Human Wildlife Conflict in a Developing India: Projections, Mitigation Strategies, and Legislative Needs by 2047

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@article{1718925,
      author = {Dr. Mukul Baijal, Rachit Baijal},
      title = {Human Wildlife Conflict in a Developing India: Projections, Mitigation Strategies, and Legislative Needs by 2047},
      journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
      year = {2026},
      volume = {9},
      number = {12},
      pages = {1648-1663},
      issn = {2456-8880},
      url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1718925.pdf},
      abstract = {Human-wildlife conflict has become a central ecological, livelihood, public safety and governance challenge in India. By 2047, the pressure points are expected to intensify because economic expansion, linear infrastructure, peri-urban growth, changing cropping systems, climate variability and the recovery of some large mammals will increasingly overlap in shared landscapes. This paper examines the contemporary Indian conflict landscape, with particular attention to elephants, tigers, leopards, wild pigs, blue bulls, bears, crocodiles, snakes and urban-adapted wildlife. It uses a scenario-based method to project conflict pathways to 2047 and argues that India cannot rely only on compensation, capture or relocation after an incident has occurred. A national transition is required from episodic conflict response to statutory coexistence planning. The analysis finds that the existing framework has important strengths, including the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, Project Tiger and Elephant, the National Wildlife Action Plan 2017-2031, the National Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Strategy and Action Plan, and the recent species-specific guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. However, it also identifies major gaps: fragmented data systems, uneven compensation delivery, weak corridor protection outside protected areas, inadequate integration of agriculture and insurance policy, limited legal status for rapid response teams and insufficient recognition of local communities as co-managers of coexistence. The paper recommends a 2047 legal and institutional package built around a National Human-Wildlife Coexistence Mission, a statutory conflict registry, legally secured ecological corridors, time-bound compensation and insurance, district-level rapid response units, infrastructure impact audits, local coexistence committees and a clearer procedure for handling dangerous individual animals while preserving the high protection standard of Indian wildlife law. The conclusion is that human safety and wildlife conservation need not be treated as opposing goals. They can be reconciled through landscape planning, accountable governance and community-centered risk reduction.},
      keywords = {Human Wildlife Conflict, Coexistence, India 2047, Wildlife Protection Act, Elephant Conflict, Leopard Conflict, Wildlife Corridors, Compensation, Conservation Governance},
      month = {June},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I12-1718925}
  }