Uttarakhand Forest Department
Uttarakhand, renowned for its rich biodiversity and extensive forest cover, plays a crucial role in the ecology of the landscape. However, the fragmentation of habitats due to increasing human population, land use changes, urbanization, expansion in agricultural activities and industries, and infrastructural development projects have intensified pressure on the already limited resources. This has resulted into negative interactions between humans and wildlife, in co-shared spaces. The impact from negative encounters, ranging from the loss of human and animal lives to damages and economic losses experienced by vulnerable communities, affects humans as well as wildlife, including endangered species.
To address this pressing concern, Uttarakhand Forest Department has revised its approach and strategy to include short-term solutions to tackle immediate challenges and long-term measures to promote sustainable coexistence between human and wildlife populations. For this, a ‘Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Cell’ has been created with a dedicated team for: Assessment of trends, patterns and drivers of conflict; introduction of a helpline, which records, registers, rapidly responds to incident reporting, and facilitates coordination between affected individual and Forest Division/Range level officers across the state.
Systematic recording and disbursal of ex-gratia payments; Streamlined allocation of funds and resources towards critical forest divisions for providing targeted support, established through hotspot analysis and incident mapping; In-depth species-specific conflict studies are being undertaken to assess the social and ecological factors influencing conflict along with species population estimation, habitat use and carrying capacity studies to create essential baseline data to prevent potential conflict. All this together, would enable the implementation of targeted measures to mitigate conflict and promote coexistence.
Components
- Understanding Conflict: Trends, Patterns and Drivers
- Assessing Efficacy of Mitigation Measures
- Reducing Impact on Humans and Wildlife
- Building Tolerance for Wildlife