Kerala Draws On Tribal Wisdom To Solve Human-Animal Conflict

For the first time in India, the Kerala Forest Department launched a program called ‘Gothrabheri’, which brought together traditional tribal communities to address human-animal conflicts in the state.

Gothrabheri, which means collecting tribal sounds, is a symbolic initiative that combines tribal communities to share their traditional knowledge.–Especially about forests and wildlife–While giving them a platform to participate in protection and conflict -solving efforts.

These communities have been living in and around Kerala for centuries. Many of them once shared the landscape in peace with wild animals, following the old traditions that respect the rhythms of the natural world.

Now, as it becomes difficult to maintain this balance, the authorities hope that these communities can hold some of the answers.

In recent months, the forest department has organized regional meetings with tribal representatives and encouraged their experiences and ideas.

The aim is to gather this wisdom and make it a practical guide for forest and wildlife management.–It reflects both science and experience.

Kerala Forest Minister Ak Sasendran said that two days ago, Gothrabheri’s last state level, while the state government came after noticing that 13 of the 19 people killed in the wild elephant attacks this year were tribes and that the attacks occurred in the forest areas.

“We have decided to listen to tribes when they are rare or not heard in the past, and to collect indigenous information that once helped to live in harmony with wild animals,” Sasendran said. He said.

He added that the last contract made throughout the state was organized to bring experts to encode the inputs collected by the department from 18 regional agreements and to include them in the management plan for the next year.

P Pugazhenthi IFS, PTI, “Native information, which is very deeply rooted under the management of nature, environment and ecosystem, is to collect this information from the tribe and use it in our daily forest and wildlife management strategies.”

The Minister said he listened to 37 tribal communities in Kerala during the regional congress.

“The protection of nature, sustainable development, reducing human-animal conflict, and great ideas about living together. He said.

The Minister said that the department plans to invite some new initiatives to transform some of the ideas they receive from contracts into products.

“The tribal communities are participating in all our management efforts, and far beyond the physical contribution. Here they will contribute intellectual.” He said.

Authorized, the tribal community to engage in the forest and wildlife management may have some efforts to open, he said for the first time in this country to collect the domestic information and forest and wildlife management to use such a harmonious effort, he said.

Raman Rajamannan, the only tribal king of Kerala from Kovilmalai in Idukki, said that the entire tribal community in the state was positive about the project and welcomed.

“This is our long -standing demand–It will be heard about it. We, especially with the wild boar, we are faced with problems and we had to give up most of our traditional crops and move to cash crops. This affected us both financially and socially.

He said that the tribal communities in Kerala have a strong sense of responsibility towards forests and wild lives.

“This connection and commitment has greatly decreased. We were treating the forest and animals as sacred. There was always respect,” he said, that tribes referred to elephants such as patti and tigers and leopards.–Considering terms widely used to address the elders with respect.

“There are also wrong ones in our communities, and perhaps because of such actions, now we make you feel like a curse.” Therefore, it is very important to remember how we lived in peace and try to return to this lifestyle ”.

He said that the project has already captured the domestic knowledge of tribal communities under forest and wildlife management and that it would provide great benefit to both tribal people and the wider people.

He said, “We support it sincerely, because they really listen to us.”