Rhino and elephant conservation efforts

(MainsGS3: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.)

Context: 

• For conservation of animals large land acquisition is not required, rather it is the small, strategic pieces of land that are crucial.

Rhino conservation:

• The population of the one-horned rhino was about a dozen when Kaziranga became a protected area in 1905. 
• According to the State of Rhino Report 2022, the poor-sighted herbivore’s number in Kaziranga is an estimated 2,613, more than 65% of its total population of 4,014 across 11 habitats in India and Nepal and a decade ago, the rhino’s population in these domains was 2,454. 
• A section of conservationists say the focus is too much on the rhino but agree this has made other animals in its domains a beneficiary. 

Anti-poaching measures:

• The strengthening of the anti-poaching mechanism in India and Nepal with more manpower, capacity-building of frontline staff and equipping forest guards with better fighting gears have helped protect the rhino. 
• The sentiments of local people attached to the rhino have also been a factor in the sharp drop in the number of rhinos killed, from 54 in 2013 and 2014 to one each in 2021 and 2022. 
• While poaching remains a major threat to rhinos, alien invasive plant species grabbing key grassland habitats in rhino-bearing areas in the past decade has emerged as a bigger threat to the animal in India and Nepal.

About Elephant conservation:

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched Project Elephant in 1992 to ensure the long-term survival of elephants in their natural habitats. 
• The number of elephant reserves in India is 32 with the latest addition being the Agasthyamalai Elephant Reserve in 2022. 
• Elephant corridors and linear narrow habitat linkages which allow elephants to move between secure habitats are crucial for conservation. 
• So far, about 101 elephant corridors have been identified in the country which need to be secured for conservation of elephants.

Man animal conflict:

• India is home to nearly 60% Asian elephants and the last count of the species in 2017 had put the number at 29,964. 
• While the number of elephants in India has increased in the past few years, the species is listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List of threatened species and Schedule I of The Wildlife Protection Act.
• While incidents of poaching for ivory have come down, the human-elephant conflict has been increasing as on average, about 500 humans and 100 elephants are killed every year across the country in such confrontations.
• The fragmentation of elephant habitats and the construction of linear (railways and roads) and power infrastructure have led to many elephant deaths and further the change in land use, particularly bringing erstwhile forested areas under agriculture, has aggravated the conflict.

Conclusion:

• Eviction is not the answer, thus rather than relocating entire villages, we need to restore the corridors and ask people to avoid using critical [elephant] migratory routes as conservation is an achievement only if local communities are also involved in the process.