Fields under siege: Himachal's rising human-wildlife conflict

The proliferation of built-up areas, along with transition from traditional cereal cultivation to high-value horticultural crops such as apple and off-season vegetables, has reduced natural foraging grounds, disrupting wildlife movement corridors. Advertisement 'Simultaneous shifts in precipitation regimes and temperature profiles have further altered habitat suitability, forcing species to range more widely across agricultural and settlement landscapes in search of food and water, thereby increasing the frequency and severity of encounters with humans,' says the Himachal Pradesh Human Development Report-2025. Advertisement Forest fragmentation The plight is aggravated due to forest fragmentation driven by road construction, hydropower development and urban expansion, forcing wide-ranging fauna such as leopards, macaques, bears, wild boars and elephants foray into human settlements. The expansion of fruit-bearing and water-intensive crops further attracts these species to agricultural landscapes. Advertisement In the absence of a sustainable solution, these conflicts have become a cause for concern for the rural agrarian populace, which is consistently facing crop losses, observes the report. According to a 2023 Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) study, around 50 per cent of the surveyed areas experienced human-wildlife conflicts, predominantly involving black bears and leopards, resulting in substantial crop losses. 'Concurrently, unusually warm winters have disrupted the hibernation cycle of Himalayan black bears, which are supported by year-round food availability near villages. As a result, bears remain active throughout the year, increasing the frequency and severity of human-bear encounters,' states the ZSI. Rising conflicts with leopards in Kangra, Solan Besides, human-leopard conflicts are increasing in Kangra, Sirmaur, Solan and Shimla districts, as leopards increasingly entre peri-urban areas due to prey depletion and habitat disturbance. In Solan district, several cases of leopards foraying into human dwellings in the villages of the Arki and Kasauli Assembly segments have come to light in the past few months. These incursions have resulted in sporadic attacks on livestock, companion animals and, in rare instances, humans. Compensation schemes at present cover livestock losses and human injuries but crop damage caused by herbivores remains outside the ambit of compensation. Though the state government has announced plans to extend relief measures to address such losses, the agrarian community is yet to get relief. Rising monkey-related conflicts bane of farmers The rising monkey-related conflicts are aggravating the plight of the agrarian community, which are increasingly emerging in fruit-growing belts, driven by a scarcity of natural forage and the expansion of orchards. About 2,300 villages have reported losses due to crop raids, structural damage to rooftops and the contamination of stored goods by rhesus macaques, according to the HP Human Development Report-2025. A partial relief was extended to the farmers through a long-standing sterilisation programme, which operated through seven dedicated centres over the past two decades. Despite the sterilisation of 188,732 animals, their continued adaptation to urban environment poses a persistent management challenge to the authorities concerned. Natural food cycles disrupted Cases of wildlife species, including brown bear, Himalayan ibex, wild boar, porcupine and langur, increasingly foraying into agricultural fields and causing crop damage have become a major challenge for the authorities. Climatic perturbations, including erratic rainfall patterns, rising temperatures, extreme weather events and prolonged dry spells have disrupted natural food cycles and forage availability, forcing these animals to seek sustenance in farmlands. 'The resultant human-wildlife interactions cause annual crop losses that disproportionately affect small landholders and marginal farmers, who lack buffers against such income shocks,' the report states. Fund shortage mars monkey sterlisation drive A monkey sterlisation initiative, which began in 2005-2006, has failed to keep pace with their growing population. The campaign has lost steam due to limited funds in the past few years, triggering an increase in the simian population. The increased human-wildlife conflicts have led to a steep rise in the amount paid as compensation in the past two decades with over a crore having been disbursed in 2023-24 and 2024-25 alone. Elephants foray into Paonta Sahib villages In the recent years, the forest areas of Paonta Sahib division bordering Haryana and Uttarakhand, are witnessing regular intrusions by wild elephants. Herds of Asian elephants from the Rajaji National Park have been periodically foraying into Himachal Pradesh from Uttarakhand after crossing the Yamuna and Kalesar in Haryana. Then, they enter the Behral, Satiwala, Batamandi beats of the Majra forest range in Paonta Sahib. In the latest incident, four elephants entered Sattiwala village and ravaged a mango orchard belonging to farmer Kehar Singh. The elephants uprooted six mango trees and caused significant damage to the plantation. The losses are not limited to orchards. Last year, elephants destroyed the standing wheat crop of farmer Nazeer Mohammed in Ghuttanpur village during a midnight raid, highlighting the recurring threat faced by cultivators in the area. As crop losses due to elephants and wild animals are not covered under the state compensation policy, the farmers continue to battle the adverse impact of the loss of income and climate change triggered by insensitive commercialisation.