Human-animal conflict: Kerala launches 'Gothrabheri' for tribals’ help

Thiruvananthapuram: In the forests of Kerala, where elephants sometimes stray into villages and leopards are spotted near farmland, a new effort is underway to ease tensions between humans and wildlife—by listening to those who have lived closest to nature for generations, reports PTI.

For the first time in India, the Kerala Forest Department has launched a programme called 'Gothrabheri', which brings together the traditional knowledge of tribal communities to help address human-animal conflict in the state.

Gothrabheri, meaning gathering of tribal voices, is a symbolic initiative that unites tribal communities to share their traditional knowledge—especially about forests and wildlife—while giving them a platform to participate in conservation and conflict resolution efforts.

These communities, 37 in total, have lived in and around Kerala's forests for centuries. Many of them once shared the landscape peacefully with wild animals, following age-old customs that respected the rhythms of the natural world.

Now, as that balance has become harder to maintain, officials hope these communities might hold part of the answer.

In recent months, the Forest Department held regional gatherings with tribal representatives, encouraging them to share their experiences and ideas.

The aim is to collect this wisdom and turn it into a practical guide for forest and wildlife management—one that reflects both science and lived experience.

Kerala Forest Minister A K Saseendran, while inaugurating the final state-level convention of Gothrabheri here two days ago, said that the state government came up with the idea of Gothrabheri after realising that 13 out of the 19 people killed in wild elephant attacks this year were tribals, and that the attacks occurred inside forest areas.

"We wanted to study why such attacks are happening now when they were rare or unheard of in the past. So we decided to listen to the tribals and gather the indigenous knowledge that once helped them live in harmony with wild animals," Saseendran said.

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