New Delhi, June 26 (UNI) Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav today emphasised the need for coordinated efforts among stakeholders—including local communities, the Railways, and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) among others—to address the growing challenge of human-wildlife conflict in India.
Speaking at the 21st Steering Committee meeting of Project Elephant held at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) in Dehradun, Yadav underlined that managing human-wildlife conflict effectively is vital to the success of conservation initiatives.He also highlighted the need to improve the working conditions and social security of frontline forest personnel and ground-level conservation workers.
The meeting brought together senior forest officials, scientists, and field experts from elephant-range States, along with representatives from key wildlife conservation institutions, to assess the progress of Project Elephant and chart the path forward.
A major focus of the discussions was on mitigating human-elephant conflict, which continues to threaten both human lives and elephant populations. The Minister stressed the importance of involving local communities in conflict mitigation and outreach initiatives, calling on institutions such as the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), and State forest training centres to collaborate on awareness programmes.
Highlighting the impact of infrastructure on elephant habitats, Yadav called for a systematic collection and analysis of data related to elephant deaths caused by railway accidents. He also advocated for increased inter-State cooperation and knowledge-sharing to scale up successful mitigation practices across regions.
The committee reviewed several ongoing initiatives under Project Elephant, including the preparation of regional action plans for human-elephant conflict mitigation in southern and northeastern India and completion of surveys covering 3,452.4 km of railway tracks, identifying 77 high-risk stretches.
The Minister wrote on the social media platform X about the programme, “On the occasion released a report on how to mitigate Asian Elephant-Train Collision. A report was also released on human-elephant conflict mitigation measures for the states of Assam, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand…Launched an advisory on tusk trimming as well.”
Progress in the DNA profiling of captive elephants, with 1,911 genetic samples collected across 22 States was also discussed at the meeting.
The other issues discussed pertained to completion of Phase I of the synchronised elephant population estimation in northeastern States, with more than 16,500 dung samples collected.
Work is also advancing on a Model Elephant Conservation Plan for the Nilgiri Elephant Reserve, expected to be finalised by December 2025, the statement said, adding that on the occasion, the latest edition of Trumpet, the quarterly newsletter of Project Elephant was also released.
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