Adivasi communities from forest regions across Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have strongly opposed ongoing tiger reserve expansion, wildlife tourism projects, and reported eviction drives from forest areas in the Western Ghats.

Representatives from more than 35 villages under the Nagarahole Adivasi Jamma Paale Hakku Sthapana Samiti in Kodagu and Mysuru districts jointly issued the ‘Nagarhole Declaration’ after a community dialogue held inside Nagarahole forests.

The declaration calls for an immediate moratorium on all relocations from forest areas, stating that none of the displacements are genuinely voluntary and that ancestral settlements are being systematically pushed out.

Adivasi activists from regions including Wayanad, Muthanga, Sathyamangalam and Mudumalai participated in discussions, forming a unified stance across the tiger landscape of southern India.

They allege that forest departments, along with the National Tiger Conservation Authority, have converted customary indigenous lands into restricted conservation zones and commercialised them through safari tourism without the consent of forest dwellers.

The communities argue that what is classified as core tiger habitat under conservation policy is, in reality, their ancestral land, sacred spaces, and burial grounds.

The declaration also criticises the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, claiming that its protections are not being effectively enforced on the ground.It alleges that Gram Sabha consent, as required under law, is being bypassed in decisions related to forest use and tourism activities.The Adivasis further demand recognition of their territories as Scheduled Areas under the Constitution to strengthen self-governance rights.They have called for suspension of all safari operations until proper legal consent is obtained from local communities.

The declaration also frames current conservation models as exclusionary, describing them as a continuation of historical injustices under a modern “green” guise.

Activists argue that conservation should not involve displacement of indigenous people and stress that they are the original custodians of these forests, rejecting the notion that they are intruders in their own lands.