Centre Embarks On Elephant Reserves, Corridor Mapping

According to the experts', elephant corridors are changing over the years. In 2005, 88 corridors were identified and published jointly by the Ministry and Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). In 2015, the second round of identification took place, and when published two years later, the number of corridors had gone up to 101.

The ministry's data on human-elephant conflict released last year showed 1,025 elephant deaths and 4,642 human deaths from 2009 until September 2019. The most human deaths were in West Bengal (821; 18 per cent). The most significant number of elephant deaths were caused by electrocution (640; 62 per cent of the total in 10 years), followed by train accidents (170; 17 per cent), poaching (153; 15 per cent), and poisoning (62; 6 per cent), the data showed.

The WTI's 2017 report indicates that 400-450 people are killed every year due to such conflict in India, and "around 100 elephants are killed in retaliation for the damage they cause to human life and property." The report said that in terms of land use, only 12.9 per cent of the corridors were totally under forest cover compared to 24 per cent in 2005.

Dr. Sandeep Kumar Tiwari, Deputy Chief of Conservation at WTI, said that the fragmentation of existing corridors had increased the number of corridors. The animal movement has been impaired because of the disappearance of several corridors and the fragmentation of existing ones. Dr. Tiwari, who is on a committee that was set up by the ministry earlier this year to look into the issue of elephant corridors, said fragmentation could take place either due to linear infrastructures such as roads and railways, or a change of land use, including the development of plantations or agricultural patches.

Dr. Prajna Panda of the ministry's Project Elephant pointed out the difference in lists of elephant corridors made by the central and state governments. The corridor identification process will be undertaken in four elephant-rich regions: North West, North East, East-Central, and South.