Kochi: Over 7,000 man-animal confrontations reported in 2017-18; buffer zones shrink

KOCHI: For those who felt the need to sympathize with the protesters in Wayanad, who were opposing night traffic ban on the forest stretch of NH-766 between Karnataka and Kerala, this will come as a shocker. There has been a 300% increase in tiger attacks from 2015-16
(95) to 2017-18 (301).
In 2017-18, 21 people were killed by wild elephants while tiger attacks claimed 12 lives.A total of 7,229 man-animal conflicts were reported in Kerala that period. Of the 9,333 applicants, who sought compensation after wild animal attacks, 6,304 stay in the buffer zones of Kannur and Palakkad forest divisions. These findings were highlighted in the Kerala forest statistics report (2018) that was recently brought out by the forest department.

Environmentalists pointed out that as these wildlife corridors were disrupted due to clearing forests, quarrying and expansion of roads, wild animals were forced to enter human habitats. “Wild elephants raiding crops have become a regular feature. This is because the buffer zones of forests have been encroached and they foray into the nonforest areas for food,” said president of the Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samiti N Badusha.
Kerala has four elephant wildlife corridors, of which three are part of Wayanad’s wildlife division. But, there are numerous forest settlements, plantation estates and human habitats in this region. Unlike Periyar Tiger Reserve which has a 900 sq km of protected forest area, Wayanad has fragmented forest corridors, which has led to more man-animal conflicts.
Environmentalists pointed out that massive quarrying in the buffer regions of forest has disturbed wildlife habitat over the years and animals are forced to move from one place to another. According to a study conducted by TV Sajeev and Alex CJ of Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) there are 5,924 quarries in Kerala “Ecologically-sensitive zone-I (ESZ) has 1,486 quarries, ESZ-II has 169 quarries and ESZ-III has 1,667 quarries. Western Ghats Experts Ecology Panel report has said that 66% of these quarries are in ESZs,” the study said.
Kerala’s recent decision diluting the Supreme Court guideline – which banned quarries within a 10km radius from forest boundaries – is also going to adversely impact movement of wild animals and destroy the existing buffer zones. “Buffer zones play a key role in protecting the core forest area. Numerous streams originate from these hills and then join and become a big river downstream,” said environmentalist Harish Vasudevan.
After the floods in the previous year, state government should have ensured stricter regulations to protect the remaining green zones in Western Ghats. “It seems, they have not learnt a lesson. Be it Nelliyampathy or Munnar, there has been unscientific expansion of roads. The Gap Road in Munnar is classic example; there were 14 landslips in just two months due to unscientific expansion of road,” he said.