Project Reducing Man-Elephant Conflict Wins Laurels

Guwahati, Mar 24 : Against the backdrop of frequent man-elephant conflicts in Assam in recent times, a project aimed at securing man's peaceful coexistence with the animal has won international laurels.”

Named Assam Haathi Project, a collaborative conservation project launched by conservationists of the UK-based Chester Zoo and EcoSystems India working together to bring down cases of human-elephant conflict, it has been awarded the prestigious Darwin Initiative of the UK government.

The project manager, Nandita Hazarika, said that no elephant or human death had occurred in the affected villages ever since the project was initiated in 2004 in six affected villages with the help of more than 800 households, local civil society organizations and the forest department.

"We have succeeded in improving the livelihoods of people and safety of elephants in six villages and trained over 130 community members in Sonitpur and Goalpara districts of Assam," she said.

There are, however, many more villages in Assam which require help to cope with conflict incidents and there is much more to be done, Hazarika says.

Invasion of crop fields by elephants is not a new phenomenon, but with increasing rates of deforestation, elephants are forced to venture out for food and come into contact with farmers.

The project's founder and 'Chester Zoo Conservation' manager, Alexandra Zimmermann, pointed out that the situation resulted not only in loss of crops, but also destruction of property and loss of human lives leading in turn to the killing of elephants.

"Our project combines community outreach with good science to bring the conflict under control and protect the lives of people and elephants," he said.

A practical handbook, 'Living with Elephants' in English and Assamese has been produced by the project for affected people and it includes among other things tips on how to help villagers prevent elephant damage to their property and crops.

The handbook includes illustrated step-by-step guide on how to use chilies to deter elephants and explains how to build early warning systems like 'trip wires' and watchtowers.

"We use a variety of measures to protect crops and buildings from elephants. Some of these build on local ideas and knowledge while others are adaptations of other successful projects in southern Asia and Africa," Hazarika said.

The Assam Haathi Project has trained people from elephant-affected communities and these team of field researchers collect information on elephant locations and behavior locality, either through direct sightings, secondary evidence or tracks, or information from local villages, she said.

"This method gives us good information about the elephants and actively involves communities in the work of understanding and managing human-elephant conflict," Hazarika said.