Elephant Conservation

Elephant Conservation

Subject: Environment 

Context: Recently, the matriarch and weight lifting champion – Nandini, the elephant was hit by a train and died near Coimbatore Railway Station, Tamilnadu.

Content:

• India is home tonearly 60% Asian elephants and the last count of the species in 2017 had put the number at 29,964.
• While the number of elephants in India has increased in the past few years, the species is listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red Listof threatened species and Schedule I of The Wildlife Protection Act.
• The South Indian Statesof Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu are home to nearly 44% of India’s elephant population.
• The number of elephant reserves in India is 32with the latest addition being the Agasthyamalai Elephant Reserve in 2022.
• Challenges:
  • continuous threat of poaching for ivory
  • conflict with humans – On an average, about 500 humans and 100 elephants are killed every year across the country in such confrontations.
  • fragmentationof elephant habitats
  • construction of linear (railways and roads) and power infrastructure
  • change of land use, particularly bringing erstwhile forested areas under agriculture.

Project Elephant

• Launched in 1992 as a centrally sponsored scheme by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
• Aim is to ensure the long-term survivalof elephants in their natural habitats.
• Other goals of Project Elephant are supporting the research of the ecology and management of elephants, creating awareness of conservation among local people, providing improved veterinary care for captive elephants.
• This strategy is mainly implemented in 16 of 28 states or union territories in the country.
• So far, about 101 elephant corridors have been identified in the country which need to be secured for conservation of elephants.

To know more about Elephant, refer: https://optimizeias.com/elephant-conservation/ and https://optimizeias.com/states-fail-to-give-environment-ministry-details-on-elephant-reserves/