With the world becoming increasingly crowded, a need for an effective approach to minimise human-wildlife conflict and to achieve human-wildlife coexistence was deliberated during a stakeholder meeting on mitigation of man-animal conflict organised by Intanki National Park (INP) in collaboration with Peren Forest Division (PFD) on May 3 at Jalukei, Peren.
A press release by District Forest Officer (DFO) Peren, Prabhat Kumar, stated that special guest, conservator of forests (Hqs) Hemant Kamdi Baskar spoke on behalf of the elephants and their rights, and appealed to the stakeholders to do the same rather than having human-centric approach to the problems.
Baskar lamented that elephants, being very important stakeholders, rights are not represented. He projected the analogy of human addiction to processed unhealthy food and that of forage optimisation of the elephants by raiding crops to connect people with similar psychological behaviours patterns between humans and animals.
In his address, Superintendent of Police (SP) Peren Manish Bharti said the issue of man-animal conflict arises as a result of encroachment of the animals’ habitat by humans, and as such, to give space and protect the wildlife was human’s greatest responsibility.
He said humans evolved a much superior species than any other and with this “great power comes great responsibility of taking care of other species like elephants”.
Bharti also expressed concerns about the never ending debate between development and conservation and urged the gathering to give due importance to conservation while acknowledging the importance of conservation.
In his speech, INP field director T. Aochuba expressed a desire to work hand in hand with the stakeholders and civil society to mitigate the problems of man-animal conflict in the state.
He presented an elaborate PowerPoint presentation on how to mitigate the conflicting situations by adopting ways and means, including the techniques that are adopted in different parts of India.
Aochuba also highlighted the policies and steps taken by the government to mitigate the conflict by means of compensation for crop damage, injury to humans and/or death due to such situations.
Nagaland Zeliang People Organization (NZPO) president Kevipelie gave a chronological sequence of how Intanki Reserved Forests evolved into a National Park. He also mentioned how the local people living around the National Park played a crucial role in the protection and conservation of forests and wildlife.
The programme attended by representatives from man-animal-conflict afflicted villages along with civil society organizations and police department witnessed serious deliberation and experience sharing on the issue. The programme concluded with a vote of thanks from Peter Jesuha Konyak.