An update on what's happening with the elephants of India - and Project Elephant
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Massive toll of elephant deaths in India - MoEFCC
- The story: An unbelievably large number of elephants - 1,160 - were killed in the country due to reasons other than natural causes in the past 10 years up to December 31, 2020. This was told by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). While electrocution turned fatal for 741 pachyderms, train hits led to the death of 186 mammals. This was followed by poaching - 169, and poisoning - 64.
- State-wise situation: Karnataka and Odisha lost 133 elephants each due to electrocution during the period and Assam reported 129 deaths. Among elephant casualties due to train hits, Assam stood first with 62 deaths, followed by West Bengal at 57. A total of 169 mammals were killed by poachers in the 10 years and Odisha reported the highest - 49 deaths, followed by Kerala 23.
- Poison deaths: Assam reported the highest number of elephants poisoned - 32, and Odisha stood second with 15 deaths.
- Total pachyderm strength: India is lucky to have a good population of the giant mammals.
- India had a total of 29,964 wild elephants as per an estimation done in 2017. The southern region comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra accounted for the highest population — 14,612 elephants.
- The north-east region comprising Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland, the north region of West Bengal, Manipur and Mizoram stood second with 10,139 elephants.
- Karnataka - 6,049, Assam - 5,719, Kerala - 5,706, and Tamil Nadu - 2,761 were the top four States that had the highest number of elephants (data as per the RTI reply from the Project Elephant Division of the MoEFCC).
- ‘Project Elephant’: Financial and technical assistance were provided to elephant range States under the Centrally sponsored ‘Project Elephant’ scheme to protect elephants, their habitat and corridors to address issues of man-elephant conflict and welfare of captive elephants. The Ministry released ₹212.5 crore under the Project Elephant to 22 States in the 10 years.
- It is clear that the Centre and the States together had a greater responsibility in protecting elephants, a keystone species, and their habitats.
- Among various measures taken, as per the MoEFCC, were guidelines for the management of human-elephant conflict issued by the Ministry in October 2017 and elephant range States had been requested to implement the same.
- Critical elephant habitats are notified as ‘elephant reserve’ for focus and synergy in elephant conservation and to reduce conflict. A total of 30 elephant reserves have been established in 14 major elephant States. To reduce man-elephant conflict and to avoid retaliatory killing of elephants, compensation is provided to local communities for loss of property and life caused by wild elephants.
- A Permanent Coordination Committee has been constituted between the Ministry of Railways and the MoEFCC for preventing elephant deaths due to train hits.
- African elephants: African elephant populations have fallen from an estimated 12 million a century ago to some 4,00,000 only. At least 20,000 elephants have been killed in Africa each year for their tusks. Today, the greatest threat to African elephants is wildlife crime, primarily poaching for the illegal ivory trade, while the greatest threat to Asian elephants is habitat loss, which results in human-elephant conflict. The WWF has advocated for an end to commercial elephant ivory sales in the US and other major markets like China, Thailand, and Hong Kong as the most effective and efficient solution to end this illegal ivory trade.
- The real game changer is China—by far the largest market for elephant ivory—which banned domestic trade of elephant ivory as of January 1, 2018.
- Since then, Chinese consumer desire for elephant ivory has dropped and wholesale prices of elephant ivory, even on the black market, have declined. WWF has been working since to reduce consumer demand for elephant ivory and ensure the ban is effectively enforced.
- Summary: Elephants help maintain forest and savanna ecosystems for other species and are integrally tied to rich biodiversity. Elephants are important ecosystem engineers. They make pathways in dense forested habitat that allow passage for other animals. An elephant footprint can also enable a micro-ecosystem that, when filled with water, can provide a home for tadpoles and other organisms. As "keystone species", they help maintain biodiversity of the ecosystems they inhabit. Elephants are also losing their habitats and ancient migratory routes due to expanding human settlements into their habitat, agricultural development, and the construction of infrastructure such as roads, canals, and fences that fragment their habitat. As a result, human-elephant conflict is rising as more and more elephants come into close contact with humans. This often leads to elephants destroying crops and property, as well as occasional human casualties. These negative interactions can result in the retaliatory killing of elephants.
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the role of "keystone species" in any environment. Which are some of the keystone species in India? Explain and analyse. (2) Why is it said that China has the biggest role to play in overall protection of elephants in the world? Explain.
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