Human-wildlife conflicts have been increasing at an alarming rate in Kerala. In last two days alone, three persons lost their lives in such attacks. Sustainable technology interventions are required to address this issue, according to experts.
The casualties of human-wildlife conflicts are becoming a regular news in the State. Districts that share borders with forests such as Wayanad, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Kottayam, Thiruvananthapuram, and Idukki are facing a lot of threats. These conflicts are on an increasing trend during the recent months, said T.P. Sethumadhavan, Professor of the University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology, Bengaluru and former director, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU).
Not only wild elephants but wild gaurs, leopards and tigers are also causing casualties and damaging properties. The increasing population of monkeys, wild boars, and peacocks have also started affecting the prospects of farming.
“In the last decade, more than 133 human deaths were caused due to human-wildlife conflicts in Wayanad region alone. In 2023, 12 human lives were lost in Aralam area of Kannur due to wild elephant attacks. Climate change and lack of forest resources are further aggravating the situation. But the compensation packages given to the victims’ families are meagre in nature,” said Dr. Sethumadhavan.
For controlling human-wildlife conflicts, we need to provide community-based capacity building programmes for people living in forest fringes. They should also be given skill development programmes on addressing human-wildlife conflicts, he said.
Also, there lies a huge gap between available skills and required skills among Forests department staff, said Dr. Sethumadhavan.
Technology can be effectively used to create early warning signals that sends alerts about the presence of wild animals. Sensors, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation can be effectively used to create early warning signals to know when wild animals move out from forests, according to experts.
S. Gopakumar, head of the Department of Forest Resource Management, Kerala Agricultural University’s College of Forestry, have developed a system to alert people to wild elephant intrusion into their habitats.
“Loss of natural habitats and fragmentation bring wild animals closer to the human habitations, leading to frequent conflicts. The system, which uses artificial intelligence, can be used to prevent man-animal conflicts,” he said.
“With slight modifications the system can be used to prevent attacks by wildlife as a whole, not just elephants,” he adds.
Research findings by International Elephant Foundation reveals that chilly farming and bee keeping around the forest habitats will help in preventing the attack of elephants. Appropriate sterilisation programmes are necessary to control monkey population in Wayanad. Monkeys have started destroying agriculture produces, according to experts.
They also call for appropriate policy decisions on Centre-State joint ventures, compensation packages, and amendment to conservation policies.
