Now Reading: South India gets Rs 999.87 crore plan to manage human-elephant conflict
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South India gets Rs 999.87 crore plan to manage human-elephant conflict
South India gets Rs 999.87 crore plan to manage human-elephant conflict
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been brought under a five-year regional action plan with a proposed outlay of Rs 999.87 crore to address human-elephant conflict through habitat protection, safer…
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been brought under a five-year regional action plan with a proposed outlay of Rs 999.87 crore to address human-elephant conflict through habitat protection, safer infrastructure and early warning systems. The plan, prepared by the Project Elephant Division and the Wildlife Institute of India, was unveiled in Visakhapatnam on World Elephant Day.
Between 2019-20 and 2023-24, 603 people died in elephant-related incidents across the four states, with Tamil Nadu recording the highest toll at 242. In the same period, 190 elephants died, 72 of them in Karnataka. The plan uses a Composite Conflict-Risk Index to allocate funds, with Karnataka receiving the largest share at 38 per cent.
The plan proposes corridor protection, wildlife-friendly structures like overpasses and underpasses, and wider use of GPS telemetry, drones and AI-assisted warning systems. Community-level committees will also be set up to involve people living along forest boundaries.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The plan follows a landscape-level approach that the Wildlife Institute of India first advocated in its 2020 national elephant corridor report, which identified 101 corridors across the country. The four states together hold nearly 80 per cent of India's estimated 27,000 wild elephants, according to the 2023 elephant census. The proposed Rs 999.87 crore is modest compared with the annual economic losses from crop damage, property destruction and human deaths, which the environment ministry has previously estimated at over Rs 500 crore per year in these states alone. The next step is state-level implementation: each state must now draw up a detailed project report and secure the ministry's approval before funds are released.
Source: newindianexpress.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
