Land of the Elephant : Corridors for  Elephant Migration

The current activities include field surveys of elephant distribution, mapping of elephant habitats and identifying important "corridors" that are under threat. The centre has a programme of identifying and mapping corridors as well as raising funds for securing or augmenting them. A major impetus to the corridors programme is needed to ensure the long term survival of elephant populations.

Two important corridors have been successfully augmented in southern India, one in Bandipur National Park called the Kaniyanpura Corridor, with the assistance and collaboration of Project Elephant, Government of India and the Karnataka Forest Department. The second corridor called the Bekkatur-Arabikere corridor in Kollegal Forest Division has been augmented in collaboration with the Wildlife Trust of India.

Recent developments and events suggest that elephant corridors, even after they are accorded protected area status, may actually be fragile because of human presence and influence in their near vicinity, and mere legal protection may not be adequate to serve the purpose in the long-term. Constant monitoring of the corridors legally protected, and of the surrounding areas is essential in order to identify fresh human induced threats so that remedial measures can be taken promptly on an on-going basis.

The efforts of the foundation are presently focused on the Nilgiri-Eastern Ghats landscape in Southern India that holds by far the largest global population of Asian elephants estimated at about 9000 individuals.

AERCC has taken initiatives to augment the Brahmagiri-Tirunelli corridor, which is the only tenous link between the large elephant populations in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve – Eastern Ghats and the smaller elephant populations in the Brahmagiri Hills in Western India and the hill ranges further north. The protection of the Brahmagiri-Tirunelli corridor involves challenges of a much higher magnitude in all aspects compared to the other two corridors mentioned earlier as the land area is much larger with many human habitations and coffee plantations.

Photo: A. Madhusudan