Wildlife attacks, a natural disaster from governance failure | C R Bijoy

Abstract

Wildlife attacks across the country are no longer isolated incidents, but a natural disaster now sweeping across the rapidly expanding highly policed enclaves of wildlife preserves, the Tiger Reserves, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. Increasing outrage at the governance failure resulting in wildlife being forced out into the surrounding human habitations seek to address the cause even while providing expeditious acceptable just relief to the victims. Forests and its wildlife are no longer the exclusive preserve of the outrageously oppressive colonial forest regime. Legally, democracy in the forests was ushered in two decades ago even as the hegemonic forest regime resists being assimilated and subsumed into this democratic community forest governance that conservation demands. The governments and judiciary too are yet to fully grapple with this remarkable change in governance going beyond the outdated law and order approach to protection of forest and wildlife.

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Wildlife attacks have reached alarming levels across the country resulting in thousands of deaths, tens of thousands impaired for life and bedridden, devastated families facing long-term psychological trauma not to mention economic loss from crop damage, destruction of properties etc. Most affected are the forest dwellers, peasants and residents of forest fringe villages located within five kilometers from the forest boundary. A third of the 6,65,000 villages, nearly 2,05,250 villages (1), are forest fringe villages in the country. Over 20 percent of the population or 30 crores inhabit these villages. They are the most vulnerable to wildlife attack. Too often these days are the reports of wildlife straying far away from the forest, marauding the nearby villages and urban settlements.

Wildlife attack or human-wildlife conflict