco-colonialism in favor of bio-cultural conservation, recognizing that saving the natural environment is intrinsically linked to protecting the indigenous rights and institutions that have sustained it for millennia.

2026 Make a critical appraisal of Niyamgiri movement against mining-induced displacement. 2026 Write an account on the prevalence of sickle cell disease among the tribal populations of India. What are the initiatives undertaken by the affected states to tackle with this disease? 2026 What are the major challenges tribal communities are facing in contemporary India? 2025 Examine the environmental and biocultural factors influencing the health of tribals of India.

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