Keralam’s Forest Department presents action plan for ‘human-wildlife coexistence’ at conference of Ministers, MPs and MLAs
The Kerala Forest Department has unveiled a ₹1,040 crore action plan to mitigate human-wildlife conflict through landscape-level management. The initiative includes drone surveillance, smart solar fencing, and specialized rehabilitation centers to protect both human settlements and wildlife.
Why it matters
This represents a shift from fragmented interventions to a comprehensive, tech-driven strategy for managing the increasing friction between expanding human populations and wildlife habitats.
The Forest department on Wednesday unveiled a landscape-based action plan for ‘human-wildlife coexistence’ which envisions Assembly constituency-level management committees, landscape-level command and control centres, and tech-driven mitigation tools such as drone squads and ‘smart hanging power fences’ for tackling human-wildlife conflict (HWC).
The plan, described as comprehensive and presented at a conference of Ministers, MPs and MLAs here, features a total financial plan of ₹1,040 crore over a four-year period, including ₹724.67 crore for the landscape-level component and ₹314.80 crore for State-level one.
Forest Minister Shibu Baby John, presiding over the event, said the action plan broadly divides Keralam into 14 ‘landscapes.’ The action plan envisions landscape-level planning across forest divisions, corridors and conflict hotspots as opposed to what it terms the earlier approach of “fragmented interventions.” It also promises a ‘preventive and proactive’ response based on risk mapping, increased focus on animal movement routes and site and species-specific interventions.
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