By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 6 Dec: Central Academy for State Forest Service, Dehradun, a premier institute in India to train State Forest Service Officers, is organising a three-day training workshop (6 to 8 December) on “Human-Wildlife Conflict Management” for Indian Forest Service Officers.
The IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence Specialist Group defines human-wildlife conflict as: struggles that emerge when the presence or behaviour of wildlife poses an actual or perceived, direct, and recurring threat to human interests or needs, leading to disagreements between groups of people and negative impacts on people and/or wildlife. Human[1]wildlife conflicts are becoming more frequent, serious, and widespread because of human population growth, agricultural expansion, infrastructure development, climate change and other drivers of habitat loss.
There are numerous approaches and measures that can be taken to reduce the damage or impacts, de-escalate tension, address risks to income and property, and develop sustainable solutions. Effective planning and implementation of such measures requires consideration of good principles in community led conservation, in collaboration with the communities affected. The following topics will be covered in this training programme:
- Conflict to coexistence.
- Managing Monkey Menace.
- Role of Technology in Tiger Conflict Management.
- Human-Elephant Conflict Management.
- Legal Provisions.
- Green infrastructure for Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation.
- Knowledge sharing on best practices in Human-Wildlife Conflict Management across the country.
The inaugural function of this training workshop was conducted today, chaired by Dr Jagmohan Sharma, Director, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun. He gave an overview of the Human Wildlife situation at the national level and outlined the objectives of the workshop.
Dr. Samir Sinha, PCCF (Wildlife) & CWLW, Uttarakhand Forest, was the Chief Guest at the training workshop. In his keynote address, he emphasised that the field officers and managers should focus on better preventive strategies and in situations where conflict has happened on 3 points – Immediate relief, Adequate relief and Sensitive handling of the situation.
Meenakshi Joshi, Principal, Central Academy for State Forest Service, Dehradun, and Amlendu Pathak, Course Director, and faculty members welcomed the Chief Guest and participants on this occasion.
