Wildlife Research and Conservation Society

From 15th to 17th April 2024, we organized this workshop at Kulgi Nature Camp in Kali Tiger Reserve, Uttar Kanada District, Karnataka. 15 officers from North Andhra division and Chittoor divisions participated in the workshop. From WRCS, Director Dr. Prachi Mehta, Program Manager Mr. Azim Mujawar, Project Officers Mr. Ajinkya Bagal, Mr. Bhavuk Vijay, Mr. Shrihari Hegde, and Mr. Prajwal BS conducted the workshop The workshop included an interactive session on Understanding Elephant behaviour and ecology, what prompts elephants to raid crops or to attack people, and how to live safely in Elephant Landscape. The Andhra Pradesh, led by C. Venugopal ACF Chittoor,  G.Sivanna Range Officer, Palamaner, Mr. K TavitiNaidu and  Mr. Manikantesh, Range Officers of Elephant Monitoring Unit and Mr.  Rakesh Kalva, Wildlife Biologist and Research Associate with AP Forest Department, and several other officers participated in the workshop with a lot of interest to understand the CBCM model. The officers of Andhra Pradesh Forest Department also presented the Human-Elephant Conflict situation in theirstate  and how they deal with it. The next day all participants visited the farmers in different villages and learnt various measures of crop protection including early alert, chilly-based deterrents and bee fencing. On the next day, the Andhra Pradesh Forest Officers participated in the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) session, where they replicated all the techniques on their own. It was wonderful to see the team spirit, enthusiasm and group coordination among the participants. Since 2016, we have been conducting workshops for various state forest departments to train them in Community-based Conflict Management Model (CBCM) that we have been implementing in Uttar Kannada District for last one decade. So far we have trained Frontline Staff from Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, North Bengal, Nagaland, Nepal and several private farmers, researchers and NGOs in implementation of CBCM. It is important to build the capacity of local forest staff and local communities in dealing with crop protection measures. Farmers are adopting the measures on their own because they are low-cost, low-tech, low-maintenance so they can use it themselves. All they need is motivation, guidance, and hand-holding, which is not difficult to provide.