(See Communal forests of India) Community reserves are the first instances of private land being accorded protection under the Indian legislature.
It opens up the possibility of communally owned for-profit wildlife resorts, and also causes privately held areas under non-profit organizations like land trusts to be given protection.
A case in point was the Melghat Tiger Reserve where a large area was left unprotected due to private ownership.
[4] Recently, Gogabeel, an ox-bow lake in Bihar’s Katihar district, has been declared as the state’s first ‘Community Reserve’.
[5] Recently, Rankhar, a village situated in the Jalor district of Rajasthan, was declared a conservation reserve.