Encroachment - a two-way street
Farmer Sonam Peday, 19, of Wanakha village in Paro, knew 2007 would be a bad year, but the success of her cabbage business the previous year encouraged her to plant more cabbage this summer.
“It’s all ruined,” she moaned, pointing to her field, which is now being ploughed for wheat cultivation. “The wild animals have destroyed them, not sparing a single plant.”
Last year, Sonam Peday took home Nu 18,000 from selling cabbages in Thimphu and Phuentsholing. “I didn’t earn a single penny this year,” she said. Every harvest season, Sonam and her husband guard their fields from wild boars, deer, and sambars. This autumn, they lost everything.
About 46 kilometres away in Paro proper, in the conference hall of a resort, foresters, nature conservationists, wildlife and human conflict experts, researchers, and community leaders are discussing a national strategy to address the kind of conflict Sonam Peday is facing.
If it is crops in Wanakha, it is livestock in other parts, and even people are threatened as wildlife and humans come too close for comfort. If all goes well, the five-day workshop will result in a comprehensive strategy to protect both crops and livestock and wildlife.
Going by statistics presented at the first day of the conference, a national strategy should have, in fact, been well in place, since the conflict between humans and wildlife in Bhutan is as old as the hills.
For instance, a study by the head of the Nature Conservation Division, Sonam Wangyel Wang, on the farmer’s perception of crop damage by wildlife in the Jigme Singye Wangchuck national park, revealed that all 274 farmers interviewed suffered crop loss to one or more wildlife species. The six gewogs of Athang, Trong, Korphu, Pobi, Langthel, and Tangsibji were covered in the survey.
Wild pig, barking deer, macaque, and sambar had the greatest impact on staple crops. About 97 percent of the respondents reported crop damage by wild pigs in 2001.
Another study by the head, on livestock predation by carnivores in the same park, showed that 76 domestic animals were killed by predators in a period of one year (2000). Farmers attributed 40 kills to leopards, 20 to tigers, 10 to dholes (wild dogs), and six to bears.
A more recent study on wild pigs and crop damage showed that the percentage of households affected by wild boars ranged from a lowest of 15.6 percent in Gasa to a highest in Samdrup Jongkhar of 43.5 percent.
Sonam Wang said that the national strategy will aim both to reduce poverty and facilitate conservation. A survey on poverty and wildlife conducted last year by Dr Tashi Wangchuk, the Research Associate, University of Maryland, USA, revealed that, out of the 1,200 households surveyed nationwide, 31.4 percent attributed damage to crops as the main reason for food shortage. This is second to shortage of land.
“We’ll look into the creation of micro-economic enterprises such as eco-tourism trails, developing markets for local forest products on a sustainable basis to alleviate poverty,” said Sonam Wang. “The strategy will ensure that loss of crops and livestock is minimized while wildlife is protected as well.”
A press statement from the division stated that new challenges have surfaced since the establishment of protected areas. It stated that some of the country’s poorest communities live within the protected areas and biological corridors. “One major challenge is to balance the needs of rural farmers, who not only live in close proximity to wildlife, but also share resources with wildlife,” it stated.
As human population grows, the demand for natural resources increases and natural habitats continue to decrease. This reality has inevitably sparked conflicts to occur more frequently and more severely. Wildlife species negatively impact upon the food security and livelihood of affected people, resulting in high costs, while people become hostile towards wildlife around their communities.
“These issues, if not dealt with, could jeopardize livelihoods and conservation programmes, especially with new changes in the governmental system. There is a need to integrate poverty alleviation in the management of human-wildlife conflicts.”
Speaking at the opening of the workshop on Wednesday, agriculture secretary, Sherub Gyeltshen, said that if human-wildlife problems are not taken into consideration, conservation efforts made so far would be jeopardized. He said that the issue would increasingly become pertinent once our governance system changes to democracy, where politicians could utilize it as a means to counter conservation of our diversity.
“This workshop should draw viable strategies that would ensure harmony between humans and other natural biodiversity,” he said. “We should take the middle path approach to manage human-wildlife conflicts.”
He said that the strategy developed would become a priority programme for the agriculture ministry from the 10th Five Year Plan, which begins next year. Source: Kuenselonline
