The factors fuelling negative human-elephant interactions are actively studied across the country, in light of unabating human and elephant deaths resulting from conflict. But what underlying factors influence the adoption of mitigation measures by communities? A new study by the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS) offers some insights.
A survey of 507 rural households in Karnataka and Kerala found that the decision to deploy conflict mitigation strategies like raising fences and digging trenches was influenced by three drivers: rainfall, acreage of land owned, and distance to water bodies. Communities residing in areas with lower rainfall (between 1000–2333 mm), and smaller landholdings, were 68% more likely to adopt conflict mitigation methods, the survey said.
By contrast, households that were close to water bodies, with larger landholdings, and in areas with heavy rainfall (over 2334 mm) were only 7% more likely to adopt mitigation measures. “Proximity to water may be creating challenges, or complicating mitigation deployment,” the paper suggests, adding that in “relatively drier areas with moderate landholdings, there is greater motivation or necessity to actively invest in mitigation measures.”
Around 500 people are killed by elephants in India, and around 100 elephants are estimated to be killed due to electrocutions, poisoning, train accidents, and poaching, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF India). The CWS survey included households close to the Bandipur and Nagarahole Tiger Reserves in Karnataka, and the Palakkad and Mannarkkad Territorial Forest Divisions, both of which have high human and elephant densities per kilometer.
Apart from studying the deployment of mitigation measures among communities within these landscapes, the study also looked at the unintended consequences of such measures on elephants. Of 47 elephant deaths observed by the communities interviewed, more than 25% were attributed to solar fences in Karnataka and about 38% were attributed to electric fences in Kerala. Trenches were also observed to be the leading cause of injury to elephants in Karnataka.
“Preventative, non-lethal solutions that engage communities and safeguard elephants are needed. These can involve early warning systems, the use of regenerative farming and sustainable agricultural practices that uplift communities through economic viability, and enrich habitat connectivity for elephants,” said Simran Prasad, lead author of the study.
Banner image: An elephant in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka. Image by Yathin S Krishnappa via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0].
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