Cause-consequence analysis of human-wildlife conflict at Nemmara forest division, Kerala

Abstract

A study titled “Cause-consequence analysis of human-wildlife conflict in Nemmara forest division, Kerala” was conducted during 2013-2017. The main objectives of the study were to portray the nature and distribution of human-wildlife conflict, study the land use and land cover change pattern. Another objective of the study was to assess the attitude and awareness of the people including the victims of human-wildlife conflict about forest conservation and human- wildlife conflict. The observations of the study would be made useful to evolve location specific management strategies at Nemmara Forest Division. A detailed pre tested questionnaire was used to gather information regarding socio-demographic details, land use and land cover change patterns, human wildlife conflict data, crop farming details and also attitude and awareness of the people. A total of 398 individuals were surveyed from Alathur, Kollengode and Nelliyampathy ranges of the forest division. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods such as oral history, time line and problem tree methods were used to collect additional information. The study found out that major conflict areas were along the fringes of the forest areas. The type of conflict even though was mainly crop raiding, the nature of damage and the animal causing the damage were found to be different in different ranges in the forest division. Over the past 30 years there was significant change in the land use and land cover in the division. Over all, cropping pattern has changed from food crops to cash crops. The number of wild animals has increased and this was portrayed as the main reason for human-wildlife conflict. The people found the forest department as the best responsible agency to look up to take action regarding conflict mitigation and were also ready to join hands with them to resolve such issues. Even though the people had a positive attitude towards forest conservation and wildlife they were not satisfied with the conservation policies and human-wildlife conflict mitigation schemes of the government. The people did not favour compensation or insurance schemes as a mitigation strategy towards crop raiding mainly because of the low compensation amounts and difficulty in applying for such schemes. Site specific plans, based on the data generated from this study can be used to develop not only location specific plans but also both animal as well as people specific plans for conflict management and mitigation.