Forest is a complex ecosystem that mainly consists of trees
supporting various forms. The FAO (Food and Agriculture
Organization) has defined forest as land with tree crown cover
(or equivalent stocking level) of more than 10% and an area of
more than 0.5 hectares. Forests are further subdivided into
plantations and natural forests. Natural forests are forests
composed mainly of indigenous trees not deliberately planted.
Monoculture plantations are being established in the process of
afforestation or reforestation. Forest is a natural resource
that provides food, shelter, and, most importantly, oxygen to
survive. Forests can be broadly classified into type taiga
(consisting of pines, spruce, etc.), the mixed temperate forests
(with both coniferous and deciduous trees), the temperate
forests, the sub-tropical forests, the tropical forests, and the
equatorial rainforests. The six major forest groups in India are
moist tropical, dry tropical, montane sub-tropical, montane
temperate, subalpine, and alpine. These are subdivided into 16
major types of forests. Forest harbors a large amount of
biodiversity. According to studies, it is observed that tropical
forests have a higher number of species per unit area as
compared to temperate forests or boreal forests
(Foody et al.,1997; Adams et al., 2009)
, making them species-rich forests.
But, the human interventions in the forested areas due to
immense pressure on biological resources is creating a
tremendous threat to biodiversity, ecology, hydrological
processes, and carbon sequestration potential
(Gordon et al.,
2011; Halkos and Tzeremes, 2010; Kersebaum et al., 2015;
Ramachandra et al., 2020; Bharath and Ramachandra, 2021).
Fragmentation is basically a landscape-level process in
which a large forest area is divided into smaller, isolated
patches. Human activities such as agriculture or plantation have
the most severe cause of fragmentation and biodiversity loss in
any area. Forest fragmentation in tropical rainforests is
considered one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity.
These forests are the most species-rich terrestrial ecosystems
providing numerous ecosystem services and moderating climate
(Whitmore and Sayer 1992; Armenteras et al., 2003; Ramachandra
et al., 2021).
Habitat fragmentation leads to the isolation of
many species into small populations, making them prone to
hunting and inbreeding
(Soulé, 1987; Hadad et al., 2015) . These
forest fragments that are like patches spread over the landscape
are under pressure due to increased human disturbances such as
logging, removal of fuelwood and grazing, and other activities.
These patches are embedded in a matrix of human habitats of
various kinds, such as plantations, open spaces, and
agricultural fields. This sometimes increases human interaction
with the species and, in turn, increases human-animal conflicts.
Figure 1depicts the effects of forest fragmentation on a
landscape. One of the major losses occurs in forest cover, which
changes forest structure, changing the microclimate around the
edge, low core habitat, and facilities the establishment of
invasive species towards the interior of the forests.
Figure 1. Effects of Forest Fragmentation
As the natural habitat shrinks and the human population
increases, giving way to higher conflicts with animal and human
interactions over a space for food and water. For the search for
food and shelter, animals, mainly elephants, tiger, leopard,
etc., affects the livestock and plantations, causing people to
lose their livestock, crop, or sometimes life
(Manral et al.,
2016) . The subsequent aggressive actions by humans result in
further escalation of the conflicts, including retaliatory
killings of wildlife
(Distefano, 2005; Woodroffe et al., 2005;
Michalski et al., 2006) . Bengal tiger Panthera tigris, common
leopard Panthera pardus fusca, Asiatic one-horned rhinoceros
Rhinoceros unicornis, and Asiatic elephant Elephas maximus are
top-ranked conflict animals.
Increasing fragmentation in any landscape deprives the
animals of their natural resources like food, water, and forest
cover, forcing wild animals to move to other localities,
searching for food, fodder, and water. The fragmented forest
creates patches which in turn disrupts the connectivity of two
forests.
Ramachandra et al. (2016) has assessed the forest
fragmentation in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India,
from 1979 to 2013 showed a reduction in evergreen to
semi-evergreen forest cover from 57.31 % (1979) to 32.08 %
(2013) through land use analysis. The result of fragmentation
analysis showed a decline in the interior forest from 64.42 %
(1979) to 25.62 % (2013), mainly due to increased anthropogenic
activities like deforestation and conversion of forest land into
cropland. Human-wildlife conflicts reflect the interactions
between humans and wildlife where negative consequences, whether
perceived or actual, exist for one or both parties
(Decker et
al., 2000) . Human-elephant conflict is reported throughout the
13 countries where the Asian elephant is distributed
(Kemf and
Santiapillai, 2000) . In one of the studies, Bhadra Wildlife
Sanctuary (Karnataka state, India), average losses due to
elephant raids amount to 11% of the monetary value of the grain
production of the affected households
(Madhusudan, 2003) .
Bal et al. (2011) reported that the conflicts have increased
in the Virajpet division, Kodagu district, leading to
crop-raiding and worsening the conflicts in the district. One of
the studies on elephants in Tanzania, in comparison, uses young
teak plantations (6 years old) to a greater extent than older
stands
(Bonnington et al., 2009) . Krithi et al., (2013) observed
the pattern of human-wildlife conflicts and compensation in the
Western Ghats protected areas and reported that the crop loss
was attributed to 19 species, with top-ranked species across all
reserves being a wild pig (57%), elephant (37%) and chital (8%).
Compensation for crop losses varied across reserves ranging from
INR Rs 9934 in Dandeli-Anshi to INR Rs 38,692 in Bhadra.
Similarly, livestock losses varied across reserves ranging from
INR Rs 2190 in Bandipur to INR Rs 12,352 in Nagarahole. It was
observed that species involved in for compensation were
incidents related to elephants. Comparing the result with
another study by
Rohini et al. (2016) , the elephants accounted
for 58.8% of the conflict cases. Both the study stated that the
compensation was an ineffective program mostly because of the
prolonged and challenging administrative procedures and the
mistrust of authenticity of the program. Therefore, proper
channels and mitigation for the human-wildlife conflict are
necessary to improve the current situation observed in the
Western Ghats. Direct contact with wildlife occurs in both urban
and rural areas. Still, it is generally more common inside and
around protected areas, where wildlife population density is
higher, and animals often stray into adjacent cultivated fields
or grazing areas. Species most exposed to the conflict are also
more prone to extinction
(Ogada et al., 2003) because of injury
and death caused by humans. These can be either accidental, such
as road traffic and railway accidents, capture in snares set for
other species or from falling into farm wells, or intentional,
caused by retaliatory shooting, poison, or capture.
Wildlife Corridors
A Wildlife corridor is a two-dimensional landscape element
that connects two or more wildlife habitat patches that were
previously connected but isolated due to forest fragmentation
and anthropogenic activities
(Gadgil et al., 2011) . Wildlife
corridor connects isolated habitat patches, which allow seasonal
movement of fauna species to migrate, breed, and feed
(Srivastav
and Tyagi et al., 2016) . The function of the wildlife corridor
is to enable the physical movement of wildlife species which is
decisive for their long-term survival. However, due to
increasing demand for land and natural resources, wildlife
corridors and habitats are threatened. All forms of
anthropogenic activities and interactions with the natural
environment lead to changes in the ecosystem, species
composition, and climate change and therefore ultimately have
associated impacts on changes in the ecosystem, species
composition, and climate change and, therefore, ultimately
impact wild animals.
The current issue of Sahyadri E-news presents :
⦁ land use in each district of southern Western Ghats
through remote sensing data for 2018.
⦁ Assess the extent of forest fragmentation through
fragmentation index quantification in the southern Western
Ghats.
⦁ Identifies locations of human-animal conflicts in the
southern Western Ghats and deliberates causal factors of
human-animal conflicts.
