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Kerala project to reduce human-wildlife conflict in final stages; steps on to curb fear of animal attack

To bring down human-wildlife conflict, the government has formulated a plan after consulting farmers’ organizations, environmental activists, members of the public and the general public.

In an era where human-wildlife conflicts have seen an increase, it has become an administrative need to intervene so as to usher in efforts to effectively curb tensions between humans and wild animals.

Many regions in Kerala that lie close to forests have been reporting attacks from wild animals on a day-to-day basis. Loss of human lives and damage to crops has increased exponentially over the years, causing major hassle to the administrative mechanism.

In this context, the government of Kerala has charted out measures that will help the administration mitigate human-wildlife conflicts. The realisation that human-wildlife conflict is one of the major problems facing the state, has led the government to take effective steps for a comprehensive conflict mitigation plan.

Speaking at the state-level inauguration of the National Wildlife Day celebrations, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today said the government is in the final stages of formulating a plan after consulting farmers’ organizations, environmental activists, members of the public and the general public.

Human-wildlife conflict issue gets priority attention

The government is taking steps to protect the lives and property of the people and also see to it that wildlife does not walk into human habitats as far as possible.

To address the problem of wildlife migration into human habitats, as many as 204 public awareness committees comprising locals, people’s representatives and forest officials have already been formed in the forest-sharing districts of the state.

Steps to strengthen the functioning of these public awareness committees have been put in place and the government will also set up vigilance committees in the districts where there are no vigilance committees.

The state administration has also built solar barbed wire fences, railway fences, elephant walls, trenches, crash guards and rope fencing, and innovative biological defence mechanisms in areas where wildlife is likely to enter human settlement zones.

Further, an order allowing forest department officials, officers with uniform gun handling powers and locals with gun licenses to shoot wild boars that destroy farmlands have also been implemented.

Wide range of conservation measures lined up

Besides these measures towards mitigating human-wildlife conflicts, the Chief Minister also stated that a mobile application christened Sarpa, has been developed by the Forest Department to ensure the protection of snakes and the safety of the people. This is a first for the kind in the country, and the app allows the approved snake rescuers certified by the Forest Department are registered with it.

The state government has also undertaken a natural afforestation project that will plant fruit trees by replacing various species of trees like eucalyptus and acacia planted in the forest lands.

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Sanjeev Ramachandran

A journalist with 23 years of experience, Sanjeev has worked with reputed media houses such as Business Standard, The Ne More »
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