On the occasion of Earth Day, 22nd April 2019, Wildlife Trust of India’s Green Corridor Champions organised celebratory events across the country in their respective States. The mass sensitization programmes involved villagers, teachers, officials, tea estate authorities and other relevant stakeholders and aimed to raise awareness on the importance of conservation of elephants and their habitat. As an initiative to garner social momentum, the Green Corridor Champions engaged the local communities in a myriad of elephant-themed activities, targeting the areas near the identified elephant corridors. The Earth Day observed celebrations from North-West India to Northern West Bengal to Southern India, all coming together and joining hands to secure ‘Right of Passage’ for the endangered Asian Elephant.

The Corbett Foundation (TCF) in Uttarakhand organised a consultative workshop “Manthan-A sustainable co-existence between man and nature” which addressed elephant conservation awareness and issues pertaining to human-elephant conflict situations. Various challenges in terms of the protection of elephants in the Corbett landscape were highlighted and possible solutions were discussed during the workshop.

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Society for Protecting Ophiofauna & Animal Rights (SPOAR) conducted an awareness programme for the tea estate authorities and labour workers from Nepuchapur Tea garden, Northern West Bengal situated in Apalchand-Gorumara elephant corridor. The interaction session and the documentary screening by SPOAR helped spread the message of elephant conservation amongst the tea estate authorities and labour workers. While monitoring the elephant corridors for the presence of elephants and other wildlife movements, Ms Anindita and her team in Northern West Bengal found plastic bags and packages in almost all the elephant dung piles. To address the negative consequences of plastic on elephants and other wildlife in the region, the team planned to organise a plastic cleanliness drive in Rethi river bed.

In Karnataka, A Rocha organised a village level workshop comprising of panchayat members and forest officials targeting the villages adjoining Karadikal-Mahadeshwara elephant corridor, the follow-up measures and actions with regard to Asian elephant conservation were deliberated during this workshop.

Over 450 stakeholders were targeted through the series of sensitization programmes conducted on the occasion of Earth Day, celebrated in collaboration with Wildlife Trust of India and with the support from Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) and Stop Poaching Fund (SPF). The people across the country were extremely supportive of the initiative and willfully contributed to support the cause.

Wildlife Trust of India is working towards empowering local stakeholders through the formation and deployment of a cadre of Green Corridor Champions (GCCs)-community-based organizations or groups of individuals which work like the eyes, ears, and voice of 101 elephant corridors identified across 11 states of India through WTI’s Right of Passage Project.  The Green Corridor Champions not only monitor the elephant corridors but also sensitize, motivate and mobilize local communities, and relevant authorities on the importance of giving Right of Passage to our National Heritage Animal- the Asian elephant and protecting its habitat.