As Gaj Mahotsav celebrates India's elephants, experts warn of threats that will increase tusker-human conflict

The massive four-day event ‘Gaj Mahotsav’, which celebrates India’s national heritage animal — the Asiatic elephant — is on. But wildlife experts are unanimously pointing fingers at imminent threats that are on the way due to massive shifts in migratory patterns of elephants due to habitat degradation, changing climate, and recurrent shift in rainfall pattern.

The celebrations that have followed World Elephant Day on 12 August have brought together wildlife authorities, conservationists and the media to brainstorm on the ongoing crisis faced by Asiatic elephants. They have also led to analysis of strategic measures, failures and successes in conservation of the species.

The Asiatic elephants, that were once found in large numbers across the country, are now restricted to certain pockets in east, west, and north of India.

As per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the population of Asian elephants was estimated to be between 41,000 and 52,000 and of that, India alone accounts for nearly 60 percent.

The 2017 census showed a fall in the population of elephants by a count of 3,000 when compared to the 2012 census. As per the census report, there are 27,312 elephants across 23 states, of which majority are from Northeast India.

Assam tops the list of states with the highest number of tuskers, with a number of 5,719, closely followed by 1,754 in Meghalaya, and 1,614 in Arunachal Pradesh. But not all is well even in Assam, say wildlife watchers.

The latest threat to elephants and humans in Assam is over and above the existing threats of habitat degradation. Experts are now worried about the shifting of indigenous habitat of elephants – a phenomenon they say could potentially double up the instances of man-elephant conflict in less than half a decade.

“Unless stringent efforts to create awareness backed by political will to clear elephant areas are taken, the tuskers and man, both are headed towards unmanageable conflicts,” warned state wildlife warden Kaushik Barua.

“In the last 25-30 years, there is a massive shift in land use pattern and most elephant areas have got fragmented and shrunk. In some pockets, elephant numbers have increased significantly. As the elephants breed, there would be a spillover of elephant population from such areas into human dominated areas in the next half a decade, something that would give rise to unmanageable cases of man-elephant conflict,” he added.

There are ongoing efforts by conservationists in terms of facilitating trans-boundary migration along the India-Bangladesh border, deploying response teams to handle cases of elephants straying into human settlements.

However, the weight of unplanned development and large-scale forest degradation is high and efforts to contain man-elephant conflict are clearly not proving to be enough.

Since 2016, a wild elephant that the locals named Laden, has killed 37 people till date, additionally destroying crops worth thousands of rupees.

The wounds are still fresh in the minds of the conflict-affected villagers, who are now resorting to retaliatory killings, using mostly deliberate electrocution. Assam lost 49 elephants to conflict between August and December last year. The number of elephant deaths has already reached 22 this year.

“We are talking of elephant corridors but ironically, these are all areas that were elephant habitats that are getting lost to new infrastructure, roads, buildings, dams, offices and other human needs and large-scale unplanned planning,” said Bibhab Talukdar, noted wildlife expert.

The changing dynamics come at a time where Assam has lost over 60 percent of estimated forest land due to encroahcment in certain districts like Sonitpur — once the biggest hotbed for man-elephant conflict. While strict intervention and efforts of locals, forest department and conservationists could mitigate man-elephant conflict in Sonitpur to some extent, other areas like Udalguri, Golaghat and Goalpara are now turning into man-elephant conflict hotbeds.

Garo Hills, that once housed a huge population of elephants, has shifted its agricultural pattern to accommodate crops like areca nut, rubber plantations, pineapples and other fruits while significantly doing away with vegetation that was fodder for elephants.

The lack of food has now forced elephants to move to Goalpara, making them susceptible to conflict with humans.

Huge forests have been felled to make way for rubber plantations with barricades of electric fencing, thus making these elephants vulnerable to electrocution. Due to lack of food, these elephants either sustain by eating rotten and poisonous stuff or try to wander away in the foothills in search of food. Over the years, foothills have also been encroached.

“The damage has been already done. We have lost a significant amount of forest land and elephant habitat to encroachments. If we have to save the remaining of our tuskers’ habitat, we have to secure their existing dwellings,” said Barua.

Moreover, there are concerns over accidental deaths of elephants while they cross railway lines. The year 2016 had a record number of elephants being knocked down by trains.

“Elephants are wandering creatures. They naturally need land and move from one place to another until fodder replenishes. One should look into why the elephants are crossing the railway line in the first place,” said Dr Rathin Barman, a wildlife veterinarian and director of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).

Wildlife watchers in the region say that Goalpara has been problematic in the last 20 years but the problems arising due to man-elephant conflict have increased in the last decade.

“We are talking of elephant corridors and securing them. In reality, we have taken up their indigenous habitat and are now struggling to give them a place there,” said Hiten Baishya, senior coordinator, World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF). “We are talking of corridors. But all of these are part of a greater habitat. Majority of such corridors are actually such parts of greater habitat.”

Climate change adding to woes

Changing patterns of rainfall induced by climate change have led to a clear shift in flooding and drought patterns, which are directly affecting the elephants’ migrating patterns.

Climate change has resulted in a complete shift of rainfall pattern. It has also affected the growth of crops and grasslands that provide fodder for elephants. In the last five years, Assam has seen a complete shift in rainfall pattern. Short-term flash floods have been on the rise. The years 2013 and 2014 witnessed two separate waves of flood – one around May-June and the second wave in September.

“Since the last two years, elephants have started to migrate all through the year. They even migrate during the monsoons when there is no significant need to migrate since there is enough fodder for them in their own turf. Even two years back, their time of migration used to be around April-May,” said Barua.

Random migration has also put these tuskers and humans at a risk of conflict.

While flooding to a certain extent is good for the forest lands, as per experts, it is the unpredictable flooding that actually poses threat. Kaziranga National Park and Karbi-Anglong have witnessed extreme flood and drought conditions in the last few years.

Efforts not proving to be enough

Even as forest watchers are able to witness and understand the existing crisis, the authorities have not been successful in putting a stop to it. Most of the encroached lands have already been areas of human settlement for years and it would take strong action that involves political will, strategic plan of action and due compensation.

The Amsung reserve forest is one such example where reclaiming wildlife habitat failed. Amchang Reserve forest is an original habitat. There was a court order which led to eviction to a certain extent. The area is dominated by people from the Mising communities in Assam. The eviction had to be stopped midway due to political intervention.

“We are not being able to put a stop to it. On humanitarian ground, the government decided not to remove the people from the reserved habitat. This of course has left the elephants and humans at an equally helpless risk. Clearly, more strict measures focusing on rehabilitation are needed,” rued Barua.

WTI has figured out four clear approaches in securing elephant corridors: Private purchase model, Community Securement Model, Government Acquisition Model and Public Securement model.

Under their Right of Passage project, six crucial high-priority elephant corridors have been identified. The WTI team is working in concert with the Karbi-Anglong Autonomous Council to secure those while simultaneously engaging in conflict mitigation measures with local communities.

“We have found a great success with our models. These methods can certainly be looked into and replicated elsewhere. People should now learn to cohabit with the tuskers. We have realised that people essentially have no problems with elephants if their livelihood isn’t suffering. The initiative to compensate for crop damage has been received well. Now, we need a lot of awareness and training on elephant hotbeds,” says Hiten Baishya, senior coordinator, Assam, WWF-India.

Need of the hour

The crucial need of the hour, as voiced by wildlife experts, is a concrete plan for rehabilitation of people. The awareness programmes are obsolete and do not take into account the new and changing threats to existing elephants. There is also lack of sufficient awareness exercises to improve the relationship between man and elephant that can help them coexist and mitigate situations of conflict that arise.

Among the other measures pointed out by experts were the tightening of the anti-depredation squads, increased use of solar fencing and capacity building of people in terms of tactic, knowledge and expertise. There should be strategically located units at multiple points to stop human-elephant conflict.

Elephants need free movement to maintain genetic flow and offset seasonal variations in the availability of forage and water. These creatures have a massive role in the environment. They clear forests as they go by weeding out harmful plant species, thus allowing better opportunity for other animals to thrive. They dig out water bodies for smaller wildlife to sustain in times of drought.

Elephant movements are also crucial for seed dispersal since the animals consume plants, fruits and seeds and release seeds as they defecate. They are vital for the ecological food chain.