Elephant conservationists meet in Kerala; stress on habitat protection and community involvement for conservation
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): Forest authorities of the south Indian state of Kerala who met yesterday for a day-long workshop to discuss long-term elephant conservation in the state stressed on the need for habitat degradation control and involvement of local communities.
The workshop on ‘elephant corridor securement and human-elephant conflict mitigation’ was jointly organised by Kerala Forest Department, Project Elephant and Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), supported by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), Elephant Family and the World Land Trust (WLT). It brought together experts including Forest authorities, conservationists and NGO personnel working on various aspects of elephant conservation in Kerala.
“Issues including securing elephant corridors, human-elephant conflict mitigation, mitigation of elephant deaths due to train hits among others were discussed at the workshop,” said Dr Sandeep Kumar Tiwari, Manager, WTI.
Requesting the state authorities to notify identified elephant corridors, Tiwari added that in a changed landscape, it is essential to protect and strengthen linkages (corridors) between habitats for conservation of wide ranging animals like the elephants.
Currently, the Kerala Forest Department and WTI are working to secure the Wayanad Elephant Corridor in the state. The corridor links Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala via Wayanad North Division forests, further leading to Bandipur National Park and Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, providing a vital passage for about 5000 elephants. Two of the six settlements within the corridor have been secured following voluntary relocation of the residents who have been provided houses and land with basic amenities at an alternative site of their choice.
Appreciating WTI’s efforts in wildlife conservation in the state, KK Srivastava, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala, said that the change in land-use pattern has to be checked to prevent fragmentation of elephant habitat and to reduce human-elephant conflicts.
Srivastava informed the meeting that efforts would soon be initiated to secure Periya corridors as well, and that funds had already been allocated for the purpose. He also informed that the state had improved compensation for conflict victims.
KP Ouseph, Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and PN Unikrishnan, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, who were also present during the workshop additionally stressed on the involvement of local communities for a more effective conservation. Unikrishnan also called for inter-state cooperation to effectively tackle human-elephant conflict issues.
