Elephants, Project Elephant and Elephant Corridors in India

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Elephants in India:

Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) once ranged over a vast area from the Tigris and Euphrates in West Asia to South East Asia (Olivier, 1978). However, their present distribution is confined to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam (Santiapillai, 1987; Sukumar 2011). Though the number of Asian elephants in the wild is estimated to be 45,826-53,306 (IUCN AsESG 2016, unpublished), they are threatened because of the loss, shrinkage and degradation of their habitat. Fragmentation of available habitats has confined most of the populations to small islands. In addition, the threat from poaching for ivory has considerably depleted the number of tuskers, most often leading to a highly skewed sex ratio. Developmental programmes and encroachment within and around elephant habitats has also led to the loss of the elephants’ traditional movement paths. All these factors have contributed to increased human–elephant conflict, which has often led to the loss of both human and elephant lives. On an average about 400 to 450 humans lose their lives due to human-elephant conflict in India and around 100 elephants are killed in retaliation for the damage they cause to human life and property. 

The historical range of the elephant in India has shrunk, confining elephants into distinct geographical zones (Jerdon, 1874; Ali, 1927; Daniel, 1980). Elephants in the Andaman and Nicobar islands are considered to be feral and are the descendants of a captive stock. The Indian subcontinent has an estimated population of about 27,312 elephants (MoEFCC, 2017), which is about 55% of the world population. These range in 29 Elephant Reserves spread over 10 elephant landscapes in 14 states, covering about 65,814 sq km of forests in northeast, central, north-west and south India.

Indian Elephant (Elephasmaximus) is a keystone species andan integral component of ecosystems playing a crucial role in maintaining forest ecosystem and biodiversity. It has been recognized as National Heritage Animal of India and highest degree of protection has given under Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972). India has the largest population of Asian Elephants with 30000 wild and about 3600 captive elephants.

PROJECT ELEPHANT:

In order to conserve the Asian Elephants the Project Elephant started in 1992, with the objectives of 

(i) conservation and protection of viable population of wild elephants in their natural habitats in the country; 

(ii) restoration of natural habitats and traditional corridors/migratory routes or movement paths used by the elephants, wherever necessary, through eco-restoration, acquisition etc; 

(iii) ensuring safeguards against poaching and other threats; 

(iv) mitigation and control of human elephant conflicts; 

(v) welfare and management of captive elephants; and 

(vi) creating a viable mechanism to ensure inter-state and regional and national level coordination in protecting and conserving the elephant and its ranges.

The Project is being mainly implemented in 16 States / UTs , viz. Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change provides the financial and technical support to major elephant range states in the country through Project Elephant. 

Elephant Corridors in India:

The Ministry of Environment and Forests has identified 183 corridors for elephants. Out of this 138 are State Elephant Corridors, 28 Inter State Elephant Corridors and 17 are International Elephant Corridors.

https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=68282

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1542815

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1759415

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1851260

https://www.wti.org.in/projects/right-of-passage-national-elephant-corridors-project/

https://wii.gov.in/nwdc_elephantreserve

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/ETF_REPORT_FINAL.pdf

https://www.wti.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/pub_right_of_passage-1.pdf

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