Lasting solution to human-elephant conflict

A female elephant and her calf succumbing to their injuries after being hit by a train in Assam on Sunday night is not just one among many such similar incidents in the past, but it tells a larger story of the protracted man-elephant conflict in the state. Death of five elephants in earlier last week, at least three due to electrocution, series of incidents of elephant herds raiding paddy fields in different parts of the state, many human lives also lost since the beginning of the year speaks volume about the aggravating conflict. The elephant in the room in the human-elephant conflict discourse is the fragmentation of the elephant habitats. The incident of train-hit may rise if adequate precaution is not taken during foggy condition of late autumn and approaching winter. The trains need adequate distance for emergency halt and alert drivers have saved lives of many elephants crossing the tracks after being alarmed about their presence. Yet, recurring incidents of elephant being hit by speeding train point towards gaps in the coordination mechanisms between the Assam Forest Department and the Northeast Frontier Railways that needs to be bridged. Drawing lessons from every such incident and frequent review of the coordination mechanisms can help find innovative solutions to prevent recurrence. Declaring critical elephant habitats as elephant reserves is one strategy adopted by the Central government to reduce the conflict and conservation of elephant. So far, the government has notified 31 elephants reserves in 14 elephant major states including five in Assam. Updating the data base on actual status of the elephant reserves is critical to evaluate the outcome of the strategy of notifying such reserves and it has adequate legal backing to prevent fragmentation on account of development activities such as coal mining, oil and gas exploration and development, roads and railway projects. Conservation of the elephant reserves and securing the elephant corridors are a must to facilitate undisturbed movement of wild elephants in their habitats so that they do not come into contact with humans during ranging. The legal status of elephant reserves is crucial to mitigate human elephant conflict that claims about 500 human lives and about 100 elephants are killed in retaliation by affected people or due to train or vehicle hit annually but has remained unresolved. India is home to about 60% of about 50,000- 60,000 Asian elephant population in the world but if the conflict continues to aggravate due to frequent encounters of human and elephant, the conservation of elephant in the country will be a huge challenge. The situation in Assam has already reached a flashpoint and has gone beyond the scope of dealing with the current practice of chasing away invading elephant herds from human habitation by forest staff or people resorting to chase and run till the arrival of forest staff. Guideline for Management of Human Elephant Conflicts issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to the states stated that the conflict has proved to be quite intractable and managing it is a big problem for forest officers and frontline staff, who have to deal with it, often on a regular basis. Often they have to face the ire of the affected farmers, especially when there is a human death or severe injury. There are innumerable incidents when frontline staffs have faced the ire of affected people due to HEC, sometimes at risk to their personal safety, it says. The nature of the interface between human areas and elephant habitat also determines conflict intensity, where an irregular and diffuse boundary with a long perimeter is thought to increase intensity of conflict. Highly fragmented elephant habitat interspersed with human use areas is also likely to increase conflict frequency and intensity. In some cases dispersing herds wander into extensive agricultural habitats with hardly any forest and cause high intensity of conflict, at least in the initial years, cautions the guideline. The guideline underscores the importance of different type of barriers around the landscape or around a human settlement but sounded the alarm that if inappropriately placed, barriers have the disadvantage that they can block or alter traditional migration routes of elephants and prevent genetic interchange between populations. They may therefore, at times, be contrary to the scientific principles of wildlife management. Therefore, large scale barriers need careful study before implementation. They need to be planned at a landscape level taking into account the presence and seasonal movement patterns of elephant clans, it adds. Mapping of elephant corridors have become an urgent necessity to find out if barriers have been installed correctly. While most visible measures are aimed at preventing loss of human and elephant lives, inadequate compensation for loss of grains is still a major cause of the deteriorating conflict situation. Conservation of elephant habitats at landscape level can provide a lasting solution.