Karnataka Forest Department invests in elephant corridors
It was announced earlier this week that the Karnataka Forest Department has begun acquiring forest land in vital elephant corridors. This is seen as an important positive step that comes in response to increasing human-elephant conflict in the state.
The Forest Department is looking to secure a significant tract of land near the Bannerghatta National Park that has been identified as an elephant corridor, but which has been badly encroached upon by human settlement and development. The “Rationalization of Elephant Corridors and Consolidation of Boundaries Project” will involve purchasing land from private parties, and then buying agricultural land and building houses to enable communities to resettle comfortably outside the danger zone. The project overall is forecast to cost the equivalent of £4.5 million, although whether this can be funded remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, the Wildlife Trust of India has already shown that securing corridors in this way can be successful. At the very end of last year they completed the very final stage in securing the corridor that connects the Kollegal Forest to Biligiri Rangaswamy temple, by transferring ownership to the Karnataka Forest Department. Following this success, Elephant Family has been investing in the 2,200 acre Tirunelli-Kudrakote corridor where the Wildlife Trust of India has been making significant progress. Both of these corridors are part of the Nilgiri landscape that contains an estimated 6,500 elephants, the largest population of Asian elephants in the world. The Karnataka Forest Department has proposed securing at least a further four corridors to ensure that elephants can move freely throughout the landscape.
The long-term survival of Asian elephants depends on securing their habitat, particularly the main corridors through which they pass between habitat fragments. When these corridors are lost, elephants come into conflict with people – as is increasingly happening – and then different measures are required to prevent this from happening. So securing the corridors in the first place really is the most immediate priority. The Wildlife Trust of India has identified a total of 88 elephant corridors throughout the country that need securing. While Elephant Family aims to help with as many of these as possible, it remains an incredible challenge to do so. Therefore the Wildlife Trust of India has been striving to show by example that the approach can work, so that others – particularly state departments – can also take up the challenge. The news from the Karnataka Forest Department is therefore seen as very positive.
written by Dan Bucknell on 06th August 10
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