Bhupender Yadav says India with largest population of wild Asian elephants is the mainstay for long term conservation
Yadav says active participation with local communities is the key in steering
elephant conservation to new heights.
Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav has emphasised on mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in India’s economic development to ensure ecological wellbeing and sustainability. Addressing the gathering on the occasion of World elephant day in Bhubaneswar today he said with the largest population of wild Asian elephants, India is the mainstay for long-term conservation of the species. He insisted that active participation with local communities is the key in steering elephant conservation to new heights. Yadav said the Ministry is committed to reconciling human welfare and elephant conservation.
The Minister highlighted the concerted efforts taken by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Ministry of Railways, the State Forest Departments, and the National Institutions like the Wildlife Institute of India to address the critical issue of Railway-related elephant collisions. As part of these efforts, about 110 critical stretches across the Railway network in the country that pass through elephant habitats have been identified. Yadav said in these critical stretches, multipronged strategies are planned to minimize Railway-related elephant collisions. He said in these locations measures such as building underpasses, clearing vegetation along the tracks to increase visibility for the loco pilots to avoid collisions, provisioning ramps, and others will also be taken up. The Minister mentioned that the Ministry of Railways is contemplating to replicate the technology based intrusion detection system along the tracks in Odisha and other States in the country.
Yadav highlighted the novel initiative taken by the
Ministry to map genotype of all captive elephants in the country to prevent
illegal trafficking of elephants.
The Minister said that for the first time ever, the Ministry has embarked on carrying out management effectiveness and evaluation of the Elephant Reserves across the country. He said four elephant reserves across the four elephant bearing regions of the country have been identified for piloting the process of management effectiveness evaluation for the Elephant Reserves. The Minister said this will be a major step forward in standardizing and propagating best practices among the Elephant Reserves. He further informed that the Elephant Reserve network in the country increased from 76,508 km2 to 80,777 km2 comprising of 33 Elephant Reserves during the last two years.
Following the keynote address, the Yadav interacted with the Gaj Saathi and
other frontline staff who are in the forefront of managing human – elephant
conflict.
As part of the world elephant day celebrations, the
Minister released the report on the Elephant Corridors of India prepared by the
Project Elephant. The report is an outcome of ground-validation of all the identified
elephant corridors in India in coordination with the State Forest Departments
of the elephant range states.
The report
involves nearly two years of concerted efforts. The report comprises of details
pertaining to 150 elephant corridors across India with corresponding maps. The
report is intended to serve as an important reference manual for the elephant
corridors of India. The report would help the State Governments in taking
appropriate measures to manage and protect these corridors for ensuring
unhindered movement of elephants to avoid negative interactions with local
people. Yadav also released the second version of the Atlas of Elephant
Reserves of India, which is intended to provide basic information on all the 33
Elephant Reserves of India.
The Minister conferred the Gaj Gaurav awards to the
awardees for their exemplary contributions in the field of elephant
conservation and management. During the event, the prestigious Gaj Gaurav
awards were conferred to:
(1) Alefnagar
Joint Forest Management Committee, West Bengal
(2) Late Bishwarrajan
Panigrahi, (ex) protection squad in the Dhenkanal range of Odisha for his
exemplary services
(3) Pitambara
Gouda, watcher, elephant squad of Rayagada Forest Division in Koraput circle of
Odisha
(4) Deepak
Sharma, Forest Guard, Assistant Gaj Yatra Team, Mahasamund Forest Division,
Chhattisgarh, and
(5) Dr Mirza
Vaseem, veterinary officer, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka.
The occasion was graced by Ashwini Kumar Choubey,
Minister of State, Government of India and Pradip Kumar Amat, Minister,
FE and CC, Government of Odisha and senior officials from the MoEFCC including
the Director General of Forests and Special Secretary Chandra Prakash Goyal and
Additional Director General (PT & E) and Member Secretary (NTCA) Dr Satya
Prakash Yadav were present on the occasion. The Additional Chief Secretary, FE
& CC, Government of Odisha Satyabrata Sahu and the Chief Wildlife Warden of
Odisha Sushil Kumar Popli and senior officials from the State Forest Department
along with forest officials including the Chief Wildlife Wardens from different
elephant range states, renowned elephant experts, and representatives from
local communities were also present during the event.
The 19th Steering Committee Meeting of the Project Elephant under the Chairmanship of Yadav was held after the world elephant day celebrations during which the current issues facing elephant conservation and management were deliberated at length.
Every year 12th August is celebrated as the World Elephant Day across the
globe to reaffirm mankind’s collective pledge in conserving one of the most
iconic species in the planet. In India, elephants are regarded as the National
Heritage animals and are deeply ingrained in our culture.