Shayoni Mehta
In a bid to minimise man-animal conflicts, the people of Moharli, 20 km to the south of Tadoba in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, have increased community participation in forest management, trying to find the balance between man and beast.
With 15 villages within the protected area and more than 50 in the periphery, Tadoba has seen a high number of man-animal casualties in the past five years. The pressure of increasing population, mining and forest gathering activities and illegal encroachment have lead to the fragmentation and loss of tiger habitat and a shrinking prey base, creating a 5000 sq km conflict zone around Tadoba. The fact that most villagers are unaware and uninformed in the ways of dealing with this crisis doesn’t help either.
Initiated by an NGO called Tiger Research and Conservation Team or TRACT, a team of villagers are trained to conduct joint patrols morning and night with the state forest department guards. Apart from being trained in modern methods such as the use of camera traps and compasses to ascertain animal presence, the people are sensitised to conservation issues and forest safety rules and regulations. Tapping local potential, the team also uses the villagers’ knowledge of forested areas to curb poaching activities.
Deve Jambde, one of the village guards, left his job dealing with scrap metals to join the initiative. “It feels good to come back to the village, I know enough about monitoring the forest now and will take the government exam next year to try becoming an official forest guard,” says Jambde. For him and many other local boys, the chances of securing a government job through the community awareness programme is now a reality.
With the recognition of the Forest Rights Act in 2006, man-animal conflicts have been on a rise around sanctuaries, national parks and tiger reserves. If successful, this will prove to be a ready-made model of community involvement, which, through government aid, can be replicated in conflict zones across India and help restore the balance between forest communities and our endangered national animal.
