MAN ANIMAL CONFLICT - ENVIRONMENT
News: State
to estimate wild elephant, tiger populations
What's in the news?
● The
Kerala Forest department is set to launch surveys to enumerate wild elephant
and tiger populations as part of its efforts to mitigate man-animal conflict in
the State.
Man Animal Conflict:
● It
refers to struggles that arise when the presence or behavior of wildlife poses
actual or perceived direct, recurring
threats to human interests or needs, often leading to disagreements between
groups of people and negative impacts on people and/or wildlife.
Causes:
1. Habitat loss:
Due to high population pressure, habitats of wildlife are constantly shrinking.
2. Animals out of protected areas:
Highest number of wildlife outside the actual protected area due to growth of
the population of wild animals. E.g. 35% of tigers outside protected areas.
3. Changing cropping pattern:
Cropping pattern and landscape changes are attracting wild animals to
farmlands. E.g. Elephants are being attracted to human habitats due to changes
in the monoculture landscape.
4. Lack of food for wildlife:
Movement of wild animals from forest areas to human-dominated landscapes for
food and fodder.
5. Human intervention:
Movement of human beings to forests for illegal collection of forest produce
and poaching.
6. Climate changes:
Climate change induced drought conditions causes lack of water which pushes the
wildlife into human habitats.
Impacts:
● Man-Animal
conflict has the greatest direct impact
on wildlife and the communities that live nearby.
● While
human-wildlife conflict can lead to species
decline and extinction, communities can suffer financial losses as well as
threats to health and safety, livelihoods, food security, and property.
● The
costs of living with wildlife are
unevenly distributed and disproportionately fall on communities that
frequently face systemic barriers, have incomes well below the poverty line,
and access to few economic opportunities, while the global community benefits
from healthy wildlife populations and healthy ecosystems that allow us to
survive, provide food, and enable livelihoods.
● Human-wildlife
conflict is a development and
humanitarian issue as well as a conservation concern, affecting the income
of farmers, herders, and artisanal fishers, particularly those with incomes
below the poverty line.
● In
addition to direct losses to communities, human-wildlife conflict has an
indirect impact on people all over the world by putting pressure on the global supply chain and agricultural
production, leading to food insecurity and decreased productivity among
producers.
● Some
other impacts include:
○ Crop
damage
○ Predation
on livestock
○ Human
injuries
○ Human
life is lost
○ Property
damage
○ Wildlife
injuries
○ Animal
deaths
○ Habitat
destruction.
Way forward:
1. Advisory for Management of Human-Wildlife Conflict
(HWC): This has been issued by the Standing
Committee of the National Board of Wildlife (SC-NBWL).
2. Empower Gram Panchayats:
The advisory envisages empowering gram panchayats in dealing with problematic
wild animals as per the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
3. Provides Insurance:
Utilizing add-on coverage under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna for crop
compensation against crop damage due to HWC.
4. Augmenting Fodder:
Envisages augmenting fodder and water sources within the forest areas.
5. Take Proactive Measures:
Prescribes inter-departmental committees at the local/state level, adoption of
early warning systems, creation of barriers, dedicated circle-wise Control
Rooms with toll-free hotline numbers, Identification of hotspots, etc.
6. Provide Instant Relief:
Payment of a portion of ex-gratia as interim relief within 24 hours of the
incident to the victim/family.
7. Project RE-HAB:
To prevent elephant attacks on human settlements using honey bees (‘Bee fencing’) and so minimize the loss
of both human and elephant lives.
8.
Declaration as Vermin under wildlife
protection act, 1972.
9. Safe animal zones creation:
Re-locating of animal habitats away from residential and commercial centers
will serve to minimize animal-man conflict for illegal and self-interested
motives.
10. Community based rehabilitation measures:
Making community responsible for resolution of animal-man conflict will aid in
decentralized approach of governance for wildlife preservation. For example, it
is done in Keibul Lamjao National Park, Kaziranga national park, Sundarbans
etc.