T’puram: In a bid to prevent human-wildlife conflict, the forest department will install 790km of solar power fencing, including hanging fencing, in different areas bordering the forest. Work is going on to install new fences in sensitive areas, including in Wayanad and Palakkad villages that are closer to the forest border. The department already repaired 2,000km of fences and equipped staff to repair and install them instead of depending on contractors.An official said repairs are also going on at fences stretching 500km, damaged due to tree fall, branch fall or wildlife intrusion. There was solar fencing, including hanging solar fencing, for 2,000km when Mission Solar Fencing started in Nov 2024. Of this, only 520km of fencing was functional. After extensive repairs were carried out, 2,000km of solar fencing was now in working condition. Forest minister A K Saseendran told reporters that this will cater to 75% of people affected by human-wildlife conflict. The mission was to repair existing fences and to identify areas where fences need to be installed to manage conflict. “The forest department also trained its staff to repair and build fences. Earlier, there was a need to hire a contractor to install and maintain them, which took time. Now, tool rooms are set up in every unit and staff inspect the fences every morning,” a forest official said. To make the power fences more effective, a programme was launched to upgrade all solar power fences to ‘Smart Fences’ to detect the presence of wildlife alongside the fences in real time and to trace and rectify the dysfunctional parts. Smart fences were installed at 70m in Irulam forest station in Chethalath range of south Wayanad. Ideally, the state needs 4,500km of solar fencing to prevent human-wildlife conflict. To minimise human-wildlife conflict, state govt deployed 28 rapid response teams and formed 420 primary response teams composed of 3,945 volunteers in 171 panchayats. Some of the defensive measures implemented in the last 10 years include: 10km rail fence, 1.611km elephant wall, 46.78km elephant trench, 10km crash guard steel rope fence, 0.80km stone wall, and 0.11km steel fence. The department also implemented intensive real-time monitoring and tapped into tribal knowledge to understand wildlife behaviour and movement, in addition to building ponds and check dams inside the forest, the minister said.
