Lights go up in Elephant Habitat
As festive lights go up elsewhere around the world, in southern India some very different lights are going up in plantations bordering elephant habitat. However, far from being festive, these lights could be a matter of life or death for the residents of the Valparai Plateau, as they will warn of the presence of elephants in the vicinity, especially after dark, thereby ensuring that any unfortunate surprise encounters do not occur.
The Valparai Plateau lies within the Anamalai Hills, a historical elephant stronghold in the state of Tamil Nadu. Today the plateau in particular has become a mosaic of forest and plantations – especially tea, coffee and cardamom – and elephants routinely pass through the plantations. On the whole the elephants and people go about their business with mutual respect and tolerance of each other. However, any chance encounter can prove fatal, and indeed three plantation workers were killed by elephants in such circumstances in January.
Earlier this year Elephant Family partnered with the Nature Conservation Foundation in the Valparai Plateau on a number of measures to prevent such fatalities and ensure an even more peaceful coexistence between people and elephants. The team there has established Conflict Response Units to track the daily elephant movements through the plateau, and this information is relayed to the local population in a number of different ways. For some time it has been fed into the local Valparai TV station, which carries the information on their broadcasts after 4pm in a scrawl across the bottom of the screen, letting people know which areas to avoid after dark. Advice on what to do and what behaviour to look for in an encounter with elephants is also provided in a further bid to prevent casualties. This information is thought to reach 25,000 families across the plateau.
A few months ago the team began sending text messages in bulk to inform key individuals of the elephants’ whereabouts. They now have more than 1,000 mobile numbers, which are grouped according to the different plantations. Message recipients include managers, workers, watchmen, members of women self-help groups of the respective plantations, news reporters, and Forest Department personnel. Information is sent in both English and Tamil and includes the name of the plantation the elephants are passing through, the precise field number, and any other useful landmarks that could be used to help avoid the elephants. The key contacts then spread the message in the area to those concerned. With the support of GUPSHUP Enterprises and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, a government-owned telecommunication company that has brought out a low-cost texting service, the scheme is proving very popular. Many people have asked to receive the messages so they can plan their evening activities around the movements of the elephants!
More recently, to add to the above measures, early warning lights are being installed in prominent locations across the plateau. These indicators have a built-in SIM card with Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) technology, such that they can be operated remotely with a mobile phone, by texting the individual number of the indicator. Once activated the red LED lights then flash at regular intervals to warn people of the presence of elephants, giving sufficient time to vacate the area safely.
This scheme has the support of the local plantations, and 15 lights have now been installed. The first to go up were three in the plantations of Parry-Agro Industries Limited, including the one pictured above. These have been followed with lights in the plantations of the Bombay Burma Trading Corporation Ltd (which has even gone one step further in support of the project and actually paid for the lights installed on their property) and TATA Coffee Ltd. More will soon be installed in the government-owned TANTEA plantations.
The impacts of all these measures are now being closely monitored, and the results will be disseminated through meetings with the local plantation management, Forest Department personnel, policy makers, and media. They are almost certainly already saving lives on the Valparai Plateau and offer the prospect of saving lives and encouraging the coexistence of people and elephants elsewhere in India and beyond wherever the two have been forced to live cheek by jowl.
written by Dan Bucknell on 22nd December 11
