World Elephant Day

In News

• On the occasion of World Elephant Day (12th August) the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change released the population estimation protocol to be adopted in the All India elephant and tiger population estimation in 2022. 

About

• As per the new protocol, India will move to a system that will count tigers and elephants as part of a common survey.
• The tiger survey is usually held once in four years and elephants are counted once in five years. 
• This method would significantly save cost given that 90% of the area occupied by elephants and tigers is common.

Elephants in India

• About:
  • According to the last count in 2017, there were 29,964 elephants in India. This is a slight increase from 2012’s mean of 29,576 elephants.
• Threats:  
  • Habitat loss, fragmentation, human-elephant conflict, poaching and illegal trade of elephants.
• Asian Elephants:
  • They are polygynous, with males and females exhibiting different morphologies and adult lifestyles.
  • They are the largest land mammals on the Asian continent. 
  • Asian elephants are extremely sociable, forming groups of six to seven related females that are led by the oldest female, the matriarch.
  • It lives in forested regions of India and throughout Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.
  • There are three subspecies of Asian elephants which are the Indian, Sumatran and Sri Lankan.
  • IUCN Status: 
    • Endangered
  • Protection: 
    • It is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
    • It is included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
  • Status in India: 
    • India is home to the largest number of Asiatic Elephants. There are around 28,000 elephants in India with around 25% of them in Karnataka.
• African Elephants
  • There are two subspecies of African elephants, the Savanna (or bush) elephant and the Forest elephant.
  • IUCN Status: 
    • African forest elephant: Critically Endangered
    • African savanna elephant: Endangered

Difference between African Elephant and Asian Elephant

Initiatives for conservation of Elephants

• Project Elephant: A Centrally-sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests to provide financial assistance to the states.
• Elephant corridors and reserve:  Elephant corridors are secured through voluntary relocation of settlements and/or acquisition of land.
• Gaj Yatra Nationwide campaign:  To create awareness about elephant corridors to encourage free movement in their habitat.
• Training:  Training and awareness camps are organized regularly for local people for the conservation of elephants and other wildlife. 
  • Construction of barriers like boundary walls and solar-powered electric fences around the sensitive areas to prevent wild animal attacks.
• Elephant and Train collisions:  A number of measures have been taken by Railways in coordination with the Ministry of Environment and Forest which include the following:
  • The imposition of speed restrictions in identified locations.  Provision of signage board. 
  • Sensitization of Train Crew and Station Masters on a regular basis.  
  • Need-based clearance of vegetation on the sides of the track within railway land 
  • Construction of underpasses and ramps for the movement of elephants at identified locations. 
• Barricades: To prevent man-elephant conflicts.
• Elephant in captivity:  Proper guidelines and SOPs are issued for those areas where elephants are kept in captivity.
• Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme: It was launched in 2003, is an international collaboration that tracks trends in information related to the illegal killing of elephants from across Africa and Asia, to monitor the effectiveness of the field conservation efforts.
• Operation Thunderbird: To fight against wildlife crime, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, coordinated “OPERATION THUNDERBIRD” in India.

Source: TH