Forest dept may use AI for man-animal conflicts
For the first time in Uttarakhand, the forest department is planning to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to check man-animal conflict in the Corbett landscape, which has the highest density of tigers among the country’s 53 tiger reserves and a substantial population of elephants, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Director Corbett tiger reserve (CTR) Dheeraj Pandey said, “Analytics Private Limited based in Noida is working for the prevention of man-animal conflict using AI. We have talked to this company. The AI-based system is already being used in Tadoba National Park, which is the largest tiger reserve in Maharashtra. We are planning to use such a system for the first time in Corbett.”
On how the AI-based system will work, he said it will involve setting up cameras that will transmit images to a cloud server, where the images will be analysed by an AI-based system that will check the images for the presence of tigers and elephants and generate alerts.
“The plan is that the company will install cameras at sensitive places in terms of man-wildlife conflict hotspots here. When a tiger or elephant is captured in an image, an alert will be issued to forest officers and villagers through an SMS. The objective of this system is to reduce conflicts by creating a real-time monitoring system, so that timely actions can be taken when tigers or elephants are spotted near human habitations” he said.
He pointed out that the implementation of this system in Maharashtra, the incidents of man-animal conflicts have been reduced there.
“That’s why we have also talked to the company. Initially, a AI-based virtual security system will be set up in the buffer zone of CTR”, he said. Pandey further said, “A team of experts from the company will come later this month and conduct a feasibility survey in Corbett’s buffer zone. If the pilot project here is successful, then it will be implemented in other areas of the state.”
Corbett tiger reserve has reported the highest tiger population with 260 tigers among the country’s 53 tiger reserves. In the latest report, the tiger population in Uttarakhand has risen from 178 in 2006, 227 in 2010, 340 in 2014, 442 in 2018 and 560 in 2022.
With 229 tigers found outside Corbett Tiger Reserve in Kumaon, the Uttarakhand forest department is also working on framing a comprehensive plan to protect these tigers and check the increasing man-tiger conflict, especially in new areas where the tigers will venture out. According to the tiger census report released on July 29 last year, there are 260 tigers inside Corbett tiger reserve and 229 outside the reserve.
According to the tiger census report, CTR has “one of the highest density tiger populations in the world which is a source of tigers in the larger landscape. This has led to negative interaction of tigers with humans in and around the tiger reserve”.
In the tiger census report, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) experts have also stressed on safeguarding this tiger population.