Impediments in Policing the Forest during the Pandemic Era: An Exploration in Odisha

Abstract

The dimension of policing has changed in the urban and rural centre at the onset of pandemic which has challenged the working of the forest security personnel. In the wildlife reserves, the forest staff who are often aided by the local people, are facing restricted assistance due to the lockdown. A decrease in employment and lack of resources has compelled the local population to resort to alternative sources of income, even to cause harmful exploitation of the environment. Incidentally, economic crunch and earning a quick buck through illegal felling and poaching has raised an alarm to human-animal conflict. Therefore, it poses a challenge for the forest staff to coordinate conservation and mitigate man-animal conflict all together with a limited staff and deficient collaboration with the local people. In this context, the present paper explores the working of the forest staff collaboration with the local population in the protected areas in Odisha in the Pre-COVID period, the challenges the pandemic brings to conservation and the response mechanism for better crime control in the post COVID-19 time