Research overview: tiger population recovery and rising edge conflict in India

This overview examines how India's tiger recovery, driven by protection and prey restoration, has increased conflict at reserve boundaries as growing populations disperse into human-dominated land. It synthesises evidence on dispersing subadults entering agricultural and peri-urban areas, livestock and occasional human attacks, and the political and management challenges of source-sink landscapes where reserves export tigers into unprepared surroundings. The literature discusses corridors, buffer-zone management, compensation, and the dilemma of removing or relocating conflict tigers. The survey frames edge conflict as the inevitable byproduct of conservation success, arguing that landscape-scale planning and community engagement are essential to sustain both tigers and tolerance.