The Minister for the Protection of Forests and Wall -Living Animals Ak Sasendran greets Raman Raja Mannan, the king of the Kozhimal, Idukki tribal dynasty, along with the other main conservator of the forest and the head of the Social Forestry Wing P. Pugazhendi during the Workshop in Thiruvananthamu on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: Nirmal Harindran
The Minister of Forest Ak Sasendran, who expressed concern about the worrying trend of tribal deaths in attacks on wild animals, ensured steps to study factors leading to an alarming pattern.
In the middle of the initiative focused on the integration of indigenous knowledge into the strategies of mitigating the conflict of wild animals, focused on the integration of indigenous knowledge into the strategies of mitigating the conflicts of wild animals, the Gothrabheri initiative.
Mr. Sasendran said that while various projects for alleviating conflicts in the field of human and intelligence conflicts have launched results, the loss of tribal lives remained an urgent problem. He pointed out that 67 people lost their lives in incidents related to wild animals during 2024-25. Of these, 34 were caused by snake and 19 for elephant attacks. Alarically, 13 of those killed elephants belonged to tribal communities.
The main guardian of wild animals Pramod G. Krishhnan pointed out that this trend was unusual because the tribes were traditionally known, harmoniously harmoniously with wild animals. He emphasized the need to explore whether changes in the behavior of animals or human behavior or other external factors contribute to this shift.
The Gothrabheri program was conceptualized to collect, documented and incorporate tribal ecological knowledge into official conflict policies. As part of the initiative, 18 regional seminars were held across Kerala, involving up to 1,016 tribal representatives of all 360 UNNATHIS (Tribal Hamlets). The knowledge collected from these interactions is consolidated and studied for implementation.
The initiative is an effort to cooperate, including the Department of Planned Strum Development, the Institute for Forest Research in Keral and other agencies, including the State Council for Keral’s Planning and Starting Mission, to transfer ordinary knowledge to action government programs.
Mr. Sasendran emphasized the unique approach of Kerala and added that the government is investing in modern technologies and supporting coordination between them to allow transformation solutions in this area.
The head of the forest force and other main main conservator of the forest (APCCF) P. Pugazhendi chaired the inauguration session.
APCCFS L. Chandrasekhar, J. Justin Mohan, planned Director of the Renu Raj Raj, Jiju P. Alex State Planning Council, Kannan CS Warrier, Chairman of the Biodiversity for Biodivers, and Perial, Aa Periens and Periens in Iduk perioun in the iduer, and perioun in the iduer, and perioun in the iduer, and perioun and perion, and perioun in iduk, and perioun and periouan, and Periouan, and Periouan, and Periouan, and Perien. He took part in the Reserve Field Director PP Pramod.
Published – 2 July 2025 9:01
