JICA to help curb man-animal conflicts

[and/or www.mantra.com/jai]

JICA TO HELP CURB MAN-ANIMAL CONFLICTS

By Moushumi Basu
The Pioneer
http://www.dailypioneer.com
Friday, May 24, 2013

Indraprasth aka New Delhi - To bring cheers to wildlife
activists, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
funding various infrastructure projects as flyovers,
irrigation projects amongst others across the country has
proposed to support measures to check man-animal
conflicts as a part of its bio-diversity project.

To begin with, it will come to the rescue of jumbos in
North Bengal by putting up electronic fence and mobile
squad to keep elephants and gaurs off train tracks and
villages. The Sunderbans will also be another focus area
of the Rs 360-crore project, in which controlling man-
animal conflict is a major component. Similar efforts are
also being taken up in Tamil Nadu, at a cost of Rs 5.59
crore.

"There is habitat loss and fragmentation of wildlife due
to the upcoming infrastructure projects, leading to
rising man-animal conflicts and loss of lives from either
sides," said Shinya Ejima, JICA chief representative in
India. Based on discussions and suggestions with wildlife
experts, the project is aimed at reviving the forest
corridors and habitats, important for the passage of
wildlife, and reducing their incidents of straying to
human landscape, she pointed out.

Apart from the villages of North Bengal, the project will
also constitute squads and assist the elephant trackers
of Forest Department in the conflict-prone forests of
Rupnarayan, Kharagpur, Bankura and Purulia. The project
also envisages the installing of nylon net fencing to
keep the big cats at bay from entering the villages
located in the forest fringe. Out of a total of 85 kms of
interface required to be fenced, more than 50 kms have
been covered by the Forest Department.

Along with the Sunderban Tiger Reserve, the project also
proposes to cover Buxa Tiger Reserve, Mayurjharna
Elephant Reserve besides other wildlife sanctuaries such
as Senchal Wildlife Sactuary and Singalila National Park.

Similar efforts are being made in Tamil Nadu. While solar
fences will be put up to keep away the wild herds of
elephants from entering the villages, elephant trenches
will be dug for the passage of elephants particularly in
the vicinity of railway tracks. Some of the worst-hit

areas are the districts of Erode, Dharmapuri, Dindigul
and Tirunelveli.

The influx of jumbos mainly occurs during the post-
monsoon and dry season periods. Elephant population from
Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary,
Nilgiri North and South Forest Division intensifies for a
period of 3-4 months at a density of 1.5 elephants per sq
km. Due to the impact of developmental activities, the
once contiguous large forest area has shrunk, leading to
increase in man-elephant conflict.

The step has been welcomed by Kishore Rithe, member of
Standing Committee National Board For Wildlife. Rithe who
had been voicing for mitigation funds by the
Infrastructure Ministries to control man-animal
conflicts, felt this will set a good precedence for the
other project proponents to follow.

More at:

http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/jica-to-help-curb-man-animal-conflicts.html

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj

o o o

o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used
for the educational purposes of research and open
discussion. The contents of this post may not have been
authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the poster. The contents are protected by copyright
law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely
not be read, considered or answered if it does not
contain your full legal name, current e-mail and postal
addresses, and live-voice telephone number.

o Posted for information and discussion. Views
expressed by others are not necessarily those of the
poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted
material the use of which may or may not have been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This
material is being made available in efforts to advance
the understanding of environmental, political, human
rights, economic, democratic, scientific, social, and
cultural, etc., issues. It is believed that this
constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the
material on this site is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research, comment,
discussion and educational purposes by subscribing to
USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article
for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Since newsgroup posts are being removed by forgery by one
or more net terrorists, this post may be reposted several
times.