Guwahati, Dec. 24: The ministry of environment and forests is working out a process to provide legal status to elephant reserves and corridors, which will help the Northeast most, as it not only has the largest presence of elephant corridors but has suffered a lot from habitat destruction.
The guidance document for taking up non-forestry activities in wildlife habitats, issued by the ministry on Wednesday, says unless there is a clear legal delineation of elephant habitats and corridors, the implementation of the guidelines regarding elephant reserves and corridors becomes very difficult and therefore a process will have to be worked out by which these habitats acquire legal status.
“Technical and financial assistance is provided by the Centre for conservation of elephants in the designated elephant habitats in the country. But at present such habitats are not legal entities. Though many existing ones are part of the protected areas, a proposal for enabling notification of such important habitats as elephant reserves under appropriate legal provisions is also under consideration of the government in the ministry of environment and forests,” it said.
“It is expected that once the legal provisions for declaration of elephant reserves is in place, such areas will also be included in the regulatory regime under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as proper legal entities,” the document stated.
The Northeast has 58 corridors, comprising 35 per cent of the country. The elephant population ranges between 9,305 and 9,355 in the region.
“The process needs to be completed at the earliest, otherwise the loss to elephant corridors will continue. Already there has been a huge loss in the Northeast,” Bibhuti Lahkar, a grassland specialist with Aaranyak, told The Telegraph.
Loss of elephant habitat has resulted in man-elephant conflict, resulting in loss of property and deaths on both sides. Sonitpur district is one of the worst affected as there has been largescale destruction.
The issue was raised at the meeting of the National Board for Wildlife on September 5, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, where it was proposed that key corridors and elephant reserves be brought under the purview and scrutiny of the standing committee, NBWL. One of the members who raised the issue said notification of wildlife corridors is expected to give legal recognition/sanctity to wildlife passages without impinging on the rights of communities.
A source said it is difficult to tell when actually the process can be completed, as it will be a lengthy one.
Hiten Baishya, who works with North Bank Landscape Programme of the WWF, said majority of elephant corridors in the region are under threat or almost non-existent because of human habitation and agrarian activities. Citing an instance, he said the Tipi elephant corridor in Arunachal Pradesh is practically “non-existent” as no big herd of elephants has passed lately, and similarly, the Dezling elephant corridor is under “threat”.
The WWF is taking up a status on elephant corridors in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh soon. Tipi elephant corridor is the major link between Nameri National Park, Pakke wildlife sanctuary and Sonai Rupai wildlife sanctuary and other large elephant and tiger habitats on the north bank.
“The Tipi area is regarded as an important corridor for the movement of Asian elephants and other wild animals. From the perspective of conservation, it is very essential to maintain this corridor for elephant movement. Unless a proper land use plan is implemented, this vital wildlife corridor is soon going to be history, resulting in fragmentation of one of the best elephant habitats in the globe,” a Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund report on maintaining and restoring habitat connectivity and reduce human-animal conflict in North Bank landscape said.
The WWF had worked on the Tipi corridor.
