Characterising the Human–Elephant Conflict Zone

Abstract

This chapter discusses the characterisation of the human–elephant conflict zone. The demographics of the study area is represented by a rural, agriculture-based population. About 92.63 % of the total population are rural; 61.5 % of the workers are cultivators; 88.1 % of the population are agricultural labourers; 31.7 % of the populace belong to Scheduled Caste and 7.2 % to Scheduled Tribe (Bureau of Applied Economics & Statistics 2005). As evident from these statistics, the livelihood in such a zone is mainly based on agriculture. Apart from agriculture, the collection of non-timber forest products is the major source of income in forest fringe villages. The land use pattern is dominated by three major uses: agriculture, settled area and forest area. A change detection study covering the past 40 years showed a great change in the land use pattern. The total forest area has increased, but the forest area has fragmented and is covered by monospecies. Agricultural land has gradually expanded. Field observation revealed that paddy and vegetables are the main agricultural products. These changes in the land use pattern attract elephants. As a result, human–elephant conflict has become a crucial issue because of its associated loss of life, property and agricultural product. At the same time, local inhabitants use different protective measures at the community level to deal with the issue. This chapter uses a variety of diagrams to represent these facts.