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Context: In the wake of an increasing elephant menace in the forest areas of Kasaragod and Kanhangad forest range, the participation of local people is turning out to be a huge support for the Rapid Response Team (RRT), which had been struggling due to staff shortage.

 

Asian Elephant

• It is distributed througout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the north, Sumatra in the south, and to Borneo in the east.
• The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal in Asia.
• Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
• Elephant is National Heritage animal of India.
• It is primarily threatened by loss of habitat, habitat degradation, fragmentation and poaching.
• The Asian elephant is listed on CITES Appendix I.
  • CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals.

What is Man-Animal Conflict (MAC)?

It refers to the negative interactions between people and wild animals, with consequences for both people and their resources and wildlife and their habitats (IUCN 2020).

• Over 2,000 people in India were killed by elephants while tigers claimed over 200 lives in the last five years, according to data provided by the government.

Common Reasons:

• Competition for shared natural resources between people and wildlife
• Human population growth and the transformation of land use.
• shrinking forest cover, poaching, rapid and unplanned urbanization
• electrification penetrating into forest areas
• increasing road density
• destruction of natural animal corridors
• agricultural expansion and cultivation up to forest boundaries.

Consequences of MAC:

• Influences food security of people and the well-being of both people and animals.
• serious global threat to sustainable development and conservation in urban and rural landscapes.
• destruction of crops and reduced farm productivity
• competition for grazing lands and water, livestock predation, injury and death to farmers,
• damage to infrastructure and
• increased risk of disease transmission among wildlife and

Conflict mitigation strategies includes:

• Lethal control
• Translocation of problematic animals
• Predator-deterring guard dogs
• Effective land use planning
• Compensation
• Spatial analyses and mapping conflict hotspots:
• Erection of fences or other barriers
• Managing garbage to prevent attraction of carnivores
• Improving community education and perception of animals
• population size regulation and
• endangered species preservation
• applying scientific research, sociological studies, and the arts to reducing conflicts.

Existing government policies:

• The government has come up with some policies to grapple with the problem: The compensation for human deaths has been increased from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh;
• Project Elephant and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) guidelines have been issued to mitigate the conflict.
• Immune-contraception has been introduced in order to control the population of nilgai, monkeys and wild boars.

Conclusion:

• Resolving human-wildlife conflicts and fostering coexistence requires well-informed, holistic, and collaborative processes that take into account underlying social, cultural and economic contexts.
• Government must explicitly include human-wildlife conflict in national policies and strategies for wildlife management, development and poverty alleviation.
• At the national level, cross-sectoral collaboration between forestry, wildlife, agriculture, livestock and other relevant sectors is key to tackle this menace.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/elephant-menace-participation-of-local-people-turns-out-to-be-huge-support-for-rapid-response-team/article36817435.ece?homepage=true