Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4
Mitigating human-wildlife
confl ict and retaliatory
poisonings in India to
preserve biodiversity and
maintain sustainable
livelihoods
Venkataramanan Ragothaman and Sreekumar Chirukandoth
Sheep Breeding Research Station, Sandynallah, The Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India
4.1 Introduction
India is a densely populated nation which now has in excess of one billion inhabitants (1 160 813 000
projected for 2009), as per the Census of India (Report 2008b). This upwardly spiralling human
population exerts an ever-increasing demand for food, water, fuel and infrastructure which must be
provided from a fi xed land base. Major extension to meet this demand is often into valuable wildlife
habitat, which is deeply unfortunate because India has a rich repository of wildlife and a remarkable
biological diversity of fl ora and fauna. This country supports an estimated 4 to 5% of all the world's
plant and animal species, including 2 546 species of fi sh, 210 species of amphibians, 496 species of
reptiles, 1 228 species of birds, 398 species of mammals, approximately 17 000 species of fl owering
plants and 57 525 species of insects (Holthausen and Sawarkar 2002).
Much of India's wildlife is concentrated in Protected Area networks in the form of National Parks
and Wildlife Sanctuaries. The remainder is distributed in Managed Forests under different forest
divisions of the State Forest Departments. However, many species are unevenly distributed in pock-
ets, most of which are quite small in area. As a result, each pocket of wildlife habitat can be viewed
as an island surrounded by human settlements. Intense pressure on the land has resulted in loss
and fragmentation of the habitat base available to wild animals, forcing them to seek alternate
means of survival outside the forests. Further compounding matters, India hosts a cattle population of
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