56% of land is shared between Humans and Wildlife!! 
Human and Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence 

Human and Wildlife Interaction
The human and wildlife interaction that they share today started thousands of years ago since prehistoric times starting from hunting-gathering about 4,00,000 years ago to domestication about 13,000 to 2,500 BC. In many places, animals were worshipped as the forms of gods by different religions such as cattle, were considered sacred in Hinduism known as “Gau Mata”, in Zoroastrianism, ancient Greek, and Egyptian culture, monkeys as a form of Lord Hanuman in Hinduism, and horse worship in Indo-European and Turkic peoples. Between these interactions and eras around 15000 - 13000 BC, the shift in climate and overhunting by humans lead to the extinction of large animals like mammoths as per scientific research. 

As humans and wildlife have continued to interact from prehistoric times to modern times, they existed just like two sides of a coin, Conflict, and Coexistence. Let’s try to understand each of them one by one.

Human and Wildlife Conflict

Credit: WWF
As per current data, the population has reached 8 billion and as the population is growing exponentially so is there a demand for consumption. This continuous consumption has led to rapid Wildlife Habitat Destruction such as the clearing of forests for agriculture, land conversion for urbanization and commercialization, water development projects, pollution, and climate change due to human activity. Whereas the interference of several animals in the living areas of humans has led to the destruction of crops leading to agricultural, and infrastructure damage, contributing to financial losses for humans, especially for low-income families. 

Poaching has been a major threat to wildlife in the growing years. Numerous innocent animals have been killed in the past years for illegal wildlife trade, medicinal purposes, resources such as skin and leather, and food consumption.If we see it from a Human-Wildlife Conflict, according to a report by World Wildlife Fund, about 121 people were killed by wild elephants in Sri Lanka whereas 405 elephants were killed due to Human-Wildlife Conflict.  60 people were killed by Lions in Tanzania per year whereas 150 lions were killed by Human Wildlife Conflict per year. About 80,000 - 138,000 people were killed annually in the regions of Asia and Africa due to snake bites.       

 Zoonotic Diseases are diseases that are transferable from animals to humans. According to a report by the World Wildlife Fund about 70% of emerging diseases and pandemics such as Ebola, Zika, and Covid-19 have been spread due to close interactions between animals and humans through domestication or unsafe and unhygienic trade and consumption practices. Whereas the usage of harmful chemicals, urbanization, and natural habitat by humans has increased the risk of zoonotic diseases.  

From the above arguments, we got an idea clear of how humans and wildlife are having conflicts in various aspects between each other due to interferences and the only solution to this is Human and Wildlife Coexistence. Let’s further try to understand what practices we can incorporate for their coexistence.

Human and Wildlife Coexistence

Credit: Google

Agriculture: Creating protective barriers such as bio-fences between animals and crops for avoiding the destruction of crops, hence saving the animals from getting killed by farmers due to their financial loss. Providing small compensation, food security, and crop insurance to farmers from low-income families. A similar solution known as Grain for Grain was implemented as a pilot project in Arunachal Pradesh in India in 2005. Under which, around 62 tonnes of grains were distributed as a relief to 500 families near the Pakke Tiger Reserve village.

Transportation: Leveraging technologies and innovation to save animals from train and car accidents such as installing automatic detection mechanisms. For example, EleTrack which was installed in Kerala for saving elephants, particularly from train accidents by detecting the animal using the sensor and sending a signal to the train operator, and Light Collars for Dogs made by Shantanu Naidu’s team for saving dogs from road accidents.      

Veterinary Services: Having sufficient veterinary services for treating the animal for any kind of disease as well as organizing camps for their checkups like humans.
Behavioral Changes: Changing the perception of people about Wildlife and spreading awareness amongst them about Wildlife Conservation and campaigns against anti-poaching such as Wildlife Conservation Trust of India’s Save Our Tigers Campaign.

 Lastly, every organism in this ecosystem holds its own importance, and the extinction of any of them can make dramatic changes to our environment. Our environment might lose its beauty because of the absence of Wildlife. So,  Let's try to utilize our abilities in the best way possible to save the beauties of the environment: Our Fauna and Flora, Our Wildlife!