To drum up people’s support for India’s wild tuskers through a mixture of local art and culture, the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in collaboration with the Union Environment Ministry is all set to launch a 15-month road show, The Gaj Yatra from Saturday, being marked as World Elephant Day.
The campaign covering 13 States will be supported by WTI brand ambassador Dia Mirza, actor, filmmaker and wildlife conservationist.
Despite being a figure of traditional cultural reverence, recognised as the national heritage animal, and provided with the strictest level of protection under the law, the Asian elephants are in a lot of trouble in India today, said Vivek Menon, Founder, Executive Director and CEO of the WTI.
Menon, who is also the advisor to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, felt that the crux of the problem is one that affects all wildlife in the country: land. A large chunk of the country’s elephant habitat is unprotected, susceptible to encroachment or already in use by humans.
The WTI has been working towards this for over the past decade and half through ‘Right of Passage - National Elephant Corridors Project’.
The WTI and World land Trust have together identified 101 elephant corridors. These have been prioritised according to their conservation importance and feasibility of protection. To date WlT and WTI has helped safeguard three priority corridors - Siju-Rewak Corridor and Rewak-Emangre Corridor, both in Meghalaya, and Tirunelli-Kudrakote Corridorin Kerala.
In order to upscale the project, we are launching the Gaj Yatra campaign focusing on the issues such as the shrinking space for India’s wild elephants and the importance of elephant corridors. One of the biggest events planned around India’s wild elephants, it will take place across multiple cities in India, said Menon.
The Gaj Yatra will sensitise people on its plan to protect 101 corridors, target cities for corridors and securing elephant landscapes and corridors.
India is home to 60 per cent of the remaining Asian Elephant population making their survival critical to the survival of the species as a whole.