Rising trend of man-tiger conflict at man-nature interface of Indian Sundarbans: study towards traditional understanding and challenging livelihood of Sundarbans people

Abstract Sundarbans region has its own unique physiographical, ecological, economical and socio-cultural individuality. As a home of nearly nine million people the entire Sundarbans area has emerged as one of the poorest and malnourished region of the South-east Asia. Man-tiger conflict or tiger attacks in riverside settlements around the Sundarbans Reserve Forest in West Bengal, India are a continuous matter of concern. The principal objective of this research is to identify the reasons behind the increasing human-tiger conflict in Indian Sundarbans. Landsat-8 satellite image (path = 138, row = 45, 30m spatial resolution and eleven spectral bands) has been used to identify the high possible areas of Man-Tiger conflict within the SBR region. The survey involved 100 respondents selected from Gosaba, Kultali, Basanti and Mathurapur II CD blocks in which 85 respondents aged 50 and above were actively participated in the perceptional survey process. Result showed that major proportion of the Sundarbans people is traditionally dependent on forest resources for maintenance of their livelihood. Research identified the principal factors which have been responsible for increasing man-tiger conflict in Sundarbans such as degeneration of forests, habitat loss due to flood and sea level rise, encroachment into wildlife territories for economic activities, intrusion into human settlements for scarcity of wild pray in forest. Deulbari, Dongajora, Bhuvaneswari are the areas of human-tiger conflicts due to closeness with nearest buffer forest area. The adjoining rivers of these two villages Melmel and Gomor are highly vulnerable due to its proximity of reserve forest.