A review of efficacy of wildlife damages mitigation mechanisms in India

Abstract

The conservation of biodiversity is the need of the day. The population explosion and land conversion for development activities have pushed the wild animals to small pockets of available forest area. These wild animals are in continuous conflict with the human settlements around. In the conflict between wild animals and human beings, wild animals are always the looser. Conservation of wild animals can be achieved only when mitigation measures are taken up against the wild life damages to the extent of satisfaction of the people living around the forest area. The mitigation measures either start before the damage could happen, in the form of wild habitat improvement and erecting barriers in between crop land and forest area or it will start once damage is occurred, in the form of damage compensation payment to the crop field owner. Erecting barriers like solar electric fence and digging trenches are practiced to stop the entry of wild animals into the crop land. These structures need regular maintenance, without which they become ineffective. Though preventive measures are always better than compensation payments, it is not always achieved in all the places, which leave the Government with the option of compensating the loss. The compensation is inherently inefficient and involves huge transaction cost both to the claimant and the Government. This study reviews such measures and models worldwide and in India. It goes deeper into the mitigation measures practiced in the state of Tamilnadu. It looks into the various costs involved in payment of crop damage compensation, its efficacy and suggests ways to reduce the inefficiencies. The study also explores the various alternatives available with the Government to reduce human - wildlife conflict. An appropriate blend of preventive measures and compensation payment is necessary for effective wildlife damage control mechanism.