Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4.11.2 Community-based solutions
Solutions to human-wildlife confl ict must be community-based and include the people involved in
such confl icts since they will also be affected by the proposed solution. No amount of legislation or
prevention by force can mitigate these confl icts. Such legal action could in fact harm conservation by
creating negative attitudes. Ward (1994) has described how community participation and the intro-
duction of modern agricultural practices, organised through the Ranthambhore Foundation, helped
prevent forest exploitation. Practices/facilities introduced included: irrigation facilities, the rearing
of high yielding Jersey and Friesian cattle, bio-gas production, the formation of a dairy cooperative,
and the formation of village forest protection societies.
Pepal and Khanal (1992) have also described a similar community-based conservation pro-
gramme for two contiguous parks, i.e., the Mount Everest Park in Nepal and the Oornolangma
Nature Reserve in China. The proposed project focused on the introduction of higher milk-producing
animals, the education of local people, the promotion of women's welfare, and community par-
ticipation in park maintenance. This is a model for how conservation and the protection of natural
resources can coexist with local economic development. Other programmes involving community
participation (for example, to conserve the tiger habitat at Simlipal Tiger Reserve), have been funded
by the Save the Tiger Fund (Report 2004).
4.11.3 Compensation for loss of property
Loss of life and property is another factor which triggers confl ict between wildlife and affected peo-
ple. Losses (as described earlier) in the form of human life, livestock, via crop raiding, or by injury
due to attack and damage to property all occur. Compensation for such loss is a primary objective for
most of the government and non-government organisations involved in mitigating such confl ict. The
availability of funds, accurate loss estimation, benefi ciary identifi cation, false claiming, delay, and
inadequate payment, are just some of the constraints encountered when executing such compensation
schemes. The hardship people have to undergo to receive this often meagre compensation further
aggravates any negative attitudes towards wildlife.
By registering livestock maintained in the fringe of forest/Protected Area, the compensation pro-
cess may be made simpler and more rapid. For example, one such programme, funded by the Hill
Area Development Programme, is functioning through the Department of Animal Husbandry in the
Nilgiris District of India. Innovative compensation schemes regarding crop and livestock insurance
could also help (Madhusudhan 2003). Toda buffaloes are semi-wild animals maintained by the Toda
Tribal people in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu (primarily for their milk). The tribes consider preda-
tion by wild carnivores, particularly by tiger and leopard, to be a major threat to their animals. The
Wildlife Trust of India has proposed a project whereby compensation is gained through the replace-
ment of the Toda buffalo lost, rather than through money. In general, the Toda are pure vegetarians,
and have a friendly attitude towards the forest. In order to stop them developing a negative attitude
towards carnivores, the project proposes to maintain a herd of Toda buffalo (and therefore any ani-
mal killed by predation in a village will be replaced from this herd).
Human-wildlife confl ict can be averted well in advance if wild animals are prevented from stray-
ing into human settlement. Powered fencing, while expensive, is a very effi cient way of keeping wild
herbivores off cultivated land. Another way to avoid crop damage is to change the cropping season,
or cultivate cash crops which are not palatable to wildlife. For example, certain medicinal plants can
be grown in a limited area, which are not favoured by wildlife but can provide comparable income
for the farmer (Rao, Maikhuri, Nautiyal et al. 2002). Native practices such as sprinkling Gullal
(red colouring powder) along a farm's boundary, burning human hair (Kholkute 2004), or spraying
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