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Elephant Reserve Deserve Legal Preserve

The Union environment ministry has proposed an amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act to protect elephant reserves and corridors on the lines of those of the tiger and sought responses of states to a proposed Comprehensive National Elephant Action Plan (NEAP).
There are 30 notified Elephant Reserves (ERs) in the country spread over 15 states. Baitami (Odisha) and Lemru (Chhattisgarh) are other ERs which are yet to be notified by the state governments.

Under the Wildlife Protection Act, state forest departments have to prepare a tiger reserve management plan with an adequate number of forest staff and strategies in place to protect the big cats. The law also gives legal status to the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the regulatory body for around 50 tiger reserves in India.
With the proposed amendment, the ministry proposes to have a similar legal framework for 30 elephant reserves across 15 states and statutory status for Project Elephant. India is home to about 30,000 elephants, or 60% of the global Asian elephant population.

Rising human-elephant conflict as elephants lose their traditional habitat and corridors are another key issue of discussion with states for the national action plan. The aim is to put in place a coordinated effort to reduce conflict through mitigation measures in elephant corridors.
According to data shared with the Lok Sabha on September 23, close to 2,300 people were killed by elephants in the past five years until 2019, which was 10 times the number killed by tigers. Also, 400 elephants were killed by poachers or through poisoning by local residents.
The Lok Sabha reply revealed that at least 433 people have been killed across West Bengal between April 2014 and September 2019. In Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattishgarh, the death toll was 447, 391 and 329, respectively, during the period.
Asian elephants are poached for their ivory tusks, but unlike their African cousins only male Asian elephants have tusks. Every poaching event further skews the sex ratio which contrains breeding rates for the species. Poaching rates are currently increasing because the Asian middle class fuel demand despite the fact that there is a worldwide ban on ivory trade.

Project Elephant was launched in 1992 by the Government of India Ministry of Environment and Forests to provide financial and technical support to wildlife management efforts by states for their free-ranging populations of wild Asian Elephants.
The project aims to ensure the long-term survival to the populations of elephants in their natural habitats by protecting the elephants, their habitats and migration corridors. 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
India’s first elephant reserve was created in Jharkhand in 2001 under Project Elephant. Spread over 4,529 square kilometers area, the Singhbhum Elephant Reserve in Kolhan division, which comprises three districts --east Singhbhum, west Singhbhum and Saraikela-Kharswan -- has around 280 elephants, according to the 2017 elephant census.
Reserves in the Western Ghats, Nilgiris and Eastern Ghats, spread across Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are collectively known as “Asia’s elephant empire”, with about 10,000 elephants.

The Government of India has declared Indian elephant as National Heritage Animal. Indian elephant is also provided highest degree of legal protection by listing it in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Placing Indian elephant in Schedule I of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS Convention), will fulfil natural urge of migration of Indian elephant across India’s borders and back safely and thereby promote conservation of this endangered species for our future generations.
Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List as the wild population has declined by at least 50% since the 1930s to 1940s, i.e. three elephant generations. The Asian elephant is threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation

World Elephant Day is an annual global event celebrated across the world on August 12, dedicated to the preservation and protection of elephants. The goal of World Elephant Day is to create awareness about the plight of elephants and to share knowledge and positive solutions for the better care and management of captive and wild elephants.

In the Terai Arc Landscape, which encompasses parts of western Nepal and eastern India, WWF and its partners are restoring degraded biological corridors so that elephants can access their migratory routes without disturbing human habitations. The long-term goal is to reconnect 12 protected areas and encourage community-based action to mitigate human-elephant conflict.
WWF supports human-elephant conflict mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and awareness-building among local communities in two elephant habitats in the Eastern Himalayas, the North Bank Landscape and the Kaziranga Karbi-Anglong Landscape, and in the Nilgiris Eastern Ghats Landscape in South India.

The elephant plays a central role in Indian life and has done for many centuries. Elephants are closely associated with religious and cultural heritage, playing an important role in the country’s history. They remain revered today. An India without elephants is simply unimaginable.
Project Elephant has made a huge difference and provided a focus for conservation effort. Although there are still many remaining problems, these efforts are beginning to bear fruit regarding the conservation of India’s wild elephants.
For further protection and conservation legal status is required and would play a game changing role in environmental balance and in ecosystem.