SOCIAL CANVAS
Elephant menace: Plight of local communities
Wildlife is part of the forest ecosystem that needs conservation with coexistence. But there has been a growing threat to the ecosystem with an increase in the death of wildlife population as the case of elephants in Odisha. Elephant is the largest land animal of the world and the World Elephant Day is celebrated on August 12.
It has been reported by the MoEFCC that more than 100 elephants have died each year since 2010. Odisha has recorded the highest unnatural death in the country followed by Karnataka and Assam. The State also had the highest number of human casualties in elephant attacks during the last three years. As many as 1,578 people died in elephant attacks in India between 2019-20 and 2021-22 of which highest 322 were reported from Odisha.
The last census of 2017 estimated the elephant population of the State was close to 2,000 which is about 7 percent of the country's elephant population of mostly Asiatic. During the last two years from 2019 to 2021-22 at least 245 elephants died in Odisha. The major cause of death includes diseases of anthrax and herpes, poisoning, accidents in contact with live wire, railway tracks, roads and poaching. The death of human and animal causality is a growing threat to man-animal coexistence.
The five elephant reserves and corridors formed in Odisha are in Mayurbhanj, Mahanadi, Sambalpur, Baitarani and South Odisha which covers major parts of forest and wildlife divisions of the State. The forest and wildlife areas are also home to human habitations where the marginalised sections constitute a majority and also depend on forest based livelihood.
With growing change in economic systems driven by industrial and urban markets, there has also been growing conflict between humans and animals which needs to be addressed in our conservation policies.
There are reports of huge loss of crops, houses and property of local communities and most shockingly the death of people mostly from marginalised sections in the forest areas. The cause of such conflict and loss of lives is due to lack of fodder and drinking water for the elephants along with destruction of natural habitations and corridors for a number of reasons that include developmental works and communication links coming up in forest areas .The developmental projects must have a holistic plan of coexistence as well as a plan for the ecological restoration of existing natural habitats. The migratory routes of elephants need to be improved to a better condition than before for the protection and survival of the elephant population in danger.
Though the Project Elephant was launched in 1992 by the Government of India which is being implemented in 16 States including Odisha aiming to protect the elephants from the poachers and also from unnatural causes of death by promoting public education and community awareness, but such projects have failed to integrate the communities in wildlife areas.
Ranjit Pattnaik, a senior socio-environmental expert, from Mahanadi elephant reserve area, said the developmental projects coming up near sanctuary areas are not following the conservation guidelines while dealing with restoration of elephant corridors from sanctuary to adjacent forest area. He said the elephant corridors are increasingly encroached due to various unplanned activities and lack of interdepartmental coordination. Though poaching is a major cause of death, there has been no serious legal intervention to control the illegal acts by enforcement of law. On the other side, there is minimum plan to plant fodder such as bamboo bush and revive perennial water sources which dry up in summer without conservation of water harvesting structures.
Kailash Nayak, activist associated with forest-based community issues for a long time, said that the compensation paid to the local communities for loss of crops and human and other casualties is not sufficient. Besides, the process is very cumbersome. There has been a lack of public awareness on compensation provisions as a number of departments are involved in the process such as Forest, Revenue and Health. The issues of legal heir and loss assessment documentation is very time consuming for a poor and illiterate people. The current compensation amount must be increased in case of death of earning members to ensure the livelihood of the family members.
He said in Mayurbhanj areas mostly elephants from the State of Jharkhand in groups have been visiting the area regularly and destroying crops, houses and human habitations. It is because the natural corridors are being destroyed and disturbed for many reasons with change of time and economy. We need to observe the elephant behavior to make coexistence plans but there has been no discussion over the issues in the public domain.
Hati Sabka Sathi is a community driven national campaign to save elephants and promote coexistence by Satyendra Kumar of Rajsila Foundation, New Delhi. Satyendra is of the opinion that poaching and poisoning, and many other forms of accidents that cause the increasing death of elephants are an issue across India including Odisha. The Forest Department is doing nothing even though there are resources and schemes. "We have to change the policy of Government to stop the killing of elephants. The schemes to claim compensation also need to be revised considering the need of the communities and their dependency and its proper implementation must be ensured by law. The illegal killing of elephants needs serious monitoring and the need for alternatives must be explored to address both the issues to minimize human –elephant conflict while promoting coexistence," he said.
The agricultural research institute and universities such as CRRI, Assam Agricultural University, Kerala Agricultural University and many others are engaged in research to offer better alternatives that can minimize the loss. The stakeholders in conservation efforts must look into the issues holistically in an ecosystem perspective.