Human-Wildlife Conflict

International Conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence is held in Oxford, the United Kingdom.

Human-wildlife conflicts are a serious issue to species conservation and a continuing global conference.
It intends to address the issue by facilitating collaboration across industries and specialities.
Conflicts between humans and wildlife make coexistence with nature difficult and impede biodiversity conservation.
For example, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, conflict-related killing affects more than 75% of the world’s wild cat species.
The International Conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence will occur in Oxford, UK, from March 30 to April 1, 2023.
Hundreds of representatives from conservation organisations, universities, governments, companies, and indigenous peoples attended.
In addition, local communities from six continents and 70 countries will meet to propose solutions.

Promote discourse and peer-to-peer learning across sectors and actors for partnerships and collaboration among people and institutions working on human-wildlife conflict.
Provide an interdisciplinary and collaborative understanding of the most recent discoveries, technologies, methodologies, concepts, and information on human-wildlife conflict, coexistence, and interactions.
Human-wildlife conflict should be prioritised as one of the top global objectives in biodiversity conservation.
The Sustainable Development Goals for the next decade create chances for collaboration on national, regional, and global policies and activities.
Establish and design a collaborative strategy for resolving knowledge and implementation gaps to reduce and manage human-wildlife conflict.

About
- Human-animal conflict refers to circumstances in which human activity, such as;
  - Agriculture
  - Infrastructure development
  - Resource extraction cause conflict with animals.
- People come into contact with wild animals, which has harmful consequences for both humans and animals.

Economic Losses
- People, particularly farmers and livestock herders, might suffer large economic losses due to human-animal conflict.
- Wild animals can devastate crops, cause infrastructural damage, and kill cattle, causing financial hardship.
Threats to Human Safety
- Wild animals can endanger human safety, particularly in locations where people and wildlife cohabit.
- Large predators, such as lions, tigers, and bears, can cause serious harm or death.
Ecological Damage
- Human-animal conflict can be harmful to the environment.
- For example, when humans kill predators, prey populations increase, which can produce ecological imbalances.
Conservation Challenges
- Human-animal conflict can also stymie conservation efforts by creating bad opinions of wildlife and making conservation measures difficult to adopt.
Psychological Impacts
- Human-animal conflict can also psychologically affect people, particularly those who have been attacked or whose property has been damaged.
- It can cause anxiety, fear, and trauma.

Project Elephant
- It was established as a Centrally Sponsored Programme by the Government of India in 1992.
Wildlife Protection Act 1972
- It establishes the laws and regulations for animal conservation and protection in India.
Protected Areas and Reserves
- There are 106 National Parks, 567 Wildlife Sanctuaries, and 105 existing Conservation Reserves.
Project Tiger
- It was established by the Government of India in 1973, with 9 tiger reserves.
- There are now 53 tiger reserves in India.
Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE)
- The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was created at the tenth Conference of the Parties in 1997.
Operation Thunderbird
- The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) of the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change supervised an operation in India to combat wildlife crime.

Pic Courtesy: The Hindu

Content Source: Down to Earth