Exploring the Integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Artificial Intelligence to Mitigate Human-Wildlife Conflict in Kerala, India

Jaishanker R, Sooraj N P, Athira K, Sajeev C Rajan, Vishnu Muraleedharan

Increasing human-wildlife conflict (HWC) in forest-fringe landscapes necessitates innovative and culturally acceptable mitigation strategies. This note proposes integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to mitigate HWC in Kerala. The proposition aims to translate African rural traditional knowledge of using alarm calls of Guinea fowls (Numida meleagris) as an intelligent technonatural alarm system to alert to the presence of wild animals. The hybrid AI system posits a low-cost, culturally acceptable alert mechanism and a livelihood-embodied coexistence model worth pilot experimentation.