A balance between development policies and saving pathways for elephants is essential to save the herbivore, according to a report by Wildlife Trust of India
The fragmentation and loss of natural habitats are major drivers of ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss globally. Mega-herbivores like elephants, with large home range and food requirements, have been among the species most affected by habitat alteration and loss of habitat connectivity. The fragmented nature of the Indian landscape, with humans all around, has increased human-elephant conflict in most parts of the country. On an average about 400-450 human lose their lives annually 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.
Various strategies are being discussed and debated to manage and overcome the adverse effects of habitat fragmentation and loss. Wildlife corridors are an important means of ensuring larger habitat availability to species, genetic exchange within and between populations, and the minimising of human-elephant conflict in altered habitats. These corridors have to be restored and secured on a priority basis.
Wildlife Trust of India and the Asian Nature Conservation Foundation, in collaboration with state forest departments, Project Elephant and several researchers, had identified 88 elephant corridors and published a report titled Right of Passage: Elephant Corridors of India in 2005. This publication systematically assessed the status of the 88 identified corridors, and prioritised them for conservation interventions and security. The report was endorsed by Project Elephant, Ministry of Environment and Forests, and all state forest departments. In the last decade, the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), state forest departments and conservation organisations have been working at the policy and ground level to protect and secure these corridors. The elephant task force formed in 2010 also recognised these corridors and strongly recommended that they be legally protected and secured through various approaches.
However, due to a lack of legal protection to corridors and elephant reserves, and land use changes that have occurred in the last decade, elephant habitats and corridors have been further negatively impacted. A field survey was consequently initiated by Wildlife Trust India in collaboration with Project Elephant from July 2013 to December 2015, to update the status of existing corridors and identify new ones that may have emerged in the intervening decade, and prepare conservation plans for securing them. The information collected from corridors in all states was compiled into a draft report that was reviewed through state-level consultative meetings with officials of state forest departments, conservation organisations working on elephants, elephant experts and others.
The final list of corridors and the conservation plan for each corridor incorporated the suggestions and comments of those present at the consultative meetings. Whenever a new corridor was suggested, the team surveyed the area and if convinced, formally incorporated it into the final list as an elephant corridor.
A minimum of 101 elephant corridors were identified as currently in use in India, and seven corridors that were previously identified were found to have been impaired in the last decade. Of the corridors currently in use, 28 are in southern India, 25 in central India, 23 in northeastern India, 14 in northern West Bengal and 11 in northwestern India. An estimated 69.3 per cent of these corridors is being regularly used by elephants, either around the year or in a particular season, and 24.75 per cent are being used occasionally. Some 57.5 per cent of the corridors are of high priority ecologically, and 41.5 per cent are of medium priority, indicating that most of the corridors are important for elephant movement and to maintain a healthy population.
Only 22.8 per cent of the corridors are one kilometre or less in length compared to 28.5 per cent in 2005, and 17.8 per cent of corridors are between one and three kilometres compared to 19.3 per cent in 2005, suggesting the further fragmentation of habitats. However, on a regional basis, about 39.1 per cent of the corridors in northeastern India and 32.14 per cent of the corridors in southern India are of one kilometre or less, pointing to what the overall findings indicate: that the fragmentation of elephant habitats is less severe in these regions (and most severe in northern West Bengal followed by northwestern and Central India).
Human settlements and the resulting biotic pressure, linear infrastructure elements (roads, railway lines, canals), and encroachments on to corridor areas are major issues impacting movement. Only 21.8 per cent of corridors are free of human settlements compared to 22.8 per cent in 2005, and 45.5 per cent have one to three settlements compared to 42 per cent in 2005. A large extent of corridor area and habitat is also being lost due to encroachment, with 28.7 per cent of corridors now encroached upon. Some 66.3 per cent of corridors also have highways (national and/or state) passing through them.
Twenty corridors have railway lines passing through them and in four, a railway line has been proposed or construction work is in progress. An estimated 36.4 per cent of corridors in Uttarakhand, 32 per cent in central India, 35.7 per cent in northern West Bengal and 13 per cent in north-eastern India have railway lines passing through them. (Between 1987 and June 2017, approximately 265 elephants have been killed by train accidents in different part of the country.) About 40 per cent of the corridors in central India and 27 per cent in northwestern India are affected by irrigation canals. Overall, 11 per cent of the corridors are affected by canals.
Further, 11.9 per cent of corridors are affected by mining and/or boulder extraction. Corridors also pass through agriculture lands and/or are encroached upon for cultivation: About 2/3rd of them are affected by agriculture activities. All these developmental activities and biotic pressures have severely impacted elephant movement.
In terms of land use, only 12.9 per cent of the corridors are totally under forest cover compared to 24 per cent in 2005; 44.5 per cent are jointly under forest, agriculture and settlements compared to 40 per cent in 2005; and 15.85 per cent are under forest, tea gardens and settlements as compared to 16per cent in 2005. In central India, almost 88 per cent of corridors are jointly under forest, agriculture and settlements and only four per cent are totally under forest cover, compared to about 35.7 per cent of corridors in southern India that are totally under forest cover. Almost 47.5 per cent of the corridors have a Protected Area at one or both ends, or lie within a Protected Area.
To ensure that corridors are protected and secured, it is important that they are legally protected to prevent further fragmentation of habitat and increased human-elephant conflict. To achieve this, state governments should first demarcate and notify these corridors as State Elephant Corridors, which could then be legally protected under appropriate sections of the Wild life (Protection) Act, 1972, the Environment Protection Act, and other laws. Our study also recommends that wherever possible, the state forest department, Project Elephant and conservation organisations should make efforts to protect and secure corridor lands through purchase and voluntary relocation of inhabitants. Corridors could also be secured by working with the local communities and governments (Autonomous District Councils) to reduce local dependency on corridor land, and getting the pathways notified as village reserve forests by the council or community reserves by the state forest department.
Development policies in elephant habitats should be thoroughly discussed, involving various stakeholders to prevent further fragmentation and degradation and a consequent rise in human-elephant conflict. While planning infrastructure development in such regions, appropriate mitigation measures should be finalised during the planning stages to minimise impact. The overall policy in these areas should aim towards the long-term conservation of wildlife by ensuring the protection of larger forest areas.
Seven corridors have been impaired in the last decade and many more are on the verge of being impaired. This has been due to the lack of any agency keeping a close eye on these corridors so that no land use changes happen. Hence, it is important to engage local community-based organisations in corridor areas as “Green Corridor Champions” (GCCs), who will work as the eyes, ears and voices. GCCs will be charged with sensitising, motivating and mobilising local communities, and creating a sense of pride and ownership among them towards elephant corridors. They will work to secure and monitor the status of corridors by coordinating the actions of local self-governments, state and central governments and other stakeholders.