Concerned at the increasing human-elephant conflicts (HEC) in Assam — nearly 800 lives have been trampled by wild jumbos between 2006 and 2016 — tea estate firms have come together under the umbrella of Indian Tea Association (ITA) to explore ways to mitigate the crisis in the Northeastern State and West Bengal.
In this regard, said Dr Dipankar Ghose, Director, Species and Landscapes programme, WWF-India, a first-of its kind meet was organised by the ITA in Kolkata to plan an industry- wide collaboration to address HEC faced by the tea gardens of Assam and West Bengal.
The WWF-India is implementing 'The Sonitpur Model' in two districts of Assam in collaboration with the State Forest Department where locals are trained and equipped to form 'Anti Depredation Squads' that can drive the wild elephants back using searchlights, firecrackers and kunki elephants. Kunkis are trained elephants that can help the Anti Depredation Squad members in driving back wild elephants..
In fact, Apeejay Tea, a tea firm and WWF-India have partnered (2015-18) to implement HEC management measures in its tea plantations in Sonitpur.
Dr Ghose said, "Through intensive conflict management strategy in the conflict prone plantations, a range of initiatives have been implemented which were found to be successful in reducing losses related to HEC in four of Apeejay Tea estates namely Borjuli, Ghoirallie, Dhulapadung and Sessa Tea Estates.
Under the project, low cost solar power fences were installed across the tea estates, a scalable bio fence, using thorny bamboo was also introduced to prevent the entry of wild elephants into vulnerable areas of the tea garden when ready. Regular village level meetings and interaction were held to create awareness on elephants and HEC management.
"We believe that we will be able to scale up these initiatives in Assam with the ITA's participation in effectively managing HEC along with other stakeholders," he added.
Karan Paul, Chairman of Apeejay Tea and member of ITA who had initiated the meeting said that they were perhaps the first tea company to fund an intensive conflict management strategy in Sonitpur because four of our gardens were in the hot zone.
Vivek Goenka, ITA Chairman added,"The ITA has studied the Project Outcomes of Apeejay Tea - WWF collaboration and is sensitive to the issue. I believe that a multi-stakeholder collaboration including the Government will aid implementation of large scale interventions across the tea sector. This was our first meeting involving tea companies and we are hopeful of a collaborative approach emerging to take this forward."
According to Government data, Assam with an elephant area (15,050 square km) is the country's prime elephant range State, having 5,719 jumbos, the highest population of wild elephants after Karnataka.
