Elephant Reserves in India 2024, State wise List, Objectives

Elephant Reserves in India: In 1992, the Indian government initiated Project Elephant as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Its primary objectives encompass the protection of elephants, preservation of their habitats and migratory corridors, resolution of human-elephant conflicts, and the welfare of elephants in captivity. For more details, candidates are advised to go through the article thoroughly.

Elephant Reserves in India 2024

Elephants hold a pivotal role in their ecosystems as keystone species. Tragically, they face the imminent threat of extinction due to illegal poaching driven by the relentless demand for ivory, tusks, and other body parts. India currently shelters approximately 28,000 elephants, with Karnataka serving as home to roughly 25% of this population.

Across the globe, three distinct species of elephants exist Asian elephants, African forest elephants, and African bush elephants. Within the Asian elephant category, the subspecies include the Indian, Sumatran, and Sri Lankan elephants. The Indian subspecies boasts the broadest range and constitutes most of the remaining Asian elephant population worldwide. India is the primary sanctuary for these magnificent creatures, harbouring an estimated 27,312 elephants, which equates to nearly 55% of the global population, as confirmed by the 2017 census.

These elephants find refuge in India’s 32 designated elephant reserves, dispersed across ten distinct landscapes and encompassing a vast expanse of 65,270 square kilometers of forested terrain spanning northeast, central, northwest, and south India.

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Elephant Reserves in India Overview

However, it’s crucial to recognise that elephant reserves in India, unless situated within pre-existing protected Reserve Forests or the Protected Area network, serve a multifaceted purpose. They aren’t legally confined to the sole preservation of elephants. The Indian elephant’s daily routine revolves heavily around feeding, as they are renowned herbivores. Along their nomadic journey, they play an inadvertent yet vital role in seed dispersal through their copious excrement.

Indian elephants have a diverse palate, encompassing tree bark, roots, leaves, small branches, grasses, and various plants. They occasionally indulge in crops such as rice, sugarcane, and bananas when available. Their path often leads them closer to freshwater sources, as they must drink daily to meet their hydration needs.

Elephant Reserves in India Objectives

1. Efforts to advance and advocate for the scientific and systematic management of elephant conservation.
2. Counteract the illegal ivory trade while ensuring stringent safeguards against hunters and poachers threatening these magnificent creatures.
3. Strategies to eliminate unnatural causes of elephant mortality within India.
4. Champion the restoration of ecological balance within the elephants’ natural habitats and their migratory routes.
5. Address the mounting conflicts between human settlements and elephant territories through proactive measures.
6. Mitigate the impacts of domestic livestock grazing and human activities in critical elephant habitats.
7. Promote scientific inquiry into elephant conservation issues and foster public awareness on these crucial matters.
8. Facilitate access to veterinary care to ensure the well-being and proper breeding of domesticated elephants, all while promoting eco-development tailored to their needs.

List of Elephant Reserves in India

As officially designated by the government, India boasts approximately 32 elephant reserves. The pioneering sanctuary for these majestic creatures was the Singhbhum Elephant Reserve in Jharkhand. Here’s a comprehensive list of these vital Elephant Reserves in India.

Project Elephant 

Launched in February 1992, Project Elephant is a Central Government-backed initiative that extends support to states harbouring wild elephant populations. This comprehensive plan aims to conserve and manage elephants while prioritising the preservation of their habitats and migratory corridors.

To ensure the survival of these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat, Project Elephant diligently safeguards elephant routes and ecosystems. Currently, 16 states and union territories, including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, are actively involved in this elephant conservation endeavour.

The union government provides technical guidance and financial support to these states for the successful execution of Project Elephant. This support encompasses crucial activities such as population monitoring and the training of field authorities to mitigate and prevent human-elephant conflicts.

Three core objectives underpin the initiative:

1. Safeguarding elephants, their habitats, and elephant corridors to ensure the well-being of domesticated elephants.
2. Mitigating and preventing conflicts between humans and elephants to enhance coexistence.
3. Promoting the welfare of elephants in captivity.

First Elephant Reserve in India

The inception of the Singhbhum Elephant Reserve in Jharkhand marked the beginning of India’s journey into establishing Elephant Reserves. The most recent addition is the Terai Elephant Reserve (TER) at Dudhwa-Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh. 

This new reserve, sprawling across an expansive 3,049 square kilometers, will now stand as India’s 33rd Elephant Reserve—a comprehensive conservation entity encompassing protected areas, forest regions, and vital corridors, all dedicated to safeguarding the nation’s wild elephant populations.

MIKE Programme for Project Elephant

Following adopting a CITES resolution during the Conference of Parties, the Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) program was inaugurated in South Asia in 2003. MIKE’s primary objective was to furnish essential information to the countries within the elephant’s range to enable effective management of their elephant populations and ensure their long-term well-being.

The MIKE program operates with the following overarching goals:

1. Monitoring the extent and trends of illicit poaching activities and facilitating transformative measures for the protection of elephants.
2. Identifying the underlying reasons for these shifts in patterns and assessing the ramifications of decisions made by CITES conference parties.

Elephant Task Force

Responding to the escalating crisis marked by widespread elephant killings as acts of vengeance and escalating human-elephant conflicts, the government established the Elephant Task Force, mirroring the approach taken with the Tiger Task Force. The paramount objective of this Elephant Task Force was to present pragmatic and viable solutions for the enduring preservation of elephants.

India is home to a significant population of wild elephants, ranging between 25,000 to 29,000 individuals. However, the situation is precarious for male elephants, with only approximately 1,200 tuskers remaining, rendering them as endangered as tigers. The perils faced by Asian elephants encompass habitat degradation, mounting human-elephant conflicts, and the illicit ivory trade. In India, which harbors approximately 50% of the global Asian elephant population, this challenge looms particularly grave.

Project Elephant, regarded by many conservationists as a triumph, has succeeded in maintaining a consistent and sustainable elephant population in India. It stands as a bulwark against the threats that jeopardize the survival of these majestic creatures.

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Campaign Haathi Mere Saathi 

In collaboration with the Wildlife Trust of India, the Ministry of Environment and Forests unveiled the “Hathi Mere Sathi” campaign. This initiative aimed to foster public awareness and cultivate harmonious relationships between elephants and local communities. “Haathi Mere Saathi” centered its efforts on the welfare, conservation, and protection of India’s precious elephant population.

The campaign made its debut in Delhi on May 24th, 2011, coinciding with the Elephant-8 ministerial meetings. The participating nations in the Elephant-8 ministerial meetings included Kenya, Sri Lanka, Botswana, the Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Indonesia, Thailand, and India, collectively dedicated to the cause of elephants’ well-being.

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