Human-wildlife conflict a crucial conservation, development challenge: Union environment minister

New Delhi, Jul 10 (PTI) Human-wildlife conflict has emerged as one of India's foremost conservation challenges, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on Friday, stressing the need to utilise modern technology to deal with the issue. The minister made the remarks at the inauguration of the Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Human-Wildlife Conflict at Coimbatore. The inauguration was followed by a National Workshop on Human-Wildlife Conflict, bringing together senior policymakers, forest managers, scientists, researchers, technology experts and conservation practitioners from across the country, to deliberate on effective strategies for curbing hostilities between humans and wildlife . "Human-wildlife conflict has emerged as one of India's foremost conservation and development challenges due to increasing interactions between people and wildlife resulting from habitat fragmentation, changing land-use patterns and expanding human activities. Our approach should be solution-oriented... utilising modern technological advances," Yadav noted. The minister expressed confidence that the newly-established CoE would formulate a strategy to curb instances of human conflict with tigers, leopards and elephants. He said awareness-creation must be carried out in mission mode, in both urban and rural areas, on dealing with human-wildlife encounters. "The approach needs to involve area-specific as well as species-specific measures to address human-wildlife conflict. This would go a long way in addressing the panic in society." Yadav also urged forest departments across the country to take proactive preventive measures to mitigate the impact of human actions, establishments and crops on the environment and wildlife. "This must be done by addressing the issues in coordinated manner with the respective communities, through multi-stakeholders consultations. Innovative best practices must be evolved and implemented widely on ground, by using the latest technologies in wildlife conservation. Coexistence and harmony, instead of conflict, should be the mantra of ecological sustainability," the minister asserted. During the event, Union Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh highlighted that effective wildlife conservation has led to increasing instances of human-wildlife interaction. "This has resulted in a much larger socio-economic issue, besides being a conservation issue, affecting livelihoods in the long term. There is a need to find long-term solutions by balancing wildlife conservation and socio-economic progress of the country," he said. He expressed hope that the CoE would have an important role over this issue, through capacity building of officials as well as the community. "It would go a long way in using advanced technologies in documenting data, while preserving traditional knowledge in wildlife conservation and peaceful human-wildlife coexistence," Singh said. On the occasion, Yadav launched the National Human-Wildlife Conflict Portal, a digital platform designed to facilitate data management, knowledge sharing and decision support for mitigation of such instances across the country. The first edition of a series of publications titled 'Current Status of Human-Wildlife Conflict in India: An Overview' was also released, providing a comprehensive assessment of the current status, trends and emerging challenges related to human-wildlife conflict in India. PTI GJS ARB ARB