Desert National Park Community Survey

The Challenge

The Desert National Park (DNP) near Jaisalmer protects a fragile wildlife habitat, but the villages within and around its boundary carry the day-to-day consequences of that protected status — restrictions and trade-offs that are rarely documented from the community’s own point of view.

Our Response

Funded by Utkarsha Jan Kalyan Sansthan, UJAS put together a research team for a thorough environmental study of the DNP region — including a wildlife survey of the rural areas around it — working with the Jaisalmer Wildlife Conservation Trust on the ground. Alongside the ecological work, the team ran a social, economic, and demographic survey of the villages falling within the DNP area. As part of that survey, UJAS formally requested village-wise population data — broken down by General, OBC, SC, and ST categories — from the Rajasthan Department of Statistics, to ground the study in an accurate picture of who actually lives in the region the park’s status affects.

The study concluded with a documented account of both the positive and negative impact of the DNP’s protected status on these communities — a starting point for any future conversation about balancing conservation with the rights of the people who call the area home.