Man – Animal Conflict :
Why in News ?
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Recently, the 15 year old pregnant elephant in Kerala was found dead because it accidentally consumed a cracker-stuffed fruit which exploded in its mouth in the Silent Valley forest. It died in the Velliyar River a week later on May 27. The issue received national attention.
- Rather than looking at this issue in isolation, the focus should be on the larger issue of conflict between animals and humans.
Crux of the issue :
- Man – Animal conflict is deriving an urgent attention because of its increasing nature. It is a dynamic situation and it differs from one area to the other area.
- Eg: Monkey menace in Delhi ,whitebore problem in Wayanad etc.
- The main reason for the rise in human -wildlife conflict is Man-made activities carried out by humans for their livelihood and due to which space for wildlife is shrinking.
- These conflicts are on land,air & water but yet only tiger & elephant deaths are noticeable in India but most of the conflicts happen in areas where there is visibility of forest.
- As the forest cover dwindles , population increases and space shrinks there is a huge possibility for human-wildlife conflict.
Reasons for the Man -animal conflict:
(i) Around 16% of world population lives in India and it lives in only 2.5% of world landmass and due to various activities like mining, irrigation projects, construction projects, the marginal communities or groups who were living with harmony of nature are getting displaced.
Eg: Tribals.
(ii) Due to the need of food security and developmental aspiration of the country, some of the forest or wildlife conservation policies are implemented by excluding the needs of marginal groups.
(iii) Around 20-25% people are poor and are dependent on nature for their livelihood which is seasonal in nature.
(iv)Urban expansion of agriculture hauntes the wandering routes of wildlife which are known as wildlife corridors as a result animals shift their corridors for fodder and other routine activities.
(v) There is less transparency in predictability and seasonality and forest being under concurrent list many times cases are not reported .
(vi) Unavailability of data about how many animals killed and damage happened to the population
Thus , various wildlife policies do not go in line with marginal groups which eventually leads to rise in human-wildlife conflict.
What measures should be adopted to deal with the situation?
(i) There is a need for inclusionary policy which can benefit the most marginalised groups who are dependent on nature.
(ii) Alternative economic opportunities should be provided to marginal communities in order to save the habitat fragmentation.
(iii)Human aspect as well as animal aspect both should be taken into account.
Eg: In 2015-19 Period, around 1700 people have been killed by elephants and even 400 elephants also died or were killed.
(iv) Conservation policies should be re-oriented.
(v) The awareness should be created among people about the animals.
Eg: By installing a tracking device at the wandering paths to inform the people.
Eg: An Organisation named as Tiger Watch conducted surveys and created awareness among people
(vi) Systematic and scientific management of conflict is the need of the hour because as of now there is no policy for management of conflicts.
Eg: Locust attack was due to man-made activities.
(vii) Sustainable wildlife tourism can effectively reduce the conflict as well as it can benefit the local people because local people are the main centre point who are going through this conflict.
Eg: Pench corridor
(viii) Co-existence as well as conflict are common and as India is a biodiversity rich country, developmental policies should also take into account rehabilitation and habitat of wildlife.
(ix)Various NGOs, forest departments and people should work together to arrive at a sustainable solution.
Way Forward:
- There is a population management problem in India because a large number of people live in proximity to animals but if certain decisions are taken in consultation with local people it can to some extent help to resolve the issue.
- Hence, by preventing our habit of exceeding and breaching the forest and maintaining wildlife corridors with sentity can reduce the rising conflict.
Conclusion:
- There is no simple and one fit solution, we need to use technology such as IT and new methods to deal with the situation because eliminating wildlife population can be a menace.
