Chhattisgarh has emerged as a brand new frontier in Asian elephant conservation, internet hosting a metapopulation of 250-300 elephants which were increasing their vary from neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand because the yr 2000. Whereas this development indicators a doable restoration of elephant habitats in central India, it has additionally led to more and more frequent, and typically harmful, contact with native communities.

In response to the Ministry of Setting, Forest and Local weather Change, Chhattisgarh reported 303 human deaths from elephant-related incidents between 2019 and 2024, about 15% of the nationwide complete, regardless that the state is house to only one% of India’s elephants. The Chhattisgarh Forest and Local weather Change Division has additionally recorded over 80 elephant deaths prior to now six years, as of 2024.

A collaborative six-year research by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Chhattisgarh Forest Division now presents deeper perception into this difficulty. “This area has considerably increased human-elephant battle in comparison with others in India. Human deaths are additionally alarmingly excessive regardless of the comparatively low elephant inhabitants,” says Lakshminarayanan Natarajan from the Elephant Cell, WII, and lead writer of the research.

The place forests meet fields

To know elephant-human interactions and their affect on this area, the researchers centered on northern Chhattisgarh, a panorama of sal forests and wealthy mineral reserves. The area is predominantly rural. Whereas rice is the principle crop, farmers additionally domesticate seasonal greens, pulses, maize, wheat, and sugarcane. In recent times, mining exercise has additionally been steadily increasing.

The research assessed landscape-level crop loss brought on by elephant incursions throughout 10 forest divisions of the state: Surguja, Surajpur, Balrampur, Jashpur, Manendragarh, and Koriya below the Surguja Forest Circle, and Katghora, Korba, Raigarh, and Dharamjaigarh below the Bilaspur Forest Circle. This space contains 4 protected zones: Guru Ghasidas Nationwide Park and the Tamor Pingla, Semarsot, and Badhalkhol Wildlife Sanctuaries.

Researchers additionally performed a fine-scale evaluation of crop losses in a high-conflict hotspot — a 1,200-square-kilometre stretch throughout the intersecting borders of Surguja, Surajpur, and Balrampur forest divisions within the Surguja Circle. “The largest problem was mobility, as elephant ranges listed below are huge. However we had sturdy area help. It was a collaborative effort, involving trackers from South India, native tribal scouts, and the Forest Division,” says Natarajan.

Crop harm was studied at two ranges. First, they mapped common crop loss throughout 1,126 bigger 4 sq. km blocks utilizing Forest Division data. Smaller losses, typically unreported, have been assumed to comply with comparable patterns. Then, within the high-conflict hotspot, a educated staff tracked crop harm in additional element throughout one sq. km areas between February 2019 and February 2020. They used high-resolution satellite tv for pc maps offered by India’s Nationwide Distant Sensing Centre to check elements like forest cowl, close by roads, villages, and farmland. Statistical instruments then helped them perceive what influenced crop loss most, together with whether or not harm was brought on by lone elephants or herds.

“Mapping harm throughout the settlements was simple utilizing Forest Division data and GIS platforms. However we additionally studied fine-scale patterns akin to what crops they [elephants] most well-liked, how they accessed fields, timing of the incursion and the way they broke fences. This required day by day area visits, dung evaluation, and crop enumeration,” says Natarajan.

What the research discovered

Over 1,400 villages reported crop harm, with nearly all of losses in areas elephants frequented. In an in depth one-year research within the Surguja circle, 363 crop-raiding incidents have been recorded, affecting 12.4 hectares (0.12 sq km), largely sugarcane, rice, maize, and wheat. It was additionally discovered that crop losses brought on by elephant teams have been increased than losses brought on by solitary elephants.

Crop raids have been extra widespread in areas with dense forests or scattered forest patches, which elephants used as daytime refuges earlier than coming into fields at night time. Fields close to roads skilled much less harm, probably resulting from human exercise, patrolling, or early warning methods.

One other important discovering was that each female and male elephants have been concerned in crop raiding. Sometimes, lone males take these dangers, whereas herds with females and calves follow safer zones. However right here, even matriarch-led teams have been discovered foraging in farmland. “As a result of the forests listed below are interspersed with human settlements, the interplay frequency could be very excessive. Elephant weight loss plan is closely influenced by crop availability, they usually eat many cultivated crops,” Natarajan explains.

Habitat or hazard?

What makes Chhattisgarh’s elephants significantly attention-grabbing is that they’re a part of a naturally increasing metapopulation. When the area was nonetheless a part of undivided Madhya Pradesh, elephants would often cross by however by no means settled completely. “That’s possible as a result of too few elephants arrived, and the Madhya Pradesh authorities didn’t help their institution,” says Natarajan.

After the state was bifurcated, Chhattisgarh permitted elephant settlement. Consequently, as habitats in neighbouring states grew to become saturated, elephants started recolonising elements of their historic vary right here. “These are areas they as soon as inhabited earlier than going domestically extinct within the Twenties,” says Natarajan. However now, the elephant habitats more and more overlap with mining zones, a key driver of large-scale habitat loss. “The forests aren’t supreme, and they’re already extremely fragmented, making battle virtually inevitable,” he provides.

GPS collar knowledge from 10 elephants tracked by the WII present that herds on this area have huge house ranges, averaging about 3,000 sq km. However with forests fragmented, they have to journey farther for meals and shelter, elevating the probability of human encounters. “In established ranges, each elephants and folks study one another’s patterns. In new areas, unpredictability is excessive and elephants are pressured, which may set off erratic behaviour and heighten battle danger,” Natarajan provides.

India loses round 500 folks every year to elephant-related incidents. Elephants additionally undergo, killed by electrocution, poisoning, or revenge assaults. “Crop loss might be managed, however human fatalities are a deeper, ethical disaster. Our analysis presents pathways to cut back that,” he continues.

Native classes, regional relevance

As Chhattisgarh navigates the dual imperatives of conserving its returning giants and defending rural livelihoods, its expertise may assist form India’s broader response to human-elephant battle.

Grassroots teams like Hathimitra Dal (Associates of Elephants) already play a vital position, working with forest officers to trace elephant actions and alert villages by loudspeakers and WhatsApp alerts. The research recommends scaling up these community-led efforts by integrating real-time GPS knowledge from collared elephants, enabling extra correct and domestically tailor-made early warning methods.

The researchers additionally name for smarter land-use methods. Selling massive, contiguous forests, particularly in protected areas like Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary and Guru Ghasidas Nationwide Park, can scale back stress on agricultural land. Conversely, enhancing habitat in small forest patches may backfire by drawing elephants nearer to farms. “The chance lies in figuring out viable forest complexes — massive, minimally disturbed areas the place elephants can thrive,” says Natarajan.

Whereas crop switching is commonly prompt, the research warns that it’s not a easy repair. Sugarcane, for instance, although extremely engaging to elephants, is a crucial earnings supply for a lot of farmers within the area. “We all know elephants love sugarcane, however what else can we develop that brings the identical cash? It’s not like we will feed our households with much less earnings simply to remain secure,” says Ramprasad, a farmer in Surajpur.

As a substitute, the staff recommends sensible measures akin to moveable limitations fences in high-damage, fragmented forest areas the place everlasting limitations aren’t possible. “Well timed compensation, inclusion of native information, and long-term funding in habitat connectivity are additionally essential for constructing a extra sustainable coexistence technique, for each elephants and folks,” Natarajan concludes.

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Learn extra: A border village learns to reside with migratory elephants

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Banner picture: Consultant picture of elephant herd by Nissan Sharma through Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).