A REFORMATIVE YEAR FOR FOREST AND WILDLIFE

Multiple challenges including large-scale elephant deaths notwithstanding, the year 2024 proved to be transformative for Odisha's forest and wildlife sector with the introduction of several new initiatives and significant reforms.

- Sudarsan Maharana @Bhubaneswar

While the state witnessed over 50 elephant deaths in just seven months between April and October, the slew of new measures and initiatives introduced in the last one year are expected to go a long way in safeguarding forests and wildlife.

Among the novel initiatives include introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve wildlife protection, designation of judicial magistrates as special courts for handling wildlife-related offences and big cat supplementation in Similipal to bring genetic diversity to the tiger reserve.