Effective Human-Wildlife Conflict Management Crucial For Wildlife Conservation’s Success: Environment Minister Yadav

New Delhi: Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav on Thursday asserted that effective management of human-wildlife conflict is crucial to the success of wildlife conservation programmes. Chairing the 21st steering committee meeting of Project Elephant, Yadav deliberated on human-elephant conflict, which continues to pose a significant challenge to human safety and elephant conservation.

The minister emphasised the importance of making local communities active partners in wildlife conservation, especially in areas severely affected by human-wildlife conflict."Effective management of human wildlife conflict is critical to the success of wildlife conservation programmes," Yadav was quoted as saying by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) during the meeting held at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) in Dehradun.

He called for coordinated efforts with Railways, the Ministry of Power, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and mine developers to reduce human-wildlife conflict. The minister said institutions like the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and state forest training institutions should work together to ensure effective implementation of awareness and outreach programmes.

Yadav stated that there is a need for systematic collection and analysis of data on elephant deaths due to railway accidents, and the importance of knowledge sharing among states, institutions, and experts to scale up best practices across regions. He also called for improved working conditions and ensuring the social security of frontline forest staff and ground-level conservation workers.

The meeting discussed preparations for the World Elephant Day celebrations on August 12, in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, where the Gaj Gaurav Awards will be presented. Key upcoming actions include finalisation of the Nilgiri ECP, initiation of a three-year elephant tracking study in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, conducting Management Effectiveness Evaluations (MEE) in elephant reserves with support from Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), and the development of an integrated conservation strategy for the Chirang-Ripu Elephant Reserve of western Assam, with a focus on the Udalguri landscape, the MoEFCC said.

The Steering Committee reaffirmed its commitment to a community-based and traditional knowledge-based inclusive approach to wildlife conservation, it added.

At the meeting, important documents including a report on suggested measures to mitigate pachyderm deaths of the railway tracks, a comprehensive study on 23 years of human-elephant conflict in Assam, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh, an advisory on safe tusk trimming practices for captive elephants, and the latest edition of Trumpet, the Project Elephant quarterly newsletter, were released.

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