India declares elephants a “national heritage animal”
Following the release of the eagerly awaited report on the future of the Asian elephant in India by the Elephant Task Force, Elephant Family sees the declaration of the elephant as a "national heritage animal" as a very positive development, presenting opportunities for enhancing conservation activities, as well as for reinforcing cultural and spiritual beliefs that could play an important part in gaining the involvement and support of local people for conservation efforts. However, in wondering what exactly it would mean for elephants to have this enhanced status, we contacted one of our partner organisations, the Wildlife Trust of India, whose Director Vivek Menon was an integral member of the Elephant Task Force and author of the report. The following press release was sent to us by Sharada Annamaraju of their communications division, and provides a good overview of the report:
Strengthening the work on wild Asian elephants by Project Elephant, and bringing the humane treatment of captive elephants under purview, the Elephant Task Force (ETF) submitted its report to the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests on Tuesday, 31 August. The 179-page report, titled Gajah, Securing the Future for Elephants in India, carries extensive recommendations made by the twelve members of the force set up by the MoEF on elephant conservation and sets a leading model of conservation among all the elephant bearing nations.
The report identifies the problem not as immediate extinction, but the slow corrosion of elephant habitats resulting in increasing levels of Human Elephant Conflict. Through the creation of the National Elephant Conservation Authority on the lines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority and empowering it as the governing council, the ETF recommends strong rationalisation of the boundaries of elephant reserves, creation of Elephant Landscapes tied up with prime elephant reserves and critical corridors.
"Ten new landscapes that have been declared, envisage multiple use areas for the elephant in which the core will fall under Protected Areas. All other elephant usage areas will come under eco-sensitive zonation of the Environment Protection Act. This will limit all large infrastructure projects without affecting the livelihoods of ordinary people. Development is welcome in these areas, as long as it is elephant friendly," says Vivek Menon, Executive Director, Wildlife Trust of India and member, ETF.
One of the first responses to the report has been the declaration of the elephant as a National Heritage Animal by Jairam Ramesh, the Union Minister for Environment and Forests. "The phrase serves to attract focus to the animal. That people are now beginning to ask why the elephant is being accorded this status shows that the job is already half done," adds Menon.
The centre to begin with, has promised to push for complete protection of 26 high priority corridors, out of 88 corridors, which were identified pre-hand by scientists and other non governmental organisations.
The report also seeks to increase financial outlay to Rs 600 crores [more than £80 million] in the 12th Five Year Plan in order to allocate 1/6th of resources for securing vital habitats, creation of community reserves and conflict mitigation.
Elephants in India have 65,000 square kilometres of habitat available to them in the form of both private and land in use by humans and face threats due to not only shrinking habitats but also selective killing of tuskers for ivory, thereby skewing sex ratios. Of the world population of Asian elephants, 25-27,000, apart from 3,500 in captivity, exist in India.
written by Dan Bucknell on 03rd September 10
