A Workshop to Discuss Strategies to Manage Human - Elephant Conflict in North Kanara District,

Project Team with Forest Officers of Karnataka

Invitees: PCCF (Wildlife) and Forest Officers from North Kanara District

Date and Venue: 11th November 2010, Kulgi Nature Camp, Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve

Supported by: CEPF –ATREE Program

Organized by: Dr. Prachi Mehta and Mr. Jayant Kulkarni Wildlife Research and Conservation Society, Pune

Background

The pilot study on developing mitigation measures on Human-elephant conflict in Division completed one year in November 2010. This study is jointly supported by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), USA and The Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore. The project is being implemented by Wildlife Research and Conservation Society (WRCS), Pune. The Principal Investigator (PI) of the project is Dr. Prachi Mehta, Mr. Jayant Kulkarni is the co-PI and Mr. Umesh Hiremath is the Field Researcher. The Forest Department is one of the major stakeholders and local partner in this project. The purpose of organizing this workshop was to present a review of project activities to the Forest Officers and obtain their views on suggested conflict management strategy for North Kanara District. Table 1 lists names of all the participants of the workshop.

Table 1: List of Participants

Sr. Name of The Participant Designation

1. Mr. B.K. Singh Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (WL), Karnataka 2. Mr. Prem Kumar Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Shimoga 3. Mr. Subhash Malkhede Conservator of Forests, Sirsi Circle 4. Dr. Sunil Panwar Deputy Conservator of Forests, DATR 5. Mr. B. Mallesha Deputy Conservator of Forests, Haliyal 6. Mr. Girish Hosur Deputy Conservator of Forests, Belgaum 7. Mr. P.B.Karunakar Deputy Conservator of Forests, 8. Mr. R. Gokul Deputy Conservator of Forests, 9. Dr. P. Shankar Deputy Conservator of Forests, Dharwad 10. Mr. Vasantha Reddy Assistant Conservator of Forests, Sirsi 11. Mr. T.S.Ramawat Assistant Conservator of Forests, Karwar 12. Mr. R.T. Hegde Assistant Conservator of Forests, DATR 13. Mr. C.M. Ammanavar Assistant Conservator of Forests Hanagal 14. Mr. R. Kumaraswamy Assistant Conservator of Forests, DATR 15. Mr. A.B.Kallur Range Forest Officer (Wildlife), Dandeli 16. Mr. Ajjappa Kurbur Range Forest Officer , Bhagwati 17. Mr. A.I. Birdar Range Forest Officer, Sambrani 18. Mr. P.I. Halbavi Range Forest Officer 19. Mr. V.M. Tenagi Range Forest Officer 20. Mr. B.R. Lohit Range Forest Officer, Virnoli 21. Mr. P.I. Varur Range Forest Officer, Gund 22. Mr. Ganapati R Bhat Range Forest Officer, Phansoli 23. Mr. Ganapati Bhat CEPF-Atree Western Ghats Project Grantee, Sirsi 24. Mr. Jayant Kulkarni Joint Executive Director, WRCS, Pune 25. Dr. Prachi Mehta Joint Executive Director, WRCS, Pune 26. Mr. Umesh Hiremath Field Researcher, WRCS, Pune 27. Mr. Amit Khare M. Phil Researcher, WRCS, Pune

Inauguration of the workshop

The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. B. K. Singh by lighting the traditional lamp. On this occasion, Dr. Sunil Panwar requested Mr. B.K. Singh to release the book and CD on “56th Wildlife Week Celebrations at Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve” which was published by DATR. Thereafter, Mr. B. Mallesha welcomed all the participants and introduced the subject of the workshop.

Mr. B. K. Singh made an inaugural speech on elephant and human conflict in Karnataka. He observed that the conflict in N. Kanara was relatively milder than in Kodagu and accordingly, the elephants as well as local farmers were also less aggressive in N. Kanara than Kodagu.

He said that many captured elephants from Kodagu District have signs of bullet injuries indicating that the farmers are adopting an offensive approach towards the elephants. In Kodagu, many individual farmers have fenced their farms and estates leading to islanding effect so elephants are stuck between fences on either side and have nowhere to go. In Bandipur, the Forest Department dug an EPT around the park but soon the farmers made passages in the EPT for crossing over in the forests and for taking the cattle inside. This passage is then also used by elephants to come out of the forests.

On the issue of ex-gratia payment, Mr. Singh said that the State Government has raised the amount for human death from Rs. 1.5 lakhs to Rs 2 lakhs but yet people are not satisfied because money cannot compensate for human life. Forest Department is doing a fire-fighting job in managing people and elephants. If barriers are constructed, they need to be maintained. No mitigation method is fool proof and there are no unique solutions to mitigating conflict. However, the Forest Department is getting blamed by everyone for not managing the conflict properly. He therefore welcomed the inputs from field-based research saying it can give alternate ideas for new solutions and it will help the Forest Department in dealing with the conflict

First Session The first session of the workshop started with a presentation titled “ Pilot Study for mitigation of Human- elephant conflict in N. Kanara District” by Dr. Prachi Mehta. This presentation began with outline of the specific objectives of the project followed by current situation of elephant conflict in N. Kanara District and methods followed to select the intensive study sites. The description of project activities included demonstration of implementation measures for farmers and field staff and adoption of these techniques by a few farmers in the area. A few farmers have used chilly ropes, chilly smoke and trip alarm and have reported success in keeping the elephants out of their fields. The project also introduced the use of pre-recorded bee-sounds and its deterring impact on crop- raiding elephants. After this presentation, a short film prepared on the effect of bee-sound on captive elephant in N. Kanara was shown for demonstrating the usefulness of this technique.

Second Session During the second session, “Mitigation of Elephant Conflict: Lessons from , Sri Lanka and Africa “ was presented by Dr. Mehta. In this presentation, a comprehensive review of mitigation measures adopted by Forest Department and local farmers from India (Karnataka, Assam, West Bengal), Sri Lanka and Africa was presented with comments on advantages and disadvantages of each method. This was followed by a description of farmers’ perception towards mitigation of elephant conflict and how they deal with crop raiding elephants.

The Forest Department’s participation in conflict resolution was described next. The possibility of change in strategy was suggested wherein in the role of local farmers in crop guarding was emphasized. It was suggested that farmers should be motivated and trained to manage conflict mitigation at their village level and the Forest Department should play a supportive role in conflict mitigation by guiding, motivating and training farmers and establishing a system for monitoring movement of elephants and

informing villages that are at risk. The need for Community-based Conflict Management (CBCM) was discussed in detail giving success stories from Africa and Sri Lanka. The presentation also gave an outline on developing a village level conflict management plan. The long-term measures such as monitoring land- use, keeping a check on encroachments and considering impact of developmental projects for planning of elephant conservation in elephant range was discussed.

Discussions The session was chaired by Mr. B. K. Singh. The comments of the officers present are given below.

Mr. Subhash Malkhede You are suggesting that forest department should motivate and train the farmers in crop guarding. This is a form of extension work. Please suggest who can help us in doing this. Also the farmers are planting sugarcane in Haliyal Division because of the new sugar factory. There is a lot of damage to sugarcane by elephants. The sugar factories should pay the compensation to the farmers for this. Also, it is important to conduct a carrying capacity study in the area to assess how many elephants this area can support Dr. Sunil Panwar Your presentation introduced a new concept of CBCM. We need to follow up on that and establish the trend of early adopters, late adopters and laggards and keep a watch on them to and think of way to involve them in this strategy.. It is good to hear that conflict mitigation responsibility should be shared by local farmers. Also and since it is coming from you it is better because if the Forest Department says it will appear as though the Department is shirking its duties. Mr. B. Mallesha The elephants are known to attack mangoes in Kodagu. So if you give them Mangoes here, they will destroy that too. Mr. R. Gokul During 2006-07, 23 elephants strayed in Haveri Division and split in to various groups. They used to rest during the day in raid during the night. We followed a strategy whereby we kept them on the move during the day time for 15 days. Ultimately the elephants left the area and never returned. We asked the farmers that “don’t you lock your house when you go out of town even though the police is there? So why you don’t guard your own fields”? The farmers find it difficult to spend nights on the watch-towers. Forest Department cannot suddenly abdicate responsibility. The main cause of crop raiding is their liking for agricultural crops and not lack of forage in the forest. Mr. Karunakar I agree that translocation of elephants and drives is not effective for keeping out the elephants as they eventually return to the area. Mr. Girish Hosur In Belgaum this problem is very recent and the main problem could be developmental activities. From Alnawar, double lane of highway is taking place. This will surely affect the elephant movement in the area. Such projects should be discussed in appropriate forum as Forest Department may not have a role to play in such decisions. Mr. Ammanavar N. Kanara district is relatively safe from encroachment but Kali and Supa hydroelectric projects have resulted in habitat loss in the area. What is the permanent solution in keeping the elephants out of the field?

Concluding Remarks by These are new measures and may work in N. Kanara though they may not Mr. B.K.Singh work in Kodagu and Bandipur where the conflict is very high. The local people in N. Kanara are gentle and will listen to you. You may experiment in N. Kanara and keep the Forest Department informed of the results. The Haveri example by Mr. Gokul was good example of management of human elephant conflict. People want full payment of their loss and not ex-gratia. The problem is increasing because of island fencing and forest fragmentation. In Alur and Sakleshpura, the elephants camp on the main road because their paths are blocked. There are many deaths due to elephant encounters so we need to have transparency and keep communication open. Field Based research is welcome to initiate possible solutions.

Third Session Mr. Umesh Hiremath displayed the materials used for various mitigation techniques used in the project. This included broadcasting the bee-sound, use of scaring torch, chilly rope, chilly smoke, catapult bomb, trip alarm and chilly rocket and pods of Bhot Jholkia (Assam chilly). This session highlighted the use of simple, low-cost measures that farmers can afford and employ by themselves.

Man-Elephant Conflict in Karnataka by Mr. B. B. Mallesha

Mr. B.B. Mallesha gave a presentation on elephant conflict across three states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa. He presented the facts on mitigation measures and the details on the proposed Sahyadri Elephant Reserve. He gave details on the migration corridors of elephants from N. Kanara to Maharashtra and mentioned details of the area to be included in the

proposed Sahyadri Elephant Reserve. He highlighted the need for managing human elephant conflict in Karnataka and in North Kanara .

The third session ended at 6 pm with vote of thanks by Mr. Jayant Kulkarni. He thanked all the Forest Officers for participating in the workshop and giving valuable inputs in the discussion. Special acknowledgements were due to Mr. B. K. Singh, Mr. Subhash Malkhede, Dr. Sunil Panwar , Mr. B. Mallesha and Mr. P. Karunakar for co-operation and help during the study and to Dr. Sunil Panwar for providing excellent logistic support for the workshop. Mr. Kulkarni thanked Mr. Prem Kumar, Mr. Girish Hosur Mr. R. Gokul and Dr. P. Shankar for their participation and inputs in the workshop. All the ACFs an RFOs were thanked for their participation during the workshop.

Final Outcome of the Workshop

This workshop gave an excellent opportunity to discuss the research findings with the concerned Forest Officers and further discuss the possibilities of incorporating these findings in elephant conflict mitigation strategy in North Kanara District. The interactions with the Forest Officers will be useful in developing mitigation strategy and

Interactions with Forest Officers during the workshop at Kulgi Nature Camp, November 2010