Gurdum Forest Village Bio Fence.

The booster grant proposes to build on the pilot and the 2nd grant and deepen the understanding of human wildlife conflict (HWC) in 7 villages fringing Singalila National Park, Darjeeling, India. This will be undertaken through community representative’s data collection of HWC on a daily basis as well as monthly HWC maps of each village. This will enable a update of HWC delineating vulnerable zones and patterns of the conflict. This data will be used to address the lack of inclusion of mountain HWC in conservation discourse and policy by regularly updating forest officials; networking with like-minded organisations and placing the issue at various platforms at the local, regional and national levels. 2 fringe villages that are contiguous to the forest villages will be added to the 5 forest villages to understand the larger implications from a forest user perspective and not just administrative demarcations. This is key to converge and leverage understanding and resources beyond the forest department. Management of HWC through bio-fence strengthening, alternate crops will be further strengthened through community interventions, linkages and networking.

Namla Forest Village Bio Fence.