Country’s wildlife conservation strategy is set to go international and more hi-tech. Some of the best practices from around the world will soon be integrated in strengthening protection measures of wildlife in the country. In the roadmap of wildlife conservation for the next decade, the management of protected areas will be managed with more techno savvy practices of centralised web-based digital equipments.
Called the ‘Roadmap, National Wildlife Action Plan 2017-31’ the new strategy will cover predominant conservation issues including curbing of man animal conflicts, mechanisms to check poaching and illegal wildlife trade, management of tourism in protected areas, captive breeding of threatened species, integrating climate change with wildlife among others.
A highlight of this action plan is inclusion of some of the best practices from around the world and fixing timelines for not only increasing the number of protected areas but also initiating a number of additional measures to strengthen surveillance and creating a fresh database of endangered species. There are presently 726 Protected Areas in the country covering 1.60 lakh sq km (4.88 per cent of the geographical area).
The plan not only aims at increasing the number of protected areas, but also tones up their management and surveillance through hi tech drones and other digital equipments. According to sources, such mechanisms will make up for the shortage of front line forest staffs and personnel besides making monitoring more wide ranging and efficient.
The plan also mentions of stepping up using mobile technology to develop digital field guides for easy identification of various wildlife items and their derivatives. The forest guards accordingly will be trained to use such mobile-based technology which will use the data from the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). All field information will be transmitted to centralised control rooms at State capitals for round-the-clock monitoring, said sources.
The plan also has provisions of national level audit of wildlife trade using scientific methods to understand the change in global and Indian wildlife trade patterns and then ensure that preventive measures are in place to counter trade trends in the initial stages.
Regarding the man animal conflict, the new plan seeks to ascertain population status and trends for various species involved in intensive conflict situations with human on case to as basis. It aims to develop population management strategies for the various endangered species.