MANANIMAL CONFLICT KILLS 2 INDIANS A DAY

No, that’s not a typo. Two people a day is the average death count from man-animal conflict in India. It’s been that high for seven years; higher than terror attacks, higher than malaria.

Elephants, tigers, leopards, lions and snakes cause most of these deaths, across urban and rural India. That’s over 6,000 deaths in seven years, according to data from the Union environment ministry.

In response to questions posed on the issue during parliamentary meetings earlier this year, environment minister Anil Dave agreed that man-animal conflict was a “cause of concern”. The problem is only set to get worse. “Man-animal conflict is increasing and will increase further because wildlife habitats are shrinking under pressure from humans,” says Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based think tank. Here’s a snapshot of that pressure. At the last meeting of the standing committee of the Union environment ministry’s National Board for Wildlife, on March 27, a total of 25 infrastructure, mining, road-widening and rail-related projects were proposed inside protected forests and in buffer areas, across the country. Seven were given a primary nod during the meeting.

A state highway through the SatpuraPench corridor in Madhya Pradesh, home to 53 tigers, is set to be widened. A riverlinking project will submerge 4,600 hectares of the Panna Tiger Reserve in MP.

Already, between 2001 and 2003 alone, nearly 8,000 hectares of forest have been lost in just one Jharkhand district, to iron ore, coal and limestone mining.

Elephants, bison, tigers, leopards, bears, wild dogs and wild boar have been pushed eastwards as a result.

Roads and power lines in the elephant corridor are causing the first-ever man-elephant conflict in Maharashtra.

A senior official from the Karnataka forest department admits there is a need to protect core areas within protected forests. “These areas are being targeted for shorter commute routes. Roads and rail links are running through them, destroying habitats of major predators. It would help if artificial water bodies were constructed around these areas as well, to ensure animals do not travel long distances for water because that has become a key issue amid declining rainfall and changing climate.”

Wildlife experts say gaps in reserve and sanctuary management are also to blame.

“The entire focus of management is directed at the animals,” says wildlife biologist and researcher Vidya Athreya.

“What little action is taken is taken after the fact. And even that tends to focus on paying compensation. Instead, governments need to proactively help farmers build livestock sheds and fences, generate awareness about simple ways to keep the animals at bay.”