Forest department officials, policy makers, and NGOs are focusing largely on species management, ignoring habitat management.
Published May 14, 2025 | 10:59 AM ⚊ Updated May 14, 2025 | 10:59 AM
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Synopsis: There must be a total halt on further destruction of wildlife habitat due to so-called development projects such as dams, railways, multilane highways, power lines, etc., that continue to degrade forest habitat and cut off wildlife corridors and avenues of movement. The forest degradation is mainly due to the rapid expansion of existing metropolises.
A trumpeting wild elephant charged at me from 50 yards while I was walking on a track in my coffee plantation in Karnataka’s Kodagu district a mid-morning in November 2020.
To escape, I dove for the cover of the coffee bushes to my right and tried to run, but stumbled and fell. As I lay in a fetal position, I could hear the fast-approaching elephant. He could not see me on the ground with his head above the coffee bushes.
Trampling my leg, he rushed away with a strange squeak. I felt no pain at the moment. That would come later.
With a titanium rod hammered into the bone between ankle and knee, the recovery of the broken leg has been complete, but the scars on the mind will remain. I am now just another statistic under the ‘injured’ column in the data on human-wildlife conflict. But it is only those few of us who have survived a wild animal attack who know the true meaning of ‘conflict’.
A few years ago, India celebrated 50 years of Project Tiger. Conservation efforts have boosted the tiger population across the country. But it has also endangered human life.
In Kodagu alone, there have been 10 tiger attacks with eight deaths in the past few years. Meanwhile, cattle kills by tigers in Kodagu have exceeded the 300 mark.
While an encounter with wild animals is traumatic for humans, it is equally traumatic for wildlife to face attempts to capture them. The process of migration through large areas of human habitation that were once traditional corridors of movement is also extremely stressful, especially for elephants.
The only way the species can sustain itself is by migrating to greener pastures during summer for water and fodder through high-risk human zones, crossing high-speed highways, and railway tracks. It is to be understood that elephants under stress are more likely to be aggressive.
The Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve and the adjoining elephant reserves of South India cover an area of 12587 square kilometres and have a population of about 11,000 elephants. It is the largest population of Asian elephants in the wild.
These forests also have sizable numbers of gaurs, leopards, sloth bears, and tigers that are increasingly coming into conflict with humans.
There is a need for a coordinated effort by three states, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, to draw up a roadmap for improved habitat management of this landscape.
While the elephant population has marginally increased since 1978, there has been a drastic disintegration of elephant habitat and corridors. Hydroelectric projects and dams have swallowed and decimated elephant habitats soon after independence.
Subsequently, linear infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, and transmission lines, and a large number of tourist resorts have become major impediments to the easy migration of elephant herds through a landscape that is a mosaic of disconnected forests and agricultural lands.
Human fatalities caused by elephants have steadily increased in India, with 545 in 2021-22, 605 in 2022-23, and 629 in 2023-24, as per the analysis by Rajit Sengupta and Kiran Pandey from the Centre for Science and Environment.
Meanwhile, the figure for elephant deaths due to electrocution, poisoning, and railway track deaths has exceeded 500 during the past five years.
Human-wildlife conflict, more commonly known as human-animal conflict (HAC), is growing by the day. While Kodagu, Hassan, Chickamagalur, and Tumkur are hotspots of conflict in Karnataka, the problem is also acute further south in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
It extends to Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam, and to the foothills of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand, where Down to Earth has reported that several villages in the Pauri district are turning into ‘ghost villages’ after being abandoned by their residents.
Many villagers are migrating to urban areas after increased sightings and attacks by leopards. Meanwhile, wild animals are snared, shot, electrocuted, poisoned, and targeted with explosives, causing agonising pain, injury, and death.
During the past two decades, HAC has continued to escalate despite continued efforts to mitigate the problem. Why so? The reason is not hard to find.
Forest department officials, policy makers, and NGOs are focusing largely on species management, ignoring habitat management. In essence, the very concept of managing wildlife has been flawed, and the emerging strategies and conflict mitigation measures have largely failed.
To begin with, there must be a total halt on further destruction of wildlife habitat due to so-called development projects such as dams, railways, multilane highways, power lines, etc., that continue to degrade forest habitat and cut off wildlife corridors and avenues of movement. The forest degradation is mainly due to the rapid expansion of existing metropolises.
For example, the continuing expansion of Bengaluru city will require more water and hence more dams at the cost of forest habitat. Satellite townships are not the answer, as the ‘satellites’ soon link up and become part of the main city.
Proliferation of invasive species due to forest fires also contributes to the degradation of habitat, and bolder animals such as elephants and gaurs move out of the forests in search of fodder. So, what is the way forward? As the nodal coordinating agency, Niti Aayog should take the following steps:
HAC covers an extensive spectrum, including vast landscapes beyond forest boundaries and the mandate of the forest departments both at the Centre and the states. In essence, we must accept the fact that HAC is not just a problem by itself, but a symptom of a larger malaise! It is only then that we will find a viable way ahead.
(Views are personal. Edited by Majnu Babu).
