An overdrive for development has
been putting man and wildlife on a course of perilous confrontation and
conflict between the two. Some imaginative solutions are called for to avert
this, finds Dr.
Mugdha Singh
Human-wildlife conflicts are negative interactions between
wild animals and people that leave damaging impact on people and animals. They
are more
realist than their coexistence. It occurs when
growing human populations overlap with established wildlife territory, creating
reduction of resources. The conflict takes many forms ranging from loss of life
or injury to humans and animals to loss and degradation of habitat.
Image Courtesy: http://wildliferesearch.org/
Conflicts
are regular in metropolitan cities because of scarcity of forest and green
patches. These conflicts are serious obstacles to wildlife conservation efforts
and becoming more prevalent as human populations increase and diversify,
development expands rapidly, resources shrink, global climate changes, and
other human, societal and environmental factors put people into greater
potential and possibility for conflict with wildlife.
Conflict Creation
Sightings
of leopard, nilgai or blue bull, python are quite common in many cities
of India, including metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata etc.
Wild animals straying to nearby cities shows that their habitat are being
encroached upon and destroyed up to that level that they do not have any option
but to sneak into the cities in search of food and shelter.
Most of the conflicts in India are reported from the periphery
to the protected areas (PAs). Rapid increase in human population in these
periphery areas leads to frequent disturbance in the habitat of wild animals.
Many such areas are hotspots of tourism which pushed animals further inside
these PAs. Deforestation and other human activities in PA have increased
conflicts situations.
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Image Courtesy: www.pinterest.com
Pin by Greg Roughan
Major
reasons of conflicts are, walling of habitats and the segregation of other wild
patches that restricted the movement of animals from one area to another. These
restrictions make wildlife islands around cities increasingly susceptible to inter
and intra species competition.
Why blame wildlife
It
is difficult to blame wildlife for its conflict with humans, because the
animals are simply, doing what animals do. However, humans view wildlife as
pests, and blame them for damaging their livelihoods, or as a danger to their
community. The challenge for conservationists is to change this attitude by
offering them, practical, workable and effective solutions.
Often the plight of urban wildlife is dismissed because city
dwellers consider them to as nuisance. There is a need to educate the public
towards increased tolerance of the wildlife around and help them to coexist
peacefully.
Image Courtesy: http://www.fao.org/
Finding
solutions
An important aspect of reducing conflict is about finding
solutions that lead to mutually beneficial co-existence of Humans and animals.
There
is no ‘silver bullet’, no ‘one’ technique or strategy that can be used
everywhere. We need specific technique for different conflicts. These solutions
should be species and area specific, creative
and simple, which should benefit both the animals and local human communities,
and actively involves these communities.
Good management policies are being practiced in many of the
PA in India and many success stories have emerged in past decade.
1) Some of the main practices are shifting human population from
locality lying on periphery or near PA to alternate locality.
2) Mass awareness campaigns and assigning dedicated rescue teams
especially to those areas where these conflicts frequently take place.
3) Shifting thrust to educating the value of biodiversity
through non-formal education might reduce the confrontation among humans and
animals.
Steps to Save
Wildlife
United efforts by international
organizations, Government, NGOs, communities, consumers and individuals are
must to find the possible solutions.
Better land-use planning
to ensure that both humans and animals get the space that they may need.
Increasing forest cover is
now reduced to 17 percent according to the recent research though as per the norm
forest cover should be 33 percent of the total land area of the country.
Compensation or
insurance for animal-induced damage is another widely accepted solution through
government.
Field based solutions can
limit the damage done both to humans and human property, and to wildlife, by
preventing wildlife from entering fields or villages.
Incorporating
information regarding
human-wildlife conflicts into educational curriculum
Other than these solutions:
- Raising awareness
- Access prevention
- Translocation of the
animal
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Author is the Education Officer at Conservation Education Centre. She had her PhD in ornithology and work as guest writer for various magazines, newspapers and online portal.
You may reach her at m.singh@bnhs.org
