 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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KOLKATA: To reduce the number of incidents of man-animal conflict in the forests of the Sunderbans, officials of the State’s Forest Department are promoting schemes for alternative livelihood among the residents of the estuarine islands. “We are working on measures of livelihood improvement and alternative livelihood for the villagers so that they refrain from entering the dense forest regions. Attempts are being made to enable a second harvesting season in the region,” said Pradeep Vyas, Director of the Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve. The department spent Rs. 5 crore out of its total budget of Rs. 25 crore last year exclusively on welfare schemes, Mr. Vyas added. Of the 102 islands of the Sunderbans, 54 are inhabited. Foresters have to ensure that the tigers do not stray towards the villages and that villagers stay away from the core forest areas. Incidents of tigers entering villages and attacking humans are rarer than incidents of fishermen or honey-collectors being attacked in their boats on the streams in the interiors of the forest, Mr. Vyas said. “About five to six people are killed every year in the forest regions,” he added. “The situation of man-tiger conflicts has been there ever since the first inhabitants came to the islands in 1830s, but as part of conservation efforts, we are trying to reduce the number of incidents,” Mr. Vyas said. Projects on rain-water harvesting, irrigation canals, fresh-water ponds and providing cycle-vans to self-help groups are being undertaken by the department. It was also important to provide villagers a stake in the conservation efforts to keep a check on poachers and 65 protection committees have been set up towards this end, Mr. Vyas said.
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