AI for Coexistence, mitigating human-wildlife conflicts
Research Background
Wayanad Plateau is located in the Western Ghats of India, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its biodiversity, and hosts numerous endemic species as well as the world’s largest population of Asian elephants and a significant number of tigers—two species central to global HWC concerns.
In Kerala, HWC has caused 319 human deaths over the past decade, triggering protests against the government, wherein the public has demanded the repeal of the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act (WPA). Elephants, previously extirpated upon entering villages prior to the enactment of the WPA, have been implicated in over 24,000 HWC incidents in Kerala in the past 5 years.
In this project we propose to develop end-use HWC mitigation tools in collaboration with local communities, NGOs, and government agencies. AI offers the possibility to predict HWC via recognition of the environmental patterns that drive it.
This project has been "selected among the first 25 recipients of the Bezos Earth Fund’s groundbreaking AI Grand Challenge for Climate and Nature. A total of 1,200 applications were submitted for this first selection phase. Each of the 25 laureates will receive $50,000 in funding for their project, along with a ticket to the second phase of the challenge, in which up to 15 projects will be selected to receive $2 million in funding to develop their solutions over the next two years." (UNIGE Distinctions, May 2025)
Research Objective
While a combination of general (e.g., species ecology) and local (e.g., crop maturity) knowledge has allowed us to identify coarse HWC patterns, this knowledge lacks the precision required for temporally sensitive, proactive measures. Climate change stands to exacerbate microclimate fluctuations as well as changes in vegetation cover, creating an even greater mismatch between lived and anticipated human experience.
