Home ministry clears plan to set up elephant corridors on Indo-Bangla border

Live Mint , Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Correspondent : Mayank Aggarwal
New Delhi: The home ministry has given its nod to the government entering into an agreement with Bangladesh for the creation of special corridors between the two countries for the trans-border movement of wild elephants.

It is believed that the pact will help minimize human-elephant conflict and control poaching of the pachyderms along the border.

“India has had long discussions with Bangladeshi authorities over trans-boundary conservation of elephants. They too support the idea and we are just waiting for a final go-ahead from their authorities. The Border Security Force, which guards India’s border with Bangladesh, has already favoured the plan. Home ministry too has now given a green signal,” said a senior environment ministry official, who did not want to be identified.

The environment ministry began talks with Bangladesh on the issue in August. It hopes to finalize the agreement with Bangladesh by 2016 end and then ink a similar agreement with Nepal.

“As per the plan, special corridors will be created on the India-Bangladesh border for free movement of elephants. These corridors will be spread across the border and in areas that have high populations of elephants,” the environment ministry official said.

India and Bangladesh share a nearly 4,000km-long border. While there are around 3,000 elephants on the Indian side, the neighbouring country has around 200.

Illegal immigration, infiltration by terrorists and smuggling have been some of the major concerns of Indian security forces along the India-Bangladesh border.

A home ministry letter to the environment ministry, which was accessed by Mint, said while creating corridors for movement of elephants along the border, issues related to security need to be addressed.

“The possibility of militants using these corridors cannot be ruled out. From a security point of view, creation of such corridors will require extensive preparation,” the letter said, outlining several measures to address security concerns.

It suggested creation of a surveillance mechanism to keep tabs on suspicious movements through the designated corridors, a forest department check-post and a mass awareness programme in border villages to sensitise residents on security concerns.

The home ministry also discouraged movement of forest officials from either side across the border while they are tracking movement of elephants.

The estimated global population of the Asian elephant, an endangered species, is about 41,000-52,000. Of that, around 29,300-30,700 elephants are in India alone, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

India started Project Elephant in 1992 to protect the Asian elephant, its habitat and corridors and address man-elephant conflict. In 2010, the central government declared the elephant a national heritage to scale up measures for its protection.

Despite that every year 400 people and 100 elephants lose their lives because of human-elephant conflict, besides economic losses sustained by farmers. There are 26 elephant reserves across India at present, covering about 60,000 sq. km. But experts say man-elephant conflict has been increasing mainly because of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation eating into the animal’s habitat.

“It’s a good step. With human-elephant conflict increasing, such steps can lead to better conservation of elephants. For instance, if you look at the Meghalaya-Bangladesh border, the human-elephant conflict has gone up dramatically. The entire elephant movement has been hindered due to fencing. If some gaps are allowed, it will facilitate the movement of elephants and help conservation,” said Sandeep Kumar Tiwari, deputy director at Wildlife Trust of India, a non-governmental organization working on animal conservation.

The environment ministry has been taking a range of measures to control human-elephant conflict. In May 2015, a panel was set up to study elephant dispersal and migration, review elephant corridors and consider zoning of elephant corridors (bit.ly/1Up4Am0).

 
SOURCE : http://www.livemint.com/Politics/8po3kpPHZivkPxiD5FAHuO/Home-ministry-clears-plan-to-set-up-elephant-corridors-on-In.html
 


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