HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT: NEED FOR AN ECOCENTRIC REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Dr. Jaykumar Bhongale, Assistant Professor and Research Coordinator of Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed to be University, New Law College, Pune.

Mr. Oishik Bhattacharya, BBA LLB, Bharati Vidyapeeth, Deemed to be University, New Law College Pune.

ABSTRACT

Human–wildlife conflict refers to the interaction between wild animals and people and the consequent negative impact on people or their resources, or wild animals or to their habitat. The reasons for human –wildlife conflict include the growing population of humans and the encroachment of forest and consequent hazards created to wildlife. The inevitable consequence is the loss of life and resources of humans, and destruction of both wild and domesticated animals. Though there are numerous enactments, rules, regulations, policies and projects intending to prevent these conflicts and protecting both the sides, they have seldom proved to be effective. What is required is an eco-centric approach by keeping away the anthropocentric mentality so as to bring all the species to centre stage and ensure co-existence side by side without unevenly interfering into life, habitat, resources and surroundings of each other. The future is locked by the behaviour and actions in the present, this has to acknowledge and has to consider while taking action. Human-Wildlife Conflict is a threat to the future of all species and the only way to stop it is by preventing and reducing it in the present.

Keywords: Human – Wildlife, Eco centric, Sustainable development

Introduction

As the name suggests human wildlife conflict refers to the direct conflict between wildlife species and human beings. This conflict is not new, as both have coexisted for millions of years. However, it has become more frequent in recent years resulting in casualties on both sides. The conflict is kickstarted once the urge for demands and need for survival conflict with each other. Both of this can be connected with either of sides. To be precise the human wildlife conflict starts either when human demands and conquests rise and wildlife fights to survive or when the wildlife erroneously attacks the human beings and human fights to survive. Either way the result is always what ecology does not want.

There is immense challenge against addressing the Human Wildlife Conflict as the approach which has to be taken in each incident is unique. Efforts to address this problem without fully considering the underlying socio-political conflicts often leads to temporary relief. The factors of culture and practice also need to be considered. Therefore, an interdisciplinary approach based on ecocentrism, coordination and collaborative conservation is needed to achieve meaningful results.

Human Wild Conflict: Evolution and Causative Factors

The origin of human wildlife conflict in India can be traced back to ancient period. Yet initially the animals were treated close to God and in certain cases worshipped. The wildlife was considered as something which was to be preserved. But with progress of time, the worship and respect were converted into hatred and hunting.¹. With gradual passage of time and increasing suppression of humans, slowly the animals started to respond for their survival.

The medieval period marked an attenuation of this conflict as in addition to expanding encroachment, circus and animal exhibitions started. This led to more wildlife captivation. The process of catching animals was very dangerous and after captivating they were treated mercilessly. This at times took very dangerous turns, as these were more of the conflicts with dominance vs survival. Hunting and poaching was normalised and Kings of various kingdoms highlighted it as a matter of pride. Alongside religious influence also opened up and wildlife

¹ Iain J Gordon , “What is the Future for Wild, Large Herbivores in Human-Modified Agricultural Landscapes?” What is the Future for Wild, Large Herbivores in Human-Modified Agricultural Landscapes? (bioone.org)

was infiltrated to catch various animals for using them for religious sacrifices and other religious practices.

The modern period offers no much difference compared to the past. The only difference is that new avenues of human wildlife conflict has opened up. As modernization opened various sectors and industries, innovations started to dominate the world. The innovations hugely the mankind but emerged as the biggest disadvantage for the wildlife. Another point of origin of the conflict is climate change over the years. The climate change has affected the natural habitat of both human and wildlife species. As a result, both humans and animals have started to infiltrate into each other’s habitat in order to find shelter and support for surviving the sever destructions, this towards an extend has contributed to human wild life conflicts. The climate change not only affected the shelter/habitat but most importantly affected the food chain which is also an important triggering point towards the conflict. We cannot just victim card the wildlife as the loss amongst the humans is also increasing, particularly if we take the case of India, we could see that the loss of crops and damage of land and human casualties were on steady rise during the past two decades.

Major Causes of the Conflict:

Anthropocentric Approach- Anthropocentric means regarding the mankind/human beings as the centre and most important element of existence as against God or animals. This approach has been the prime reason of human wildlife conflict. The human dominance is not a new thing, but on other hand has existed for ages. Animals were considered inferior and an element for domination by humans. The wellbeing of animals was a matter of least importance. Wildlife species were often relegated as mere hunting stuffs

The anthropocentric approach is evident even in the legal framework and guidelines involving animals. From the very habitat of wildlife, i.e., forests, it is human interest that always prevailed as apparent from the provisions of Indian Forest Act 1865² and followed by Indian Forest Act of 1878³ and Indian Forest Act of 1927⁴. The Act of 1865 and 1878 were more focussed on establishing British control over the forest and thus hinting for ultimate control of human in the habitat for wildlife. The Act of 1927 was more focussed on the protection of the

² The Indian Forest Act 1865, Act of Imperial Legislative Council

³ Act no. VII of 1878, The Indian Forest Act 1878, Act of Imperial Legislative Council

⁴ Act no. 16 of 1927, The Indian Forest Act 1927, Act of Imperial Legislative Council

forest but if we move on to details there were large gaps in the Act which was meant for facilitate different illegal activities in the forest. The powers provided by the act ultimately hinted to exploit the forest which was habitat to different species. Just to facilitate human greed. Later Initiatives such as Indian Forest Policy 1952⁵, Forest Conservation Act 1980⁶ and National Forest Policy 1988⁷ were more focusing to eradicate the exploitation of forest but was not completing successful in removing the dominating factor and in the end gave a slight edge to human needs.

Even the law directly involving wildlife, i.e., the Wildlife Protection Act 1972⁸ does not give a different picture. The act aims to increase the scope for protection and preservation of wildlife but as other frameworks this act also contains loopholes and gaps when it comes for implementation. It consists of various provisions which could interpreted for human betterment and facilitating exploitation. Section 11(2) it exempts killing or wounding the wildlife species/animals in good faith. This is contended as a defence by offenders. Ironically what is good faith is to be determined by unilaterally by ‘man’ lest that be ‘reasonable man. While the lack of clarity in the provisions has only added to misinterpretation. Moreover, the punishment provided under the act cannot be considered proportionate to the offence committed.

Human “Development Policies”- Development is change of particular thing from original state to a different state and it is part of evolution which mankind undergoes, so far, this what development is all about when it comes to development to human kind. Development always demands from its seekers as it never can be implemented without incurring any cost. When the cost is wildlife, the humans take anthropocentric approach and readily sacrifices the wildlife.

The infrastructure development projects often involve habitat and surroundings of wildlife, which eventually triggers human wild life conflict. For instance, the Kerala Silver Line Project⁹ is promising faster connectivity throughout the state and considerable decrease in pollution, but yet the project needs 1383 hectares of land which also include eco-sensitive areas,

⁵ No.13-1/52 F, The Indian Forest Policy of 1952, Policy of Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

⁶ Act no.69 of 1980, The Forest Conservation Act of 1980, Acts of Parliament of India

⁷ No.3-1/86 FP, The National Forest Policy, Policy of Ministry of Environment and Forest.

⁸ Act no. 53 of 1972, The Wildlife Protection Act 1972, Act of Parliament of India.

⁹ Report of Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd., submitted on March 2020.

wetlands, farm land and most importantly forest, which could alone destroy the habitat of wild life species and could lead to a new set of human wildlife conflict¹⁰.

Yet another issue was involving Kerala, Karnataka and Union Government which was relating to highway¹¹ connecting both the State through Bandipur National Park which is home to various wildlife species. The night travel was banned as the night traffic through the highway at times causing accidents involving wild animals. The development of same highway is sorted for better road connection but the fact regarding risk towards wildlife species and human wild life conflict is forgone.

The commercial and economic development has also contributed towards human wildlife conflict. For enlarging the economy and commercialise various activities the wild spread initiatives were kept up front. The proposal of relaxation of Environment Impact Assessment in the recent Draft of EIA 2020¹² can be termed as the best example. An important thing like Environment Impact Assessment with so much relevance in protecting the environment where both humans and animals co-exist was proposed to be relaxed to set up more industries and targeting enlarging the economy is being criticized for the approach it has taken in destruction of the ecology for sake of commercial and economic development. Yet the union government is not fully withdrawn from the base idea and is pressing more for this relaxation.

Tourism development has also significantly contributed towards human wildlife conflict. In olden days the travel was confined with only for trade and in certain case for survival but with passage of time the travel tourism grew into a leisure activity that generated immense revenue in the economy. This led to expansion of tourism portfolio by including eco-tourism, forest tourism and the like. The forest clearing, altering and deforestation were done for making it human friendly but the fact abouts wildlife animals were just ignored/neglected. The forest tourism reshaped and depleted the resources for wild life species and frequent human visit to the territory also caused various problems and hindered free use of the habitat for the wildlife species. The recent announcement of Telangana Government regarding the “Tiger Tourism”

¹⁰ K.A. Saji, “Environmentalist raise concerns abort Kerala Silver Line Project that passes through ecologically sensitive area”, dated on 24^th June 2021, https://india.mongabay.com/2021/06/keralas-silver-line-project-could- be-an-environmental-disaster-in-the-making/.

¹¹ Ararthi Menon, “Much ado about a highway”, dated on 8^th November 2019, https://india.mongabay.com/2019/11/bandipur-much-ado-about-a-highway/.

¹² Draft EIA 2020, The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Government of India, Gazzate of India Part-II, Section 3(ii)

focusing on generating revenue from jungle safari boosting travellers through the tiger park¹³ indicates revenue generating mentality from the forest habitat, this could however disturb the habitat of the tiger and also other species inhabiting which is being ignored.

Every development mantra comes with a demand and often it is mostly connected with losing the biodiversity and ecological balance. When the eco sensitive area are affected flora and fauna or the wildlife species are immediately affected. But the ultimate casualty will be the ecological balance of the planet. For instance, the Western Ghats region were termed as the Ecologically Sensitive Area and the adjoining villages were classified into Ecologically Sensitive Zones in Ghats Ecology Panel Report 2011(Gadgil Report) under the Chairmanship of Madhav Gadgil.¹⁴. The report suggested that the areas classified under the area and zone should not be altered or messed up with. The warning contained in the report strongly suggested adverse environment and ecologically impact including threat of human wild life conflict. The major reason for classification of the ghats into different area and zone on the basis of ecological sensitiveness is that it is home to hundreds of globally threatened flora, fauna, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish species. It is also in consideration of the fact that the region is covering long distance with connecting various states and providing it with ecological balance. At present but most of States involved in the area are neglecting the fact and thus facing the wrath of the negligence. The Western Ghats now is described as ‘Restless Mountains, shattered live’¹⁵ as it is clear that Government policies and ruthless exploitation by private entities have disturbed the lives of wildlife species located there in.

Extreme weather and environmental Issues – The weather and environment conditions play a crucial role to determine the ecological balance in which both human and wild life could co habit. The adverse effects of environment destruction is slowly reflecting in the form of mass disasters like earthquakes, flood, drought and landslides. The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change in its Sixth Assessment Report submitted in 2021¹⁶, estimates that world will reach or exceed 1.5 degrees C of warming within 2 decades that could make faster heating of sea and glaciers hinting at about more and more calamities affecting all the inhabitants including

¹³ Swathi Vadlamudi, “Tiger Tourism on Nallamala Hills”, page:5 of THE HINDU News Paper dated 15^th November 2021.

¹⁴ “Report of Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel”, dated 31^st August 2011, submitted to Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India.

¹⁵ G Krishnakumar, “Restless mountains, shattered lives”, page:13 of THE HINDU News Paper dated 24^th October 2021.

¹⁶ Kerstin Stendahl, Deputy Secretary IPCC, “Report on 6^th Assessment cycle”, 2021, Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change.

humans and wildlife. This could also mean that as the disturbance is caused by calamities could lead to direct encounters and conflicts between humans and wildlife for survival.

Population Increase- The population increase is yet another reason triggering the human wildlife conflict. The population increase in both sides i.e., human and wildlife species are factors which influences the conflict. The population increase in humans comes with various requirement, the most important being resources to survive, but this often is unable to be met and results into penetration towards the resources meant for the wildlife species, this result in depletion of resources in which wildlife species can rely. The ultimate outcome is conflict for capturing and retaining the resources.

Due to surge in population the options of inhabitancy have declined, this also kickstarted the migration and resulting encroachments into inhabitants of wildlife species. The result was the depletion of inhabiting space of wildlife species. The encroachments into habitat of wildlife species put humans and wildlife species close to each other which has also resulted in frequent violent interaction between both. The close inhabitants caused frequent visit of both groups into each other habitats, which resulted in violent encounters, also frequent encroachments resulted in alteration of habitat for wildlife but it did not make the wild animals conscious about their boundaries and the same could not be expected from the wild animals. Thus, wild animals continued their routine visit to places and locality even if it was captured by humans, this at times caused hurdles and facilitated frequent human and wildlife encounters.

Frequent incident of wild animals attacking human in close border habitats has also indicated for the need for regulating interaction between both sides and need to regulate their living conditions which is closely lying against each other. Now, in certain exceptional situation the wildlife/wild animals population increase also trigger the human wild life conflict. In most of the cases the situation is different but as mentioned this exceptional situation also has to be analysed properly. The population increase in wildlife animals, surges their needs of resources as resources limits and the needs has to be met. The quest to survive and to find out new resources forces them encroach into human habitat to satisfy their needs. This at times causes human wildlife conflicts.

Wild Animals venturing into human habitat has caused widespread destructions not only to life but also to livelihood which starts the conflict. We could clearly get the situation when we analyse incidence of wild animals attacking the habitat including fields, house and other

assets of the Humans. The shocking revelation of reported figure of about 10 years, where reported 124 major and other minor incidence of livestock and human life attack by wildlife animals¹⁷ also indicate towards the same.

We could safely mention that population increase irrespective of side has its own effect on human wildlife conflict and is more or less an important triggering point of same. The population fluctuation related issues can be least controlled as so it is uncontrollable and need another conscious approach for the same.

Human population increase and related contributory causes is more alarming as this is often causing major issues related to conflicts between human and wildlife but as mentioned it is in a certain way out of hand and uncontrollable, something which can ensured is the division of resources and handling the issues with more intelligent approach.

Impacts of human wildlife conflict

Disturbance to Ecological Balance – Every element in ecology should be balanced otherwise it could end up in various outcomes which might even extend to adverse outcomes. The species existing in the ecology are also an important element which should be evenly balanced. The ecological balance even includes the relationship between living things with its non-living environment. There is also food circle existing in ecology and following this food chain a balance is maintained. If one element of food cycle become extinct or not available imbalance to food circle and to ecological system as a whole.

The human-wildlife conflict certainly causes ecological imbalance as disturbing the same with interfering in the circle. Both human and wildlife are part of the bigger part of ecological circle and are essentially the vital elements to keep the balance. The human wildlife conflict essentially affects one of the side which ultimately affects the ecological balance.

The ecological balance has chain reaction and if one species is affected the whole circle goes down. The impact of the same is negative. This could be understood with example from 1920’s where in Yellow Stone National Park the grey wolf was eliminated considering it as a

¹⁷ Saurabh Prashar, “ In 10 years, wild animals on prowl attacked livestock 124 times in human settlements around 2 Haryana Forests, dated 22th August 2020, https://indianexpress.com/article/india/in-10-years-wild- animals-on-prowl-attacked-livestock-124-times-in-human-settlements-around-2-haryana-forests-6565924/.

harm but subsequently elk which was predated by grey wolf grew in population as their primary predators were not affecting them, this caused sever set back as there was full malfunctioning of ecology in the national park, the impact was also visible in other species. Later on, in 1995 the ecologist re introduced the grey wolf to restore everything. This particular example of Yellow Stone National Park we could identify the human wild life conflict as ultimately the humans decided that grey wolf was harmful and eliminated it completely, which damaged the whole balance. Thus, it is clear how human wild life conflict could affect the circle and ecological balance and how sever it could end up.

Moreover, the ecology is a basic type/part of biodiversity, which is a much bigger picture. The biodiversity is described or explained at three important levels namely, genetics, ecosystem and species all these work together to run Earth. The genetic diversity consists of variation of genetics and species diversity consist of species variation with combination of various species and ecosystem diversity consist of variation of habitat and living condition of species¹⁸.

The biodiversity is important because it gives clues on how variation take place for each species. This on brighter side is also crucial when it comes to managing every species. The human-wildlife conflicts cause disturbances to equilibrium of biodiversity and it damages the basic balance of existence. When the equilibrium is shattered the variation of species cannot be analysed and this ultimately leads to imbalances.

Further, ecological balance is dynamic objective which has to be achieved and if it is achieved it ensures survival and existence of all organism side by side with sufficient balance which is required. On the other hand, the diversity as for biodiversity is also maintained. In short, ecological balance maintains the entire biota for the establishment of healthy environment which is as much required for survival and on the other hand ecological imbalances brings widespread destruction. Thus, the relevance to maintain the ecological balance is very high and it as much required for proper functioning. The human beings have a very crucial role to play in the process, since amongst the species humans are endowed with rationality to understand the need for harmonious relationship between organism and environment.

¹⁸ Richard F. “Genetic and Extinction”. Biological Conservation, 2005, 126 (2):1-140.

Destruction of Habitat- The destruction of habitat is an obvious impact of human wildlife conflict. The habitat is the natural home or surroundings of a particular species. Be it human or wild life species the habitat is necessary and crucial for survival. Without the habitat to live no species can particularly continue its existence because it is the basic root which connect every species to is reality and lifestyles.

Wildlife species require four basic components for an ideal habitat, namely- food, water, cover and space. If these components are present then the habitat is complete for the wildlife species. When human-wildlife conflict occurs, there is direct effect on the either of these four components altering the very nature of habitat. The impact can be assessed through the elements of Successional Stage, Structure, Size of Area, Arrangement, Surrounding Landscapes, and Time of the Year.

Starting with Successional Stage, it signifies the predictable change in the plant community. Every plant community species undergoes changes during different course or quarter of time or due to fixed reason, these changes are as said predictable and is necessary for the evolution of the particular community and also for the species relying on it. Different species might consume it so it is important that everything happens as predictable. Now, human-wild life conflict is unpredictable which affects the successional stage directly, this may be because of the previously cited ecological imbalances or due to widespread encroachment which influence the successional stage. Next element is Structure, this signifies the structure of habitat where the species exist. Now every habitat has its own structure which is important to be maintained as it is very important to manage the habitat and its process, but the human activities particularly human wildlife conflict alters this structure resulting into very severe impacts. Taking an example of forest with thick trees covering it, this is also important for the forest to retain the humidity level but if as part of the conflict any alteration is made to the thick trees which is an important structure then this alteration damages all other species relying on humidity. Taking next elements Size of Area and Arrangements in the habitat are almost similar, as the size of area and arrangements are important and as crucial as other element. Firstly, the size of area if depleted could alter the movement and growth of wildlife species and secondly, arrangements refer to arrangements of resources in the habitat and which species could exist without any resources. Thus, human-wild life conflicts particularly leading to depletion of the same would cost the damage of the habitat and leading to causing harm to species relying on it.

Surrounding Landscapes as an element is important as is as much important as the habitat because it forms the environment and physical ambiance which is very important for the species existence. More dynamic the surrounding landscapes more are dynamic the species can grow and co-exist but as far the development needs of the humans are growing result is depletion of surrounding landscapes, this element leads more chance of human-wildlife conflict.

Finally, regarding Time of the Year as an element, this refers to the time of the year when each happenings occurs periodically and annually which is much important for the maintains of ecological balance and preserving the habitat but when human-wildlife conflict it will also affect the cycle which is much important preserving the habitat.

Thus, these elements and alteration caused to it by human-wildlife conflict affects the habitat thereby causing the destruction to it. The destruction occurs either way of direct destruction or fragmentation or degradation. The wildlife habitat is not the only habitat which is affected by the human wildlife conflict. Human habitats are equally affected. The wildlife species infiltrates to human habitats depleting human resources and damaging the lively hood of the humans leaving a long-lasting impact. There are many instances where the wildlife attack is faced not only in the village areas but also in city limits causing destruction.

Fight for Survival- The fight for survival is yet another obvious impact of human- wildlife conflict. As and when any conflict occurs the nearest outcomes would be to somehow survive it, sometimes even at any cost the survival is given greater importance. The survival as a concept is wider and is often kickstarted by the weaker points in a conflict, this is because the weaker links would not be able to fightback and withstand the aggression from the opposite side, thus, the most obvious choice would be to gather all the resources and somehow survive the aggression from opposite side.

In a human-wildlife conflict the fight for survival may be from either end, depending on the situation. The fight for survival from the part of wildlife is either in the form of attack of humans regain the resources for their existence or migration from the habitat or place of aggression to a different habitat. The second instance is seldom resorted as wildlife species prefer to stay where they belong and fight back from there.

The aggressive fight for survival takes extreme turns leading to extinction of wildlife species. Lethal management is most often the methodology to fight back the wildlife species. Lethal management generally involve killing or sufficiently destructive mechanism used against the wildlife animals/species¹⁹. Culling is a narrower concept involved in the same, while the culling is done as a precaution against the spread of diseases or virus and its instance can be mostly seen in Zoo as in to protect the visitors or the remaining species from catching the virus.

The lethal management is State sponsored in most of the cases, but this is done with an intent to protect the humans and their livelihood. The instance of Gray Wolf in North America²⁰ can be considered here where in it faced government sponsored lethal management initiative, i.e., it was killed or brought to complete extinction on account of the threat it posed to citizen of the country. The same fate was met by Zanzibar Leopard and White Shark as they were attacked with the government sponsored lethal management initiatives.

In certain cases, the need is so high that without the any such initiatives the humans are not able to withstand. There are many instances where wild animals particularly elephants attack the fields and farm sector and as a prohibitory measure government resort to electric fencing to prohibit the movement. This could even lead to death of elephants but the necessity and fight for survival demands the same. The recent Kerala High Court Judgment²¹ of allowing shooting permission and licence to farmers on account to shoot down the wild boars attaching their field also indicates the necessity and fight for survival.

The problem with the fight for survival is that it can leading aggravation and recurrence of conflict and may lead to the wipe out of species involved either way. The fight for survival continues to greater limits and it never stops on achieving a specific goal but it continues till extinction of either end of the conflict.

How to balance and mitigate human wildlife conflicts?

Wildlife Conservation- This is the best cure when it comes to human-wildlife conflict. It is very important to preserve the wildlife species, and if is taken up seriously, inevitably the

¹⁹ S Vantassel, ‘Wildlife management professionals need to redefine the terms: Lethal control, nonlethal control, and live trap’ (2012) 6(2) Human-wildlife Interactions 335.

²⁰ Musiani and Paquet (n. 8) at 50.

²¹ MT Thomas and Ors. v. State of Kerala and Ors., WP(C). No. 8442 of 2010.

human-wildlife conflict would go down. Wildlife conservation indicates the protection of species be it plants or animals in their natural habitat which helps to complete the cycle and it ensures that the balance would not be spoiled.

The importance of conservation is underlined by the fact that human population is increasing every day while wildlife population is on the decline. Wildlife conservation approaches inject the balance of life cycle into the ecology. This could be illustrated with a simple example where in a food cycle which is part of life cycle an insect is eaten by frog and frog is eaten by snake and what will happen if frog is extinct the cycle is broke as in snakes cannot eat insects and thus a conflict would arise, slowly snake population would be low as there is no food and insects’ population would grow as there is no predator. This situation could be only avoided with preserving the frogs which would complete the cycle and maintain the balance.

Currently, international organisation such as World-Wide Fund, Conservation International, The Wildlife Conservation Society and United Nations have taken positive step and active interest in conservation of wildlife species and to maintain public funds and other resources to achieve the same. International policies and initiatives are formulated with a view of preserving the species and preventing them from nor getting extinct. The goals of these bodies have always been the preservation of the ecology and its species and also to promote awareness and education on the issue so as to get better response.

Nevertheless, the global initiatives have not reached its full extend and is lacking in the implementation part. Most of the projects are for preserving the endangering species while all other species who are fast running into this category are neglected and as and when they enter the endangering category, the project for preserving them is kick started. A reversal of approach

i. e. Preserving all species and not only the endangering species is required. A uniform implementation scheme is also required so as to ensure that global efforts are replicated at national levels.

Role of Individual, State and NGOs

Role of Individual- Every Individual has a big role to play in preventing human-wildlife conflict. The best action a person can take is to remain within the limit of ecological boundaries and not to interfere with the habitat of wildlife species. All the encroachments and destruction

of the wildlife habitat have to be stopped and the unwanted quest for more resources than one’s own need has to be limited.

Moreover, individual should not interfere in the activities which wrongly interfere with the wildlife species. Further, entertaining activities such as circus or zoo and sports activities such as leisure hunting should all be stopped as these wrongly use the wildlife species and treat them mere as entertaining activities or commodities.

Role of State- State is committed to every citizen and subject of its, thus, they should protect them. Apart from this State should also take active interest in prohibiting its subjects/citizen from infiltrating into wildlife. The State should focus on development but not on account of destruction of environment, surrounding and habitat which supports wildlife. The projects costing such destruction should be dropped. More inclusive approach has to be taken in case of wildlife as until now wildlife is not considered as something which needs protection or on the other hand, they are considered to be things which ought to be dominated. The approach should be treating wildlife species as similar to humans which should be give importance. If each state takes initiative to cover all the species under its territorial jurisdiction, then it can be great change.

Role of NGOs- The NGOs have an important role to play in preventing or reducing human-wildlife conflicts. The NGOs have actively protested against the government. They could also educate large population for the need of preventing the conflicts.

Adoption of Eco Centric Approach – The Eco Centric approach targets to keep the environment or nature at the centre for all decision making. It completely focusses on environment and not particularly to what humans requires. It also indicates that anthropocentric approach which keeps humans at its centre of focus has to be replaced with a philosophy of inclusive habitat and environment.²² This approach highlights the need of preserving all the layers of Earth and it consequently presses for preserving and maintaining ecological balance which would ensure the cycle goes on and no disturbance is caused which break the cycle.

Further, Ecocentrism helps the humans to realise their duties towards nature and it gets centred to solve all the related crisis, ecocentrism remind us that all the humans and non-humans

²² Curry P (2011) Ecological Ethics: An introduction (2nd edition). Polity Press, Cambridge, UK.

including all species are essentially interdependent and are related to each other²³. Naturally, a common empathy is developed towards fellow cohabitants irrespective of the species difference which would thus limit the anthropocentrism present in the humans. Gradually, unwarranted actions from human side would decline as mutual respect developed. Every species would be able to remain in its boundaries and lead a resource full life.

Ecocentrism is not anti-humanism but inclusive of every species. It is in consonance with anthropocentrism yet different from it in terms of its objectives. Objectives of anthropocentrism are- maintaining essential ecological process for human survival, preserving genetic diversity for protection of human resources and ensure sustainable utilization of species for human community. On contrary the major objective of ecocentrism is inter-species justice alongside inter-human justice which highlights the bigger picture of including all the species into the ecology and it also interpret the reality that humans were not alone during all the ages and should not be alone as on for existence of whole ecology.

Ecocentrism is not only for present or not only for correcting the past mistakes but for a brighter side is has a great impact on future. It lays down a path way for the future generation and links various factors and fill the gap. It ensures that preservation mechanism and environment or nature centre approach is taken so that the balance even though is disturbed in present it would not be so in future and at least the future generation would be able to lead a greater resource life cohabiting alongside with all other species.

Implementing Sustainable Wildlife Management- The sustainable wildlife management is the sound management of wildlife species to manage or sustain their surroundings or habitat. This involves recognizing, maintaining and controllably applying the existing resources²⁴. This may sound lot similar to wildlife conservation but the concept is different regarding the approach. In simple words this could be explained by pointing out that wildlife conservation is mostly related to conserving wildlife from endangering so as part of that plans and policy are formulated to achieving the same, while sustainable management is focused on managing all the resources sufficient for the species to survive and planning for properly using it without wasting it and thus maintains balance form getting interfered with. We could however say that

²³ International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (1980) World Conservation Strategy: Living resource conservation for sustainable development, https://is.gd/NzzGT4 (accessed March 2017).

²⁴ Kahler, J. S., Roloff, G.J., & Gore, M.L. 2012. Poaching risks in community-based natural resource management. Conservation Biology, 27(1), 177–186.

sustainable management includes wildlife conservation as part of managing and planning for the process. Thus, wildlife conservation is narrow when compared to sustainable management and is included in the concept.

Sustainable management is best cure when it comes to human-wildlife conflict as the sustainable management is directly addressing on lot of factors which initially leads to human- wildlife conflict²⁵. Sustainable management not only helps to manage resources for the wildlife but ensures proper resources is available to the humans which thus avoid needs for encroachment or any involvement in the wildlife. This towards a greater extend cut out probability of human-wildlife conflict.

The key concerns leading human-wildlife conflict i.e. Safety-security, food security and diseases transmission can be solved with sustainable management as the sustainable management ensures optimum utilization of resources which in turn ensures food security. Sustainable management takes direct and firm action on the root causes of human-wildlife conflicts. It addresses the lack of resources in rising population among humans and check unwarranted encroachments in one others habitat. The human made causes such war, unrest, climate change is also kept in check so as to ensure that it might not cause any conflict²⁶.

Sustainable management mechanisms help in reducing or avoiding the human wildlife conflict by-

1. Shared governance, education and awareness raising- The shared governance and education ensure all-round reach and helps in equitable use of resources.

• Recognition of local community with expertise and skills- The local communities can solve human wildlife conflicts by in situ biodiversity conservation and eco-friendly co-existence methods.

• Financial resources- The pooling of financial resources allows to utilize it for meeting the requirement and distributing at exact time.

²⁵ St. John, F.A.V., Keane, A.M., Edwards-Jones, G., Jones, L., Yarnell, R.W., & Jones, J.P.G. 2012. Identifying indicators of illegal behaviour: Carnivore killing in human–managed landscapes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279, 804–812.

²⁶ Canavelli, S.B., Branch, L.C., Cavallero, P., González, C., & Zac cagnini, M.E. 2014. Multi-level analysis of bird abundance and damage to crop fields. Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment, 197, 128-136.

• Relocation of communities- Relocation of communities from vulnerable areas in order to avoid possible friction from happening and to ensure that relocated communities receive better resources so as keep them surviving.

• Good land use and panning it correctly- Using the land properly to generate various other sources of resources and planning it correctly would ensure proper distribution and balance.

• Growing alternate crops and protecting it- Growing of alternate crops keeps up that balance in food and continue the circle and protecting it from possible attacks in order to keep up the momentum.

• Controllable lethal management and construction of barrier- Controlled lethal management and construction of barriers would ensure the balance in the ecology,

Thus, the sustainable management mechanisms are useful cure when it comes to human- wildlife conflict and adoption of it globally would ensure the reduction or prevention of such conflict and to keep both the sides protected in the ecology.

Conclusion

The fact goes without saying that wildlife conservation is an imperative which sustains life in this planet. But the sheer expanse in the population as well as lopsided perceptions on development remains as prominent threats to augmentation of forest cover and wild life conservation. It is a trite fact that forest cover is fast dwindling and wild life is pitted against multi – pronged threats. On the jurisprudential scenario, the evolution of animal rights and human rights and the ensuing conflicts and desirable convergence are now seriously deliberated around the world. A shift from anthropo-centrism to eco-centrism in developing sustainable mechanisms and models of forest governance would add the much-needed vigour in the quest for the symbiotic existence.

It becomes incumbent for the state to formulate ways to manage such conflicts through governance models on a sustainable basis. Now a days every single incident of causality to the life and property of human beings generates chaos. The intensity of the chaos has spiked to a level where the affected people dare to take law into their hands and has many a times took law into their hands and involved in destruction of wild life which they justify as acts for self- preservation. The governments find hard pressed between the hue and cry raised by the victims

for compensation and the bounden duty fastened on it by various statutes to conserve wildlife. Hence it goes without saying that there is a social cost involved in such instances both visible as well as invisible.

The States have to design proactive programmes by involving the take holders including the non-state actors to redeem the main stream society from the prevailing information and knowledge asymmetry levels about the intricacies involved and design models of co-existence to harmonize the relations for enduring solutions. It is imperative that what the state has to strive is to explore the frontiers of inclusiveness having an appreciable effect on sustainable models of biodiversity conservation by integrating participatory approaches.