Similipal fires: Who should manage the national park – Adivasis or the forest department?
Data suggests that the areas where locals have forest rights are the least damaged by wildfire. Mar 17, 2021 · 01:30 pm The timely intervention by the villagers stopped the spread of the inferno in Gudgudia gram panchayat, a Community Forest Rights area, inside the Similipal Tiger Reserve. | Pragati Prava/ Mongabay India
As Similipal National Park and Tiger Reserve in Odisha burned over the past month, the debate over whether ownership of the park should be in the hands of the forest department or the local community, came to the fore.