With mounting human and economic losses, the state’s Forest and Wildlife Department has issued a draft policy that promises a comprehensive, scientific approach blended with traditional knowledge systems.
Published Aug 24, 2025 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 24, 2025 | 8:00 AM
A geographically diverse state, stretching nearly 600 km from north to south and 30–60 km from east to west, faces mounting challenges from rising human-wildlife conflicts. (Kerala Forests)
Synopsis: The second phase of Mission Gothrabheri and Mission Sarpa will be launched, the latter focusing on locally produced, more effective antivenom and a roadmap titled “Kerala without snakebite deaths,” which aims to halve fatalities in two years and eliminate them in five years.
Human–wildlife conflict has become an everyday reality in Kerala — from wild boars raiding crops and elephants straying into villages to snakebites emerging as the single biggest killer.
With mounting human and economic losses, the state’s Forest and Wildlife Department has issued a draft policy that promises a comprehensive, scientific approach blended with traditional knowledge systems.
Open for public feedback until 27 August, the draft outlines new missions, technological upgrades, and decentralised strategies tailored to Kerala’s unique geography and biodiversity.
The draft is coming at a time with official mapping identifying 273 panchayats across 75 Assembly constituencies as conflict-affected, including 30 marked as hotspots.
The draft assures a multi-pronged strategy to mitigate human–wild animal conflicts by formulating a system,blending technology, conservation, and scientific interventions.
Plans are underway to convert all existing solar fences into smart fences to improve real-time monitoring and protection.
The second phase of Mission Gothrabheri (an initiative aimed at integrating indigenous knowledge into wildlife conflict mitigation strategies) and Mission Sarpa ( an initiative for addressing snakebites and promoting snake conservation) will be launched, the latter focusing on locally produced, more effective antivenom and a roadmap titled “Kerala without snakebite deaths,” which aims to halve fatalities in two years and eliminate them in five years.
It holds much significance, with the draft itself saying that snakebites form the single largest share of human casualties, accounting for over two-thirds of the 884 deaths recorded between 2016-17 and 2024-25.
Kerala also records nearly 3,000 snakebite cases annually, a figure far higher than most other states.
The draft further proposes scientific population management programmes for herbivores and carnivores are being designed, including the reintroduction of striped hyenas into their historic ranges.
A draft of Mission Bonnet Macaque is also being prepared to regulate monkey populations.
The holistic plan involves coordination between the Forest, Health, Disaster Management, Education, and Local Self-Government departments, signaling Kerala’s intent to balance biodiversity conservation with community safety.
The draft highlights that Kerala, a geographically diverse state, stretching nearly 600 km from north to south and 30–60 km from east to west, faces mounting challenges from rising human-wildlife conflicts.
With its unique topography—towering mountain ranges exceeding 2,000 meters in the east and a densely populated coastline in the west—the state hosts both rich biodiversity and dense human settlements, making interactions between people and wildlife increasingly frequent.
Recognising that conflicts vary across regions depending on wildlife species, land use, socio-economic background, and population density, the state has identified 12 landscapes where such incidents are most prevalent.
A draft landscape-level human-wildlife conflict mitigation plan has been prepared, focusing on context-specific strategies that take into account geographical, social, cultural, and economic factors.
The plan emphasises decentralised, long-term interventions involving multiple stakeholders, ensuring that solutions are tailored to each landscape.
The draft proposes that, once implemented, these localised strategies will feed into a comprehensive state-level plan, which will be reviewed annually to assess its effectiveness and refined as necessary.
Importantly, the plan also proposes to integrate traditional knowledge systems, acknowledging that indigenous tribal communities possess unique methods and practices that can help reduce conflicts and foster coexistence.
Wildlife experts point out that this approach signals a shift from fragmented responses to a coordinated, science-based strategy, aiming to reduce loss of lives, livelihoods, and biodiversity while fostering coexistence between humans and wildlife in Kerala.
The draft recommendations on mitigating human-wildlife conflict highlight the need to decentralise decision-making and empower state-level authorities for quicker interventions.
Currently, under Section 62 of the Wildlife Protection Act, only the Central Government can declare species as vermin.
The proposal suggests extending this power to states in special circumstances, thereby simplifying procedures and enabling faster conflict resolution.
It cites wild boars, already included in Schedule II, as an example where state-ordered elimination is permitted, and argues that transferring bonnet macaque of Kerala from Schedule I to II would similarly streamline mitigation measures.
The draft also calls for empowering the Chief Wildlife Warden to capture and relocate problematic animals, regulate population density, and adopt scientific management practices without requiring prior approval from the Centre.
By relaxing procedural hurdles and granting states greater autonomy, the recommendations aim to ensure immediate, practical solutions to escalating human-wildlife conflicts.
The draft also highlights that amid growing concerns and misinformation regarding the increase in wild animal populations, scientific studies indicate a steady rise in the presence of certain species in human-inhabited areas.
It states that reports highlight increasing sightings of wild boar, peacocks, jackals, mountain squirrels, otters, bats, and snakes in rural-urban fringes, intensifying human-wildlife conflicts and creating economic as well as ecological challenges.
The shifting habitats of these animals are compounding the issue.
The draft also mentions that the department has rolled out a comprehensive initiative, Mission Science on Human-Wildlife Conflict, aimed at mitigating the rising instances of clashes between people and wild animals.
Developed in collaboration with premier research institutions such as the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI), WWF-India, SACON, Kerala Forestry University, and Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), the mission focuses on scientific studies that factor in climate change and behavioral changes among wildlife.
Insights from these studies will guide timely modifications in forest management and ensure effective intervention in affected areas.
Alongside this, Mission Bonnet Macaque has been launched to address the increasing menace of native macaques across urban and rural Kerala.
The initiative seeks to scientifically analyse the root causes of such conflicts, assess their patterns, and formulate preventive strategies, with expert inputs and workshops already underway.
Similarly, Mission Wild Boar targets the growing threat of wild boars to human lives, crops, and livelihoods.
By equipping local shooters with training, revised guidelines, and decentralized management support, the programme aims to curb damages effectively.
The draft policy identifies human-wildlife conflict as a growing ecological and social crisis, with multiple underlying causes.
Habitat destruction due to deforestation, unscientific land-use changes, and the spread of invasive plant species like lantana and Mikania micrantha have disrupted food chains and degraded grasslands, depriving herbivores of natural fodder.
This forces animals such as wild boars, deer, elephants, and leopards to move closer to human settlements in search of food and water, leading to crop raids, livestock loss, and occasional attacks on people.
The draft also notes that unmanaged forest fringes and reduced water availability heighten the chances of wildlife straying into villages. Reckless travel through forest stretches, add to the conflict burden.
With 273 panchayats across 75 constituencies already classified as conflict-affected—30 of them identified as hotspots—the draft warns that rising wildlife numbers, coupled with climate stress and media amplification, are likely to intensify conflicts further in the coming years.
The draft which lists 30 hotspots also lists nine extremely conflict spots and 21 conflict spots. It also highlights a shift: casualties from human-wildlife conflict in Kerala are steadily declining.
From as high as 113 deaths in 2011-12, the toll dropped to 89 in 2022-23, 76 in 2023-24, and 67 in 2024-25. In the current year, 2025-26, only 20 deaths have been reported so far — reflecting a clear downward trend, stated in the draft.
The draft policy marks a shift from piecemeal responses to a coordinated, multi-stakeholder strategy that seeks to balance community safety with biodiversity conservation.
While its success will hinge on adequate resources, state–Centre coordination, and effective local participation, it signals Kerala’s intent to tackle human–wildlife conflict through science, technology, and traditional wisdom — with the hope of reducing both casualties and anxieties in the years ahead.
Yet, as with many ambitious policies, the real test lies in how much of it moves beyond paper to the ground — and the outcomes will ultimately depend on the effectiveness of its implementation.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
