Q2. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
Usually, you would need to visit a national park or sanctuary to sight beautiful wild animals such as the wild boar, blue bull (Nilgai), spotted deer, chinkara, blackbuck, Indian hare, or monkeys. Today, just go round to any agricultural field and you may find plenty of wild herbivores roaming the grounds freely and feeding on the crops and natural palatable plants therein.
When forests were abundant, ecologically sound and self-sufficient, the movement of wildlife inside the Protected Areas/forests in search of food would extend no further than the buffer zone. Over time, however, the alarming rise in human population has put immense pressure on forest wealth, leading gradually to large swathes of the forest, including the buffer zone and corridors, being converted into agriculture fields and industries, and cleared for the construction of urban zones, big dams, railway tracks, roads and highways, mining corridors, electricity transmission lines and other development works that massively reduce forest area and shrink good-quality wildlife habitats.
Resultantly, as wild herbivores made to move or migrate, through natural corridors, from one forest to another in search of food, they found themselves in agricultural fields, which are full of easily accessible feeding material. This has been the gradual effect of encroachment into the homes of wildlife by humans, compounding the human-wild animal conflict to boot. Exposed, such animals also come as easy prey for poachers or become roadkill. As per Delhi based NGO Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), over 1,000 tigers have been killed in the country by poachers over the last two decades. Over 650 instances of roadkill have been recorded in the last five years.
So, on the one hand, the wildlife outside the protected areas is in great peril. On the other, farmers and locals in and around the forest-fringe areas are at a loss due to crop damage and the danger posed to human and livestock lives. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF & CC) estimates that between 2014 and 2017, one death took place every day due to human-animal conflict. It is observed that the wild herbivores damage between 15-50% of the standing crops in the field and may affect 50-75% of the total agricultural area. Hence, a balanced solution in the form of a ‘Special Management Plan’ (SMP) is a need of the hour, not only to protect wildlife outside protected areas and forests but also to safeguard human lives and livelihoods.
2.1. Based on your reading and understanding of the above passage, answer the following:
(b) What is the most important reason behind the massively reduced forest area?
(c) What compounds the human-animal conflict?
(d) State two reasons which have led to the decrease of the animal population especially tigers, as discussed in the given passage.
(e) Which word in the passage means ‘edible’?
Palatable
(f) Where would one find wild herbivores like Nilgai nowadays?
(g) Farmers of which area are mostly affected by straying of wild herbivores into agricultural fields?
A. Villages
B. Buffer zone
C. Edge of the forests
D. Towns
(h) The need of the hour is to :
A. Protect wildlife outside protected areas
B. Safeguard human lives and livelihood
C. Implement ‘Special Management Plan’
D. Both (a) and (b)
Answers
Answering the questions following the passage.
a) Question not written.
b) • Excessive growth in human population has been the major reason behind massively reduced forest areas.
• Overgrowth in human population has led to over-exploitation of forests in the urge of satisfying their need and greed.
• Huge forest covers have been cleared for the purpose of urbanization and industrialization.
• Roads, dams, highways, railway tracks, electricity transmission lines and many other modern amenities have been developed at the cost of large corridors and buffer zones of forests.
• Forest habitats have been hugely converted into agricultural land as well for livelihood purposes.
c) • Due to the massive destruction of wildlife habitat, wild herbivores were forced to move from their homes to other forests in search of food.
• Therefore, they ended up landing in easily accessible open agricultural fields for food.
• The wild herbivores had to move out of their forest habitats due to the unavailability of food resulted by the encroachment of humans into their homes over the years.
• This has been the major reason behind the compound of human-wild animal conflict.
d) • Poaching and roadkilling have been the two major causes behind the huge decrease in the number of wild animals, specially tigers.
• Approach of animals to the agricultural fields gave the humans an easy opportunity to target the exposed wild animals for prey.
• Over the last twenty years, more than 1000 tigers have fallen prey to the poachers according to the Wildlife Protection Society of India, Delhi.
• Also, 650 tigers have been reported of being roadkilled in the last five years
e) Answer already given : Palatable
f) Wild herbivores like Nilgai can nowadays be found roaming in open agricultural land in search of food.
g) Option (C)
Farmers living around the "edge of the forests" are mostly affected by the straying of wildlife into their agricultural fields.
(In the passage, forest-fringe means edge of the forest)
h) Option (C) is correct.
The need of the hour is to implement a "Special Management Plan" that includes protection of both wildlife and human life.