Has human-animal conflict increased in Wayanad?

Source: The post is based on an article “Has human-animal conflict increased in Wayanad?” published in The Hindu on 10^th January 2023.

Syllabus: GS 3 – Environment

Relevance: reasons behind increasing human-animal conflict in Kerala and measures needed to mitigate.

News: There has been an increase in the human-animal conflict in Kerala. A daily worker was attacked by the elephant along with an attack on a bus.

What has led to an increase in the human-animal conflict in Kerala?

Human-animal conflict has become a serious wildlife management problem in Kerala in the last few years.

The reasons are – a) an increase in human population in wildlife habitats, b) habitat loss and fragmentation suffered by wild animals and c) change in cropping and land use patterns adopted by farmers.

Moreover, an analysis in various forest divisions of Kerala shows that human-wildlife conflict is a threat existing almost everywhere, but more frequently in the northern region and particularly in Wayanad.

What can be done to prevent human-animal conflict?

The only solution is mitigation of conflict. Both government and society should work together as a single entity to prevent human-animal conflict.

Further, forest conservation must be made more effective, through participatory programmes involving the people.