The Kanha management is now also convinced that it is not possible to conserve wildlife without support from the local communities surrounding the fragile wildlife ecosystem. This requires continual engagement with local communities, and provide immediate confidence building measures to win over these villages. The buffer zone has to be managed under mutual benefiting and participative programmes wherein the nistar demands of local communities are met and their socio-economic conditions are improved. In this backdrop of confidence building measures, the concerns of wildlife management, including restoration of habitats are addressed through public support. The Kanha management was engaged with the local communities in the following ways:
- Sports Tournaments:
Considering the importance of sports involving the youths of villages in the buffer under various ecodevelopment committees, the Kanha management organized volleyball and kabaddi tournaments in the tiger reserve. These events became very popular and teams of different ecodevelopment committees participated. Final matches of these two sports were organized at Khatia, and prizes were also given away. Besides, trophies for winning teams, t-shirts- nickers sets were also given to all theteams.
- School Kit Distribution:
As a good confidence building measure to help the school going children in the buffer zone, the Kanha management has distributed the kit to school students.
- LPG Connection and Pressure Cooker Distribution:
The Kanha management also distributed LPG gas connections and pressure cookers to reduce dependency of villagers on the surrounding forest areas. This initiative has also become popular, and more and more villagers are interested in using these alternative and efficient fuels.