Creation and subsequent expansion of Protected Area (PA) network has often deprived local people of their usufruct rights and displaced communities from their traditional lands. This 'isolationist' approach has resulted in severe conflicts between local people and PA authorities. Poverty and lack of alternative livelihoods for forest based communities, along with inability to mainstream biodiversity concerns in development planning around biodiversity-rich areas have been recognized as some of the root cause of threats to biodiversity conservation, and this sowed the seed of an alternate precept and practice of conservation which eventually came to be known as 'ecodevelopment'.