Human-wildlife conflict in Western Ghats
Research Background
The Western Ghats are a range of mountains that run parallel to the western coast of India, covering a distance of 1,600 km and spans over six states: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. It is known as one of the hottest “Biodiversity Hotspots” for their rich biodiversity and high endemism, including the lion-tailed macaque, the Malabar giant squirrel, and the Nilgiri tahr. It also plays a critical role in the water supply and hydrological cycle of the region, providing water for irrigation and drinking purposes to millions of people. Wayanad district (11°4ʹN–11°9ʹN and 75°7ʹE–76°4ʹE) is in the north-eastern part of the Western Ghats in Kerala, India (Figure below). It has an area of 2,132 km with 817,420 inhabitants as of 2012. It lies on the edges of the Deccan plateau and is located at the altitude of 700 to 2,100 meters.
Wayanad is ideal place to establish HWC research program. It is the home of diverse mammal species which both are threatened by human establishment. Its fragmented forests have led to increased human-wildlife conflicts in the region, with elephants and other animals frequently entering human settlements and causing damage to crops and property. In addition to land fragmentation, increased populations due to recent migration in the areas proximate to forests, lifestyle change and accompanied change of land use pattern, illegal waste dumping in forest areas, increased dependency on the forest for collection of NTFPs (Non-Timber Forest Products) and seasonal migration of animals are considered the reason of the increase HWC incidents. Primates are considered as responsible for the Kyasanur forest disease (KFD) virus (family Flaviviridae) which found mainly among primates and is confirmed to transmitted to human population in 1957. HWC is also recently highlighted in the region due to loss of human lives, which can be associated with the increased distribution of animals, and change in land use practices.
Research Objectives
We will develop a database for HWC occurrence in Wayanad region. The HWC data at Wayanad level is collected through the fieldwork and those at Western ghats is collected through the searching in the publicly available data. For this purpose, we will collect primary and secondary database for human-wildlife conflicts and encounters database across Wayanad region.
Detailed land-use map over the periods of 1980s-2025 will be created for the Wayanad region. Preliminary results show that it is relatively straight forward to create land cover maps with 6 categories (forest, coffee plantation, rubber, teak plantation, rice paddy and paved/urban areas).
We estimate the species distribution and abundance at local and regional scales for the chosen species that often represents for HWC in the Western ghat, namelymonkey, wild boar, elephant, rodents, tiger, leopard, deer, porcupine, mongoose, and gaur. Of those, we have collected the locations of three primate species (Bonnet macaque, Black-footed gray langur, Nilgiri Langur) in Wayanad.
