Syllabus: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Context: Supreme Court directed States to consider notifying ‘human-wildlife conflict’ as natural disaster, pay ₹10 lakh ex gratia to victims, and notify tiger reserve buffer/core areas within six months.
More in News:
- CJI B.R. Gavai-led Bench directed States to pay ex gratia amount of ₹10 lakh to human-wildlife conflict victims under Centrally Sponsored Umbrella Scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (CSS-IDWH).
- Supreme Court ordered all States must have smooth and inclusive compensation policies for crop damage, loss of human and cattle life resulting from wildlife conflicts nationwide.
- Court emphasized reducing timelines to mitigate human-wildlife conflict issues, ensuring close coordination between different agencies and departments with mandated responsibilities for wildlife management.
- States directed to notify buffer and core areas of their tiger reserves within next six months, ensuring proper demarcation and protection of critical wildlife habitats.
- Judgment aims to address growing concerns over human-wildlife conflicts, providing financial relief to affected communities while ensuring wildlife conservation through proper reserve area notification and coordination.
Human–Animal Conflict
- Meaning and Nature of Conflict
- Human–animal conflict refers to interactions between humans and wildlife causing negative impacts on people, resources, wild species, or habitats.
- Incidents are rising across India; Maharashtra recorded 86 human deaths in 2021 and 105 deaths in 2022, far above the earlier decade’s average of 40.
- Major Causes
- Overlap of human and wildlife populations due to expansion of settlements and animal movement.
- Habitat loss and corridor fragmentation from legal and illegal land-use change, mining clearances, and agricultural encroachment.
- Changing cropping patterns attracting wild herbivores to farms.
- Habitat degradation due to invasive alien species reducing natural forage.
- Over 70% of elephant ranges, 40% of lion ranges, and 35% of tiger ranges lie outside protected areas.
- Madhav Gadgil notes that the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 has unintentionally encouraged wildlife movement into human spaces.
- Optimal foraging theory explains animal tendency to maximise nutrition while minimising effort and risk, drawing them to human-dominated landscapes.
- Solutions and Way Forward
- Stronger enforcement and pragmatic wildlife policy to reduce avoidable conflict points.
- Community involvement is essential; the Future for All Report 2021 (WWF–UNEP) stresses coexistence as complete elimination of conflict is impossible.
- Awareness campaigns using multiple media to educate communities on mitigation strategies.
- Skill-development initiatives for people living near forests to reduce dependence on agriculture and forest resources.
