KOCHI: The decision of the State Wildlife Board to formulate a policy to mitigate the growing human- wildlife conflict has come as a relief for farmers. The government has handed the responsibility of formulating the new Human-Wildlife Conflict Reduction and Mitigation Policy to chief wildlife warden Pramod G Krishnan, who will hold discussions with stakeholders including farmers, NGOs and scientists to formulate a comprehensive action plan.
“The government felt the need to draw up a policy to address human-wildlife conflict as a framework would make it more convenient to address the issue. We have to coordinate with various departments and employ different techniques to address the conflict involving various species. It will also address the concerns raised by farmers regarding the increase in the presence of wild animals in human habitations,” Pramod said.
More than the issue of wild animals straying into human habitations on the forest fringes, farmers have been raising concerns over the presence of wild animals in villages far removed from the forest boundary. The degradation of forest habitats due to growth of exotic species like senna and loss of grasslands have forced herbivores to enter human habitations, attracted by plantain, tuber, fruit cultivation. And the movement of prey beyond the forest border attracts predators.
“Wild pigs, porcupines, monkeys, Malabar giant squirrels and peacocks have been proliferating even in human habitations located 50km away from forest boundary. Besides, big herbivores like wild elephants, wild gaur, and deer have frequently been straying into farmlands. This has affected the livelihoods of farmers, who are forced to sell their land and move to towns,” Kerala Independent Farmers’ Association chairman Alex Ozhukayil said.
“The decision to formulate a strategy is a welcome initiative. But the forest department is not ready to consider our demand to fix the carrying capacity of the forest and control the wild animal population. They blame farmers for cultivating fruits and tubers along the forest fringes. They preach about the rights of wild animals but nobody is concerned about the rights of farmers,” he said.
“It is the abundance of food that attract herbivores to human habitations. The absence of predators makes them feel secure outside the forest. There are many plantations in rural areas where the owners have stopped agricultural activities due to falling prices and high labour charges which have made farming unviable. Animals like the wild pig find such plantations a convenient habitat. The shifting of prey attracts predators. There is a need to study the behavioural changes of wild animals, prey -predator dynamics and habitat quality,” said scientist and wildlife biology expert P Balakrishnan.