News Highlights
The Elephant Range States across India, have ignored an 18-month-old instruction from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), to furnish information on their Elephant Reserves.
Background
- The MoEFCC in January 2021, wrote to the chief wildlife wardens of the Elephant Reserve States, to provide the details for the compilation of information on Elephant Reserves (ERs) by its Project Elephant Division.
- Elephant Range States across India fail to give Environment Ministry details on elephant reserves
What was the instruction?
- The information sought included history and background of establishing the ERs; the area notified; and the number of circles, forest divisions, ranges, and private or revenue land within the reserves.
- States were also asked to provide within January 30, 2022,
- Total population of elephants, threats, challenges and issues in these ERs
- Five-year data on human-elephant conflicts
- Management interventions done by the forest departments, to conserve elephants.
Elephant Corridors of India
Elephant
- Elephant ( Elephas maximus) is the largest terrestrial mammal of India
- The government of India in the year 2010 declared Elephant as the national heritage animal of the country on the recommendations of the standing committee of the national board for wildlife.
- This was done to make sure that sufficient protection for elephants was provided before their numbers fall to panic levels like in the case of tigers.
About Asiatic Elephant
- The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus Elephas
- It is the largest living land animal in Asia.
- Three subspecies of Asian Elephant
- The Indian
- The Sumatran
- The Sri Lankan
- Distribution
- Asian elephants are found in 13 countries
- Indian subcontinent (India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh)
- Continental Southeast Asia (China, Myanmar, Thailand, Kampuchea, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia)
- Asian islands (Andaman Islands, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Borneo)
- Protection status
- IUCN Red List: Endangered
- Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Schedule 1
- CITES listing: Appendix I
Threats faced by Elephants
What is being done to protect Elephants
- Project Elephant
- Aim: to monitor and regulate the welfare of both wild and captive elephants
- Objectives:
- Conservation of Indian elephants and its habitat.
- Addressing issues relating to human elephant conflict.
- Welfare of Captive elephants
- Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MOEF&CC)
- The CITES Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) Programme
- It is a site-based system designed to monitor trends in the illegal killing of elephants, build management capacity and provide information to help range States make appropriate management and enforcement decisions.
- Campaign Haathi Mere Saathi
- The aim of the campaign was to increase public awareness and develop friendships between elephants and the local population.
- The campaign Haathi Mere Saathi was for the welfare of the elephants, to conserve and protect the elephants in India.
- Elephant Task Force
- The Union government constituted an Elephant Task Force (ETF) in 2010 under the leadership of historian Mahesh Rangarajan to review the existing policy of elephant conservation in India and formulate future interventions.
Content Source: The Hindu