KOCHI: In view of the increasing incidents of wild animals straying into human habitations, the state government has made a special allocation of Rs 50 crore in the budget to reduce man-animal conflict.
The allocation for forest and wildlife has been enhanced to Rs 241.66 crore with stress on reducing conflict, increasing water security in forest areas, securing the livelihood of forest-dependent communities and ensuring sustainable management of forest resources.
To address the intensifying human-wildlife interface outside protected areas in a deeper and more comprehensive manner, an allocation of Rs 50 crore has been made for the installation of fencing, construction of elephant-proof walls and trenches, modernisation of rapid response teams (RRTs), compensation to victims of wildlife attack, and conducting a study on reducing human-wildlife conflict.
“We appreciate the decision to strengthen RRTs and raise the compensation for death due to wild animal attacks. However, compensation worth Rs 15 crore has been pending for the past three years which should be paid immediately. There is no proposal to address the root cause of man-animal conflict- the over-population of wild animals,” said Kerala Independent Farmers’ Association chairman Alex Ozhukayil.
An allocation of Rs 50.5 crore has been made for the regeneration of denuded forests: The main objective of the scheme is to convert the degraded forests or acacia, eucalyptus, wattle, and teak plantations to natural forests and thereby improve the biodiversity and the ecosystem services.
An amount of Rs 28 crore has been earmarked for preventing encroachments and identifying the forest boundary with the application of modern technology and state-of-the-art equipment. The budget provides Rs 10 crore for the conservation of biodiversity.
While Rs 5.2 crore has been set aside for ‘Project Elephant’, Rs 6.7 crore has been allocated for the implementation of ‘Project Tiger’ for the conservation and management of Tiger Reserves at Periyar and Parambikkulam. An amount of Rs 4.76 crore has been allocated as the state share for the management of 16 wildlife sanctuaries in the state.