UNDER PRESSURE

As India's human population continues to grow and natural habitats become depleted, space for the country's elephants is at a premium

- GRAEME GREEN

ELEPHANTS ARE valued more in India than all other animals put together," says Anish Andheria, CEO of Wildlife Conservation Trust. "Lord Ganesha, the most worshipped and revered Hindu God, is half-human and half-elephant."

Sadly, revered status isn't keeping these animals safe. Elephants were declared the National Heritage Animal of India in 2010 and granted Schedule 1 status - the highest protection level in the country, on a par with tigers. But elephants and people are frequently coming into contact, leading to horrific flashpoints of violence in which both are losing their lives. "Around 1,400 human and 300 elephant casualties occurred in India due to human-elephant conflict between 2018 and 2020," Andheria explains, the figure not including captive elephants.

Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are listed as Endangered on the IUCN's Red List. Their numbers have declined by at least 50 per cent over the past three generations, largely due to habitat loss.

India is currently home to about 27,000 elephants, found in 17 states, including Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. While conflict between elephants and people is often associated with the African species, and more attention in India is paid to issues around tigers, leopards and other big cats, human-elephant conflict (HEC) is at crisis levels in the country.

As in Africa, the key issue is the lack of space. India recently overtook China as the most populated country in the world and is now home to 1.43 billion people, one sixth of the global population. About 65 per cent of the country's people live in rural areas. Industrial projects, such as mines and dams, along with roads and the exploitation of forests for agriculture, firewood or livestock-grazing, have also depleted natural elephant habitat.