Panel to formulate steps to mitigate man-animal con ict
Panel includes Directors of the Kerala Forest Research Institute and the Wildlife Institute of India, and representatives of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
The State government has constituted an expert committee to formulate short-term and long-term strategies to mitigate mananimal con ict and develop preventive mechanisms for wild animal attacks.
Team members
Alexandra Zimmermann, founding Chair of the International Union for Conservation
of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission’s Human-Wildlife Con
ict and Coexistence Specialist Group; Benno Boer, Chief of the Natural Sciences Unit, UNESCO, New Delhi oce; Raman Sukumar, Honorary Professor, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru; former Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (APCCF) O.P. Kaler, Shiju Sebastian, associate professor, Christ University; D. Bhoominathan, landscape coordinator, World Wildlife Fund; and researcher-conservationist Tarsh Thekaekara are members of the panel.
The panel, chaired by the Head of Forest Force and convened by APCCF (Finance, Budget and Audit), includes the Directors of the Kerala Forest Research Institute and the Wildlife Institute of India, and representatives of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Wildlife Trust of India.
Since 2016, over 909 people have lost their lives in the State due to con icts with animals, underscoring the urgency for eective mitigation strategies. As per the State Forest department‘s study, Kerala witnessed human-wildlife con ict across 1,004 areas.
From October 2023 to March 2024, 26 lives were lost in con icts, prompting the government to adopt corrective measures. The highest number of casualties were reported from Wayanad and Palakkad.