Environment Ministry body gives funding nod for managing human-tiger conflict outside tiger reserves

Under the scheme, 80 forest divisions across ten states, identified initially on the basis of data of recurring human-tiger conflict, will be given funds. This will be for technical interventions for protection and monitoring of tigers and co-predators, strengthening forest managers to address conflict with technology, collaborations with civil society and expert veterinarians, and augmentation of prey base.

The scheme will be implemented on ground by the Chief Wildlife Wardens of state forest departments, in close collaboration with the NTCA. Asked about the initial roll out of the pilot, a government official said that NTCA was finalizing the list of forest and wildlife divisions for implementation.

The CAMPA authority’s executive committee also directed the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the scheme’s proponent, to furnish revised year-wise estimates and then seek approval from the governing body of the National CAMPA authority. The scheme’s proposed outlay till 2026-27 is Rs 88 crore and it was initially announced and discussed on March 3 during the National Board for Wildlife meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The National CAMPA authority manages the monies collected in the national compensatory afforestation fund, in lieu of diversion of forest land for non-forest activities. The fund has also financed other wildlife projects such as the Great Indian Bustard recovery project and Project Cheetah, in part.

Outside tiger reserves, territorial and wildlife divisions are in-charge of wildlife protection. With nearly 30 percent of the country’s over 3,600 tigers outside tiger reserves, these tigers often prey on cattle and herbivores near human settlements, increasing chances of interface and conflict with humans. Being territorial, they also push out co-predators like leopards to areas outside forests, thus adding to the conflict risk. Official data shows that 382 people were killed in conflict with tigers between 2020 and 2024, including 111 in 2022 alone.

According to officials, this trend is often seen outside territorial forests in Chandrapur near Tadoba Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, in the sugarcane fields near Dudhwa and Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, some divisions near Ranthambore and Wayanad in Kerala.

On Wednesday, speaking at the India Conservation Conference at Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, union environment minister Bhupender Yadav made a mention of the scheme and said, “Man-animal conflict is a big challenge. I was in Dudhwa a couple of days back, and there were two kinds of problems, there is man-animal conflict and tigers outside tiger reserves, that too is a challenge. We see this in Tadoba, Dudhwa, Kabini, Ranthambore. In the coming times, we will work on tigers outside tiger reserves,” Yadav said.