Securing the Future for Elephants in India - Ministry of Environment ...

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The Chief Wildlife Wardens of the elephant range states, representatives from four eminent national and four regional conservation NGOs, eminent academicians from ecology, social science, economics and land use planning will also be co-opted. Two elected representatives (MPs from the Lok Sabha) should also be part of such a council. Adequate care should be taken to ensure that members of Scheduled Castes and Tribes and women are provided due representation within the above categories. The Governing Council may have not more than 15 members. The Minister of Environment and Forests will chair the council. In order to facilitate coordination, it will help that the Secretary, NTCA, Secretary, Central Zoo Authority (CZA) and the head of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau can be special invitees to the Governing Council of the NECA. Further, the Secretary, NECA should be a special invitee on the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). It is also recommended to have state level councils to formulate state level policies and coordinate efforts. The council can be chaired by the Forest Minister of the state and the member secretary can be the Chief Wildlife Warden, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF level) or Head of Forest Force (HOFF) could also be an invitee. Eminent elephant conservationists, respected academics and NGOs must form part of the society at all levels. The same guidelines for NECA should apply at the state level. Administrative structure at the Union level It is recognised that the new structure must be greatly strengthened at the Centre and a one-person operation not be allowed to continue. It is recommended that an 11 member secretariat be set up, consisting of: a. The Director: The Inspector General Forests (IGF) is to be upgraded to Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) level. An eminent conservationist can also be considered for this post. This post can be called Member Secretary/Director NECA. b. Regional Joint Director four (one for each region) members. c. Research Officer/Scientist “C” (or other appropriate level) one post. d) Researchers (Junior Research Fellow Conservation, Senior Research 19
Fellow veterinarian) two members. e) Account Officer post one. f) Data Operator post one. g) Secretary post one. Governance at the state level This should be similar to the proposed module at the Union level. Elephant Reserves: Elephant Reserves should be the basic management unit for elephant conservation in the country. The Task Force recommends that the limits of an Elephant Reserve should lie within state boundaries. If inter state reserves exist, these boundaries need to be aligned. A list of 32 Elephant Reserves to be continued with, are given as Appendix III. The Task Force recognizes that within Elephant Reserves, there are areas designated as, National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries or other protected area categories. These should be continued with. If state governments feel that other critical elephant habitats and corridors exist that should come under the PA network, then community and conservation reserves should be considered. These categories of PA may be considered and can be more inclusive while fulfilling conservation objectives. The entire Elephant Reserve should also be brought under Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) under the Environment Protection Act (EPA). The categorization of different parts of the reserve under the expandable ESA should be done under the aegis of the Reserve Management Committee overseen by NECA. Activities that are proposed to be checked or permitted under very strict ecological safety standards pertain to infrastructure, mining and large scale development. Local livelihood activities such as, but not limited to, cultivation, herding, fishing outside the PA’s may continue subject to existing norms. The Task Force is convinced that local people resident in the reserve area should be partners and allies for conservation and not be treated as adversaries. The idea of the proposal for ESA status is cognizant of the continuing presence 20
Page 2 and 3: Gajah Securing the Future for Eleph
Page 4 and 5: Public hearings were organized at t
Page 6 and 7: Contents Acknowledgements i Table o
Page 8 and 9: Executive Summary Securing a future
Page 10 and 11: of land use. While securing viable
Page 12 and 13: Gajah is a symbol of a search for b
Page 14 and 15: PROPOSED STRUCTURE OF ELEPHANT CONS
Page 16 and 17: CHAPTER 1 Introduction Securing the
Page 18 and 19: But we can succeed. Indeed we must:
Page 20 and 21: From the outset, the objective was
Page 22 and 23: CHAPTER 2 Establishing a better gov
Page 24 and 25: ise and is currently at an all time
Page 28 and 29: of large numbers of residents in th
Page 30 and 31: Of these ten Elephant Landscapes th
Page 32 and 33: In the 8 th Five Year Plan the allo
Page 34 and 35: CHAPTER 3 Upgrading Research and Mo
Page 36 and 37: deduce any reliable inference in de
Page 38 and 39: Block sample count The total count
Page 40 and 41: (0.0097) from single source study c
Page 42 and 43: Tier 1: Dung surveys for elephant o
Page 44 and 45: Tier 3: Characterization of elephan
Page 46 and 47: 5. Information transparency The Tas
Page 48 and 49: populations rests on consolidating
Page 50 and 51: Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, Chapr
Page 52 and 53: There are two Elephant Reserves in
Page 54 and 55: cultivated lands. Heavy traffic on
Page 56 and 57: Orissa has about 57% of the elephan
Page 58 and 59: sal (Shorea robusta) forests as a r
Page 60 and 61: Hills form the Tamil Nadu part of t
Page 62 and 63: India have put in additional resour
Page 64 and 65: Government and non government organ
Page 66 and 67: c) Infrastructure and development p
Page 68 and 69: is about 18 % of the total recorded
Page 70 and 71: non-forest uses will be subject to
Page 72 and 73: clearing of forest is one of the mo
Page 74 and 75: afforestation, year-wise phased for
Page 76 and 77:
h. An independent system of concurr
Page 78 and 79:
The Background CHAPTER 5 Mitigating
Page 80 and 81:
Secondly, conflict mitigation evolv
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Landscape management of HEC The int
Page 84 and 85:
a. Opportunistic raiding: If given
Page 86 and 87:
mitigation strategy that will event
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Field Level Issues Field level issu
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(Jharkhand), Majuli (Assam), Rom-Mu
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construction and maintenance are al
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eing properly applied (by the gover
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egions in India, taking into accoun
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CHAPTER 6 Anti poaching, Trade and
Page 100 and 101:
esults in loss of life and limb for
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male reproduction between 25 and 30
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A shift in demand will render the i
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Legal importation of soft ivory doe
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documented a Japanese ivory carver
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g. Regular information gathering al
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4. Policy interventions including C
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most states of India. These numbers
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include the phasing out of elephant
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that having a certificate of owners
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employment. Their knowledge too des
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Owners are the link between the ele
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c. A one time amnesty for elephant
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n. Activities that cause stress and
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elephant conservation and the scien
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The immediate priority should be th
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The Manasolasa by Someswara, a Sans
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The ubiquity of elephants in everyd
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CHAPTER 10 Summary Recommendations
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9. The Task Force recommends settin
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4. It is envisaged to establish Ope
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important to sensitize local commun
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15. Database for elephant related c
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11. All mahouts in service and newl
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9. Fences and Trenches can only wor
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References Ali, S. A. 1927. The Mog
Page 152 and 153:
Datye, H.S.1995. Ecology of elephan
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detection probabilities are less th
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Sar, C.K. and Lahiri Choudhury 2001
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Varma, S. Venkataraman,A., Sukumar,
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24. Jadavaden Namboodri, Trustee, V
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71. R.M. Nair, Kerala 72. Rajappan
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Annexure II List of Hearings held b
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2 Kameng -Sonitpur Landscape (Aruna
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9 Periyar- Agasthyamalai Landscape
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Northern India Annexure IV(b) Prior
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4 Talamalai-Guttiyalattur 5 Avaraha
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etter way of restoring water rechar
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6. Budgeting should be provided whe
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Annexure VII Enumeration of Elephan
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No. of Visit Date of Visit No. of f
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8. Recording Observations: A Dung D
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Pg 1/3 Annexure VIII ELEPHANT CENSU
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Pg 3/3 III South Brahamputra 9. Dih
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