Abstract 79 – Understanding ecological and anthropological determinant to devise effective human-sloth bear conflict mitigation strategies in Gujarat, India

Aditya Dharaiya, Pratikkumar Desai, Nishith Dharaiya

The burgeoning human-wildlife conflicts, particularly those involving sloth bears, underscore
the pressing need to understand the intricate interplay between human activities and wildlife
habitats. Sloth bear attacks in Gujarat, India, are on the rise due to expanding human
populations encroaching into sloth bear habitats, a thorough assessment on the relationships
between these ecological and anthropological determinants to understand and develop
effective conflict mitigation strategies. The study aims to focus on the sloth bear distribution
with respect to the change in land cover and land use over 30 years, alongside the impact of
anthropogenic activities over sloth bear habitat, might lead to conflict will be taken into
account through census and field surveys. This research adopts a multifaceted approach,
leveraging remote sensing data from satellite sensors like LANDSAT, SENTINEL, and CARTOSAT
through which, the extent of forest fragmentation, overlaid on the conflict locations and bear
presence data. Overlaying conflict data and human population onto these spatial analyses
offers crucial insights into the relationship between habitat fragmentation, human presence
and the emergence of conflict hotspots. In these 30 years (1993 – 2023), more than 500 conflict
cases have been recorded and the total human population has been increased from ~9 million
to 17 million alongside, the sloth bear population have also increased ~60%. We found that, the
dense forest has been decreased by ~35% with increase in Builtup area (7%) and open forest
and barren land (10%). Here we will present how the habitat fragmentation have accelerated
conflict issues and the science-based mitigation measures. Our results were used in identifying
potential sloth bear corridors, we delineate pathways crucial for their movement and dispersal,
thereby aiding in the formulation of a robust conflict mitigation plan tailored to the Gujarat
context.