Sahjeevan Samvaad: From Conflict to Coexistence
Across Purvanchal’s villages, conversations about wildlife are often rooted in worry—about crops trampled overnight, harvests lost, and livelihoods placed at risk. Nilgai, wild boar, stray cattle, and at times porcupines have come to symbolise this uneasy interface between farmlands and the wild. These encounters have for long been framed as “conflicts,” reducing the complexity of shared landscapes into a story of people versus animals.
But Purvanchal’s history tells us another story. This region has lived for centuries alongside sarus cranes, Gangetic dolphins, and gharials, with coexistence forming an unspoken principle of everyday life. The question we must now ask is: why has that principle weakened with some species, while surviving with others?
This was the heart of Sahjeevan Samvaad—a two-day workshop convened by the Bioregional Centre of Excellence, Jagriti Enterprise Centre–Purvanchal, with support from Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Wildlife Trust of India, ClimateRise Alliance (Dasra), Heritage Foundation, and the Forest Department. Media houses such as Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, Hindustan Times, Times of India, Times Now, Mongabay India and others joined, alongside farmer groups, FPO leaders, ecologists, civil society organisations, and government officials. The very name Sahjeevan, meaning living together, anchored the vision: to rebuild the narrative from conflict to coexistence, and to co-create practical, community-driven ways forward.
Why this shift matters
Framing human–wildlife interactions as “conflict” risks narrowing the focus to damage control—fences, deterrents, and short-term fixes. Coexistence, by contrast, invites us to ask deeper questions:
- How do changes in land use and farming practices shape animal movement?
- What can communities do collectively, beyond individual responses?
- How can state systems and policies recognise the realities on the ground?
- Most importantly, how do we create solutions that safeguard both livelihoods and biodiversity?
The Samvaad brought these questions to the table—through field immersions with farmers in Deoria, a media roundtable on responsible reporting, and multi-stakeholder dialogues that spanned law, policy, ecology, and lived experience. Farmers spoke of crop losses and coping practices, experts traced the ecological drivers of animal movement, policymakers reflected on gaps in implementation, and journalists engaged with the challenge of ethical, sensitive reporting.
Together, participants worked on a strategy menu that ranged from solar fencing and biofencing to insurance reforms, habitat restoration, early warning systems, and community-led wildlife response groups.
Building a collective path forward
The discussions made one thing clear: no single measure is enough. What is needed is coordination across departments, farmer groups, civil society, and policy spaces, backed by systematic data and rooted in local realities. From practical field-level deterrents to long-term ecological restoration, the emphasis was on layered, inclusive strategies that respect Purvanchal’s ecological fabric while addressing farmer concerns.
The outcomes of the Samvaad are not an end, but a beginning. They set the foundation for pilot projects, policy advocacy, and future collaborations that can steadily move the region toward a culture of coexistence. The MP of Deoria, Shashank Mani, endorsed this momentum by proposing a dedicated committee to take the recommendations forward—signalling the urgency and collective will to act.
A step toward Sahjeevan
Sahjeevan Samvaad showed that shifting the narrative is possible when farmers, officials, experts, media, and civil society sit together, listen deeply, and imagine solutions collectively. The attached post-event note captures these conversations in detail—the insights, strategies, and pathways that emerged over two days of dialogue.
This is not just about Nilgai or crop loss; it is about how Purvanchal chooses to live in its shared landscapes. Conflict may dominate headlines, but coexistence is the tradition, the aspiration, and the way forward.
Read the full post-event note here- [Sahjeevan Samvaad -post event note.pdf](file:///C:/Users/555sh/OneDrive/Desktop/Sahjeevan%20Samvaad%20-post%20event%20note.pdf)