Another Look at the Man-Animal Conflict

Sifting through headlines on BBC that were published in December 2005, I came across a report stating that about 800 species of plants and animals are now threatened with extinction, unless something is done soon. And this report came at the wake of the discovery of a new species in Borneo, the civet-cat. Most of these species have been identified to be from the tropics, the most diversity-rich part of the globe, and in some places, the report says, it would cost less that $1,000 per year to save them. If the cost of saving our wildlife was so low, then how is it that we came to lose so much in the first place?

All the 595 sites that were identified is situated in what the West (and we) call the Third World countries. What it would cost the common man to spend his life in these places is way more than $1000. Man-animal conflict. That's what we ecologists call it and till date we cannot come up with any solution that would eradicate this problem once and for all. Community involvement and education, sustainable management and all that jazz. It has done something to reduce the pressure, yet the problem exists, the solution far from reality. We sit at our desks and analyze the problem, but we don't live with the problem.

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