Twin approach to HWC mitigation

The Assam government’s notification to increase the ex-gratia amount to Rs 6 lakh for the next of kin of those killed in the Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC) is a laudable step towards strengthening conflict mitigation and providing enhanced support to the affected households, as it will ensure transparency and accountability within the e-office and digital disbursement ecosystem. Efforts to prevent HWC through landscape-level mitigation remain crucial to reducing conflict situations and safeguarding the lives of both humans and wildlife for sustainable co-existence. To achieve the objective of enhancing the ex-gratia amount, it is essential to release and credit the amount directly to the bank accounts of the next of kin in a timely manner. As the enhanced ex-gratia amount is to be drawn from two separate sources of funds, namely the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the State Own Priority Development – General (SOPD-G) fund, it is imperative to ensure that the disbursement of the composite amount to bereaved families—Rs 4 lakh from SDRF and Rs 2 lakh from SOPD-G—is not delayed by any procedural or technical bottlenecks. While fatalities in HWC attract immediate administrative attention, beyond claiming human lives, the recurring conflict, especially the Human Elephant Conflict (HEC), inflicts substantial damage to properties, including dwelling houses and standing crops. Timely compensation for economic losses from HEC is crucial in easing the financial burden on affected households and fostering public support for wildlife conservation. The provision in the Standard Operating Procedure states that the District Disaster Management Authority will sanction and disburse the ex-gratia amount within 48 to 72 hours, and the compensation proposal will be approved retroactively in the subsequent DDMA meeting, which is expected to ensure the prompt release of funds. Effective utilisation of the e-office and digital disbursement ecosystem will be critical to guaranteeing transparency, accountability, and timely implementation of this SOP provision. Building awareness among the affected communities living in HWC hotspots is crucial, as it helps them understand that wildlife strays out of human settlements due to habitat fragmentation caused by government infrastructure development and habitat degradation, which triggers a food and shelter crisis from illegal tree felling and forest encroachment. However, if households affected by recurring HECs cannot receive immediate relief and adequate compensation, building awareness alone will not suffice. Delays in releasing financial assistance and compensation risk making affected communities more hostile and pushing them to chase away the wild elephant herd, aggravating the cycle of conflict and increasing the risk of injury and loss of life for both humans and elephants. The compensation amount, being proportionate to the actual loss due to damage to standing crops or dwelling houses, is essential to maintain public trust in HEC mitigation measures. While the payment of ex-gratia or compensation to affected households is a reactive response for conflict mitigation, securing the elephant corridor is the preventive strategy that can significantly reduce HEC incidents and calls for prioritising it in the conflict mitigation strategy and approach. Ironically, despite the intensified eviction drive, 17,422 hectares of land in eight wildlife sanctuaries of the state are still under encroachment, as brought to light by this newspaper in its Thursday’s edition, highlighting the scale of habitat degradation that fuels recurring and intensified HWC in these areas. Such extensive habitat degradation within protected areas is also an indicator of the scale of habitat loss and fragmentation occurring in forests outside the protected landscape. Unless we effectively check such alarming habitat degradation and fragmentation, the mitigation measures will always fall short of addressing the persistent HWC. Wildlife species are also key indicators of the health of a forest ecosystem. The degradation and fragmentation of habitats not only pose extinction threats to wildlife species by reducing access to food and shelter for wildlife populations but also adversely affect essential ecosystem services on which communities are dependent for survival, including freshwater supply, irrigation, groundwater recharge, soil conservation, and climate resilience. Communities living on the forest fringe have a critical sentinel role to play by cooperating with the Environment and Forests department to prevent encroachments and fragmentation as vigilant custodians of these landscapes. Often a lack of sustainable livelihood avenues pushes some people living in the forest fringe to indulge in illegal tree felling, timber smuggling, wildlife poaching and middlemen in illegal settlements in patches of cleared forest areas aggravating HWC. The creation of sustainable livelihood avenues such as weaving, mushroom cultivation, food processing, etc. that reduce the dependence of communities on forests for livelihood is a critical component of the landscape-level approach to HWC mitigation, as these activities can increase the household income for essential needs such as education and healthcare. An effective mitigation strategy for HWC lies in combining prompt compensation payment with long-term landscape-level conservation efforts.