New Delhi: Raising concern over increasing human-animal conflicts, Tamil Nadu Monday suggested timely funding to states to help voluntary relocation of people from core areas of Protected Areas in forests.
Delivering his address at the conference of state Environment Ministers here, Forest Minister M S M Anandan said the human-wildlife interface or interference resulting in conflicts is on the rise over the past couple of years due to various reasons.
"It is a matter of great concern. Repeated intrusion of wildlife into human-dominated areas - agricultural land, plantation crop areas, villages and towns and causing danger to human life, damage to property and loss of crops incites people to show anger and often attempt to take retaliatory measures - killing of wildlife, poisoning the kill or the wildlife itself," he said.
Stressing that this is a "serious challenge" to tackle to ensure that long-term conservation of wildlife is achieved and people provide support to conservation efforts, he said that conflict arises from a range of direct and indirect negative interactions between human beings and wildlife.
"These can culminate in potential harm to all involved and lead to negative human attitudes with decrease in human appreciation of wildlife and potentially lead to severe detrimental effects on conservation," the Minister added.
On challenges involved in relocating people living inside the core areas of Protected Areas through a voluntary process, he said that Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change may identify avenues and work out plans for providing timely funding for this task to states.
"In case relocation is not feasible, we shall have to make people more aware about their role and responsibility towards conservation by empowering them through incentives towards social, financial and physical capitals for sustained livelihoods which are compatible with conservation," Anandan said.
He also urged rationalising punishment in Forest and Wildlife crimes so that people are adequately punished for attempting such crimes.
