Stakeholders meet on regional action plan for elephant conservation in Northeast

Guwahati, Sep 12 (IANS) A stakeholders' consultation on the regional action plan for elephant conservation in the Northeast was held on Friday at the Kohora Convention Centre in Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR), India’s seventh UNESCO World Heritage Site.

KNPTR Director Sonali Ghosh said that the session was held in the presence of the MoEFCC (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) committee led by B.S. Bonal, retired Indian Forest Service officer.

The committe visited the KNPTR from September 9–12.

Northeast India is home to 13 important elephant reserves that provide critical habitats for the region's wild elephants and support their conservation on a landscape scale.

Ghosh said that major elephant reserves in the Northeast include Kameng and South Arunachal elephant reserves in Arunachal Pradesh; Sonitpur, Dihing-Patkai, Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong, Dhansiri-Lungding and Chirang-Ripu elephant reserves in Assam; Intanki and Singphan elephant reserves in Nagaland; and Garo Hills and Khasi-hills elephant reserves in Meghalaya.

These reserves are interconnected by numerous elephant corridors that allow for seasonal and long-distance migration, helping maintain genetic diversity and reduce human-elephant conflict across forested landscapes, the KNPTR Director said.

She said: “The identification, protection, and restoration of these corridors remain vital for the survival of elephants in the region, as they enable free movement between fragmented habitats in the face of infrastructural development and habitat fragmentation.”

According to the senior IFS officer, the Friday’s consultation also brought together a diverse group of participants, including researchers, representatives of Eco-Development Committees (EDC), Village Defence Parties (VDP), and local community members.

The deliberations focused on identifying practical strategies to address the challenges of elephant conservation in the region, with particular attention to human-elephant conflict, habitat connectivity, and the role of community participation.

According to Ghosh the Regional Action Plan for Elephants by the MoEFCC centers on protecting wild elephant populations, securing their habitats and corridors, and mitigating human-elephant conflict (HEC) through coordinated management, community participation, and anti-poaching efforts.

Retired IFS officer M.K. Yadava, and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Assam, Vinay Gupta, and other experts working in elephant conservation attended the Friday’s meeting.

The KNPTR, India's seventh UNESCO World Heritage site, comprises three forest divisions -- the Eastern Assam Wildlife Division, Bokakhat; the Bishwanath Wildlife Division, Biswanath Chariali; and the Nagaon Wildlife Division, Nagaon.

Home to a remarkable population of the 'Big Five', the famed park comprises 2,613 Greater One-horned Rhinoceroses as of the 2022 census, 104 Bengal Tigers (as of 2022), 1,228 Asian Elephants in 2024, 2,565 Wild Water Buffaloes in 2022, and 1,129 Eastern Swamp Deer also recorded in 2022.

--IANS

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