Stepping up efforts to curb human-wildlife conflict
ISKANDAR PUTERI: More than 66,000 human-wildlife conflict incidents have been reported in the past four years, involving monkeys, wild boars, and elephants, according to Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (pic).
The Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister said these incidents, reported from 2020 to 2024, resulted in RM46.5mil in losses.
'There has been a significant increase in cases, with a total of 66,825 reports involving monkeys, elephants, wild boars, tigers and tapirs.
'In Johor, 7,996 complaints were received, with losses amounting to RM6.88mil,' he said during the launch of the Johor Human-Elephant Special Task Force here yesterday.
He said human-elephant conflicts are pressing issues as they often involve lives and properties.
'This is a focus in Johor, which is why the state formed the task force to tackle the matter,' he said.
Nik Nazmi said that at the federal level, his ministry's efforts include monitoring elephant movements with satellite collars and installing electric fences in villages and traditional farming areas near elephant habitats.
He also said the Federal Government has allocated RM10mil to support those affected by human-wildlife conflicts.
Also present was Johor health and environment committee chairman Ling Tian Soon.
Nik Nazmi also engaged in a dialogue with stakeholders' representatives at the event.
Issues raised included longstanding elephant conflicts affecting farmers in areas like Kota Tinggi and Kluang.
Nik Nazmi said other efforts to address human-wildlife conflicts, especially involving elephants, were preserving the Central Forest Spine and increasing protected areas under the Ecological Fiscal Transfer (EFT) for Biodiversity Conservation.
'When the government introduced EFT, we saw an increase in protected areas in the sea and on land, with a total area of 300,000ha (to date).
'Of that total, 90,000ha involve land, of which 14,000ha have been gazetted as permanent forest reserves,' he said.
Earlier, Nik Nazmi welcomed the efforts of Johor government, which took proactive steps to establish a committee to coordinate actions to manage elephant-human conflict in the state in an integrated and systematic manner.
He said the strategic move should be used as an example for other states to increase the effectiveness of efforts to address human-wildlife conflicts.
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