Govt printed, then shelved its report on elephants: Count fell by 20% in 5 years

Besides signaling the dip successful the elephant numbers, the unreleased study identifies “mushrooming developmental projects” specified arsenic “unmitigated mining and linear infrastructure construction” arsenic important threats to the species.

When contacted, the ministry said this is an interim report. The last report, including the estimation of elephants successful the northeast, is expected by the extremity of June 2025, it said.

Elephants from Orissa reached the Bandhavgarh tiger reserve successful Madhya Pradesh successful 2018. The 2022-23 study says that “unmitigated mining and linear infrastructure construction” person pushed elephants to task into humanities but presently unoccupied areas, fuelling human-elephant conflicts. (Photo: Vikram Singh)

The elephant census is conducted each 5 years by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), an autonomous assemblage nether the ministry. The unreleased report, authored by 7 scientists and officials of the Dehradun-based WII and its nodal ministry successful New Delhi, is the first-ever “scientific” estimation of India’s elephant population.

In the Central Indian and Eastern Ghats clump which saw the biggest descent successful elephant population, Southern West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa saw the maximum nonaccomplishment — 84 per cent, 68 per cent and 54 per cent, respectively. These 3 regions saw a driblet of astir 1,700 elephants, of which up to 400 could person moved to different states successful the scenery specified arsenic Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

When contacted, the ministry said this is an interim report. The last report, including the estimation of elephants successful the northeast, is expected by the extremity of June 2025, it said.

The driblet successful the Western Ghats scenery could beryllium arsenic precocious arsenic 18 per cent, chiefly owed to a descent successful the elephant colonisation of Kerala by astir 2,900 (51 per cent) from the revised estimation of 2017. Only the bluish colonisation of Shivalik hills and Gangetic plains appeared unchangeable with a marginal 2 per cent drop.

Due to “extremely limited” superior information that delayed the modelling of elephant density successful the Northeastern states, the report’s figures for the Northeast are extrapolated from the erstwhile number successful 2017, erstwhile the region’s 10,139 elephants accounted for a 3rd of the country’s wide elephant colonisation of 29,964.

“Since determination was nary deadline successful show for the Northeast and due to the fact that we were already precocious for the five-year cycle, it was decided to people the study for the remainder of India and aboriginal adhd a measurement for the Northeast. But determination was a alteration of program astatine the past minute. Formally, we person been told to hold for the Northeast data,” said a wildlife idiosyncratic moving with the project.

The Indian Express reached retired to Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav connected wherefore the report, printed successful February, was not released. In response, the ministry said successful a statement, “An interim draught study was prepared by WII. However, it did not person a azygous methodology and results, particularly for the Northeastern states… (where) the estimation… is expected to beryllium completed by WII adjacent twelvemonth and a study is expected by the extremity of June 2025. The process involves caller methods including DNA profiling and camera traps which was not done by WII successful the Northeast portion owed to paucity of clip and required grooming and different logistics.”

On the important driblet successful the elephant numbers successful the east-central and confederate landscapes, the ministry said: “This is an ongoing workout and the advancement of the aforesaid is being reviewed regularly successful the Ministry astatine assorted levels. The ongoing workout uses a model that is utilized for the monitoring of Tigers, co-predators and prey… (which) is antithetic from the All India Synchronized Elephant Population Estimation 2017.

Celebrating Elephant Day connected August 12, Minister Yadav had tweeted: “The elephant colonisation successful India continues to beryllium stable.”

While Ramesh Pandey, manager of Project Elephant and 1 of the 7 authors of the unreleased report, said helium was distant connected training, WII’s Qamar Qureshi, the pb author, and his co-author WII manager Virendra Tiwari did not respond to requests for comments.

Claiming that adjacent the Northeast colonisation volition acquisition “a rationalisation by 20-25%” erstwhile modelled properly, a elder elephant researcher described arsenic “illogical” the ministry’s “reluctance” to judge the numbers for the remainder of India, which, helium said, should not beryllium compared with the figures thrown up by past counts.

“Until 2017, we relied connected either nonstop (head) number oregon indirect (dung) number of elephants. This time, we are attempting statistical modelling based connected mark-recapture, arsenic we person already done for tigers and leopards, to get reliable baseline information for elephants. So the spread successful numbers doesn’t needfully mean we mislaid that galore elephants successful conscionable 4 to 5 years. It’s a world cheque that elephants person not been doing good for rather immoderate time,” helium explained.

The study urged aboriginal strategies to beryllium aligned with the goals of strengthening corridors and connectivity, restoring habitat, enhancing protection, mitigating developmental projects, and ensuring the enactment of section communities for elephant conservation.

Specifically, the study highlighted the fragmentation of the east-central scenery by “unmitigated mining and linear infrastructure construction” which “has prompted long-ranging elephants to task into humanities range, but presently unoccupied areas,” fuelling human-elephant conflicts. Poaching, railway collisions, and electrocution by powerfulness lines are the different threats identified successful this landscape.

The study besides warned that the once-contiguous elephant colonisation successful the Western Ghats — confederate Maharashtra to Kerala — is “rapidly disconnecting owed to changing onshore use, including expanding commercialized plantations (coffee and tea), farmland fencing, quality encroachment and mushrooming developmental projects.”

Even the comparatively unchangeable Shivalik-Terai colonisation successful Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, the study noted, “confronts important threats… from encroachments, wood clearing, monoculture, and invasive species” arsenic good arsenic intensified agriculture and linear infrastructure.

In the Northeast, the study recovered that the elephant populations are scattered successful a mosaic dominated by quality habitations, beverage plantations, mines, lipid refineries and linear infrastructure, making their movements and lives precarious. The study besides identified poaching for ivory arsenic a large menace successful this landscape.

Hinting astatine the lack of robust information successful the Northeast, the study called for a “focused estimation exercise… to comprehensively measure occupancy and abundance to devise circumstantial conservation actions.”

A wildlife idiosyncratic based successful Assam pointed retired that the elephant faces large challenges extracurricular “a fewer islands” of safety. “Often, these pockets are tiger reserves. Kaziranga and present Manas, for example, successful Assam. Nagarhole and Bandipur successful Karnataka, oregon Corbett successful Uttarakhand. But specified pockets cannot prolong a taxon that roam agelong distances,” helium said.