Spreading civilisation and the rapid increase in human population globally have exploited natural resources beyond tolerable levels. This has further escalated extinction and threatened several species and their ecosystems (Gomez et al., 2021). It is known that humans have evolved and emerged by fighting with different species for survival. However, we have arrived at a time when we cannot escape coexisting with wildlife anymore, which demands us to explore various angles of human-wildlife coexistence (Jolly et al., 2022; Pooley et al., 2020). HWC needs an interdisciplinary approach that includes understanding human thoughts and behaviours, social psychology, etc., as a part of the focus (Teel et al., 2022). Humans and animals have been interacting negatively with increased dependence on natural resources, especially near protected areas (Prasad et al., 2020). Wild animals dispersing out of the secure regions cause conflicts with the local community (Turner et al., 2022). They wander into human habitats and raid or damage crops, attack or kill livestock, damage properties, etc. On the other hand, humans also engage in retaliatory killing of wildlife, which endangers both wildlife and humans (Sharma et al., 2021). Further, the change in land cover by rapid influence and response of human beings, especially in developing countries, causes habitat fragmentation between natural habitats. This fragmentation restricts the movement of free-ranging large-bodied mammals, E.g., elephants, leopards and tigers, resulting in all sorts of human-animal conflicts which further wreak havoc on the livelihoods of local communities (Karanth, 2017: Mandal et al., 2021) The encroachment of natural areas for agricultural purposes, settlements on the fringes of forest areas threatens ecological sustainability of wild animals’ habitat, resulting in extreme pressure and competition for resources (Billah, 2021).
India has a total forest cover of 7,13,789 km2, 21.71% of the country’s geographical area (FSI 2021). Forest types, from tropical evergreen to dry deciduous forests, accommodate a variety of endemic fauna and flora. However, forest resources are simultaneously being used to uplift the economic status of the local population. Many buildings and high infrastructures in the form of roads and flyovers are being constructed for better connectivity, eventually reducing forest cover. This invariably leads to forest fragmentation and loss of the priceless gene pool and also causes disturbance to free-ranging wild animals in their fundamental natural niche. This, in return, escalates towards human-animal negative interactions (Desai et al., 2021).
Human-wildlife conflict is one of the major issues where policymakers and conservationists find difficulties in arriving at lasting solutions. These issues have caused the extinction and decline of several abundant species globally (Sime et al., 2022). HWC has become an essential aspect of conservation these days. To achieve conservation goals in a full-fledged manner, we must address human-wildlife conflicts from a socio-ecological perspective, including cultural, political, geographical and wildlife perspectives. Conservation and human welfare are like two sides of a coin; focusing on one thing without the other complementing it is not productive. Hence, it is essential to understand the root cause of such conservation issues and develop scientific management solutions to minimise its impact. Before understanding and applying new techniques that will help us reduce the HWC to some level, it is necessary to understand the driving force behind the rising HWC cases in India. The major driving force towards HWC would be an increase in human population and, to accommodate them, forest cover and other habitats being reduced, leaving wildlife with no option other than to interact with humans for survival. People living near wildlife habitats are more vulnerable because of their livestock, which attracts predators, and nutritious crops, which attract crop raiders (Sharma et al., 2021).
An insight into the studies done over the years in India
Over the years, many conservationists have worked on various conflict species across India to try and figure out ways to reduce conflicts. A study conducted at the Kanha-Achanakmar corridor (Ahmed et al., 2012) reveals that leopards are primarily involved in livestock depredation and sloth bears in human casualties. Despite these conflicts, people show a positive attitude towards carnivore conservation. Another study shows the patterns of livestock depredation by snow leopards and wolves in upper Spiti Valley, and the local people reveal that the livestock depredation caused by snow leopards is less than the actual claim (Suryawanshi et al., 2013). The aggression between rhesus macaques and humans is also interrelated, and humans show more aggression towards macaques than vice versa (Beisner et al., 2014). Another study conducted in Thrissur, Kerala (Govind and Jayson, 2016) shows that crop damage is the highest type of conflict, and the Asian elephant seems to be causing the highest. A study in southern Telangana reports that around 36% of crop damage is caused by wild animals, especially wild pigs (Rao et al., 2015). Most human casualties caused by elephants in the Baripada district of Odisha are caused by aggressive male elephants and crop damage by elephant herds (Mishra et al., 2015). The average farmers are medium (somewhat?) tolerant towards the conflict species (Senthilkumar et al. 2016). Some factors driving HWC in West Bengal are population growth, forest encroachment, etc. The study's conclusion indicates that the key to coexistence lies in education and awareness (Mukherjee, 2018). A similar study was done in Tamil Nadu (Dharmaraj and Ramakrishnan, 2017), and the research shows rapid conversion of forest lands into cropland and infrastructure and subsequent loss of forest cover as the significant cause for conflicts. A study on Macaque conflict in Karnataka indicates that the macaques always find a way around the mitigation measures applied by the crop owners (Kumara and Diandra, 2018). (Balodi and Anwar, 2018) local people's cultural beliefs and practices have severely altered the Kilpura-Khatima-Surai wildlife corridor. They suggest understanding people’s behaviour towards specific species conservation could help us with community-based conservation. (Nair and Jayson, 2019) This means more research must be conducted on Indian crested porcupines to develop mitigation measures to reduce conflicts. The Pattern of carnivore interaction among the central Indian protected areas and outside protected areas provides some insights into applying socio-ecological assessments to determine conflict-prone areas and better ways to manage the conflicts (Srivathsa et al., 2019). (Bharali et al., 2020) suggests spatial mapping, camera trapping and indirect survey methods could help identify leopard-prone areas, which could help minimise conflicts in overlapping landscapes. According to (Naik et al., 2020), most of the crop damage happens during maturity and at the time of harvest, and most of the livestock depredation is caused by leopards, wild dogs (wild dogs, is it mentioned in the paper? Please check), etc. Livestock predation and property damage by brown bears in the Ladakh region are rising rapidly, causing negative attitudes among the people towards their conservation. Functioning Compensation policies more efficiently may help the situation (Maheshwari et al., 2021). A study conducted in the Golaghat area of Assam shows that using solar fences could effectively minimise conflicts (Das et al., 2022). (Majumder, 2022) suggests better management with multiple stakeholder involvement is necessary to reduce the HWC in the state.
This review focuses on a varied range of data analysis that shows the HWC studies conducted across Indian states, species involved, type of conflicts, the yearly number of studies, connectivity of keywords, etc., in India over the past ten years. Overall, this review is a small effort towards understanding the trends and identifying research gaps for reducing HWC and management issues across India.