Dimapur, August 28 (MExN): Green Succession of Nagaland State (Green-SONS), a voluntary environment protection group based in Nagaland, underscored the need to formulate policies and strategies to mitigate the human-elephant conflicts in the state.
Taking the example of the fertile Bagthy Valley under Wokha district, Chairperson of Green-SONS Jess T Murry stated that agricultural activities, extensive coal mining and enormous monoculture plantations in the surrounding areas of the valley have fragmented elephant corridors, disorganized elephant habitats and caused reduction of food plants for the animals.
There will be no concrete conclusive solution for human-elephant conflicts unless expansion of human activities is limited, the group stated in a press release received here on Saturday,
While the Department of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (DoEFCC) renders utmost efforts to contain any type of conflict situations and formulates policies and strategies to mitigate the human-elephant conflicts, it is beyond the clutches of the department unless the populace of the area reduces unplanned activities in predominant elephant habitats, it added.
Stating that the assertion is not only subjected to Bagthy Valley but also an indication to all elephant habitats in Nagaland or elsewhere in the world, the release stated that the elephants do not encroach on human habitations. Rather, it is humans who provocatively interfere in its occupied niche and obstruct their freedom, it maintained.
The release pointed out that the concerned department, in order to mitigate and minimize the human elephant conflicts, has appointed 53 Volunteer Forest Watchmen in 2020 to supervise and track the movements of elephants and disseminate information to the local people. However, this alone cannot achieve the desired goal unless there is an active participation of the local populace by leaving the animals undisturbed in their free ranging areas.
In this regard, it suggested that Village Councils institute Community Conservation Reserve Areas (CCRA) through the concerned department and work towards a path to uplift livelihood development at the rural level without causing any interference with the nature and its resources.
