GIS mapping to trace jumbos

Newindpress.com October 17 2007 BHUBANESWAR: After its role in managing natural resources, disaster management and more recently of malaria in the State, geo-information system (GIS) applications have come as a great help in another key area of wildlife management, i.e. reducing man-animal conflicts. As per a study by Chandaka Dampara Sanctuary authorities, the movement pattern of specific elephants, its flagship species, can now be known through proper GIS mapping over the years with the help of annual and seasonal data interpretation so that the elephant depredation can be predicted and managed properly with the help of the villagers of the periphery areas. Though it is still at a preliminary stage, the month-wise flow of elephant movements out of the sanctuary in co-ordination with different parametres like cropping pattern and water availability inside the sanctuary and their co-relations can be found out from the GIS study, says DFO Akshaya Kumar Pattnaik. For the full story click on the blog title