BHUBANESWAR: Amid rising human-elephant conflict in Odisha, the state government has decided to launch a stratification exercise to categorise forest beats as per the quality of their habitats, for targeted conservation and improved management of wildlife.
The exercise will be a part of the state Forest, Environment and Climate Change department’s Comprehensive Action Plan (CAP), prepared in 2022 to mitigate conflict and promote coexistence. Under the exercise, the beats will be assessed and categorised as good, medium and poor elephant habitats based on forage, water and cover, and disturbance.
Beats that are completely intact habitats for the elephants will also be identified, informed chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Manoj V Nair. He said the parameters for determination of the habitat quality will also include the number of elephants within a beat, the volume of crop depredation and human deaths in conflict, etc.
Nair said such categorisation will help in more targeted interventions and optimised deployment of forest manpower in habitat management.
“The state government has already launched several initiatives to improve habitat management. Fodder and fruit-bearing plantations are being undertaken under various schemes while mining area restoration is also being done with a particular focus on habitat restoration. Bamboo seedball activity is also being undertaken in various elephant-bearing divisions to increase the food availability,” the senior forest officer informed.
Apart from these measures, the government is also planning to develop a five-year action plan for weed eradication in identified areas. Extensive and persistent weed removal along with planting of palatable species of grasses, herbs, shrubs and fodder trees is required in the forests to improve habitats of elephants.
The move assumes significance in view of the prevailing conflict scenario, especially in forest fringe areas of Angul circle where a number of human casualties and retaliatory killing of elephants have been reported in the recent years owing to habitat degradation.
The escalating conflict, especially between humans and elephants, is primarily due to loss of critical habitats and their deteriorating quality owing to biotic pressure from forest-dependent communities and mining along with associated infrastructure development.
