ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM, Pg10.

Key Highlights:

• The Synchronous All India Elephant Estimation (SAIEE) 2021-25 estimates 22,446 wild Asian elephants in India, a decrease from 27,312 in 2017.
• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change calls this a methodological reset, establishing a fresh baseline.
• Karnataka, Assam, and Kerala remain key elephant strongholds in the Western Ghats and Northeast.
• The steepest decline in elephant populations was recorded in the Northeast, central India, and the Eastern Ghats.
• Jharkhand and Odisha saw declines of 68% and 54%, respectively, compared to the 2017 estimate.
• The census uses genetic mark-recapture methods, similar to the tiger census, for greater accuracy.
• Asian elephants face threats from habitat fragmentation and changes in land-use patterns.

Detailed Insights:

• The drop in estimated elephant population stands at 17.8%, renewing concerns over habitat and corridors.
• The shift to genetic mark-recapture improves wildlife monitoring by using spatially structured sampling grids and DNA analysis.
• DNA analysis helps identify individual elephants, enhancing long-term tracking of population trends and habitat use.
• Asian elephants are increasingly imperiled by infrastructure development and institutional indifference to ecological costs.
• As elephants are forced into unfamiliar terrain, conflicts with humans escalate, often with fatal consequences.
• Conservation efforts must integrate elephant movement and safety into development plans.
• Securing corridors, enforcing ecological safeguards, and strengthening human-animal conflict mitigation are crucial.
• India holds over 60% of the world’s Asian elephants, making its conservation policies globally significant.
• Pressure on forest land from mining, power projects, railways, highways, and agriculture continues to diminish elephant habitats.
• The Asian elephant is listed as “endangered” on the IUCN Red List, facing threats from habitat fragmentation.

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved:

• Genetic Mark-Recapture: A method using DNA analysis of samples to identify and track individual animals in a population.
• Habitat Fragmentation: The process where continuous habitats are broken into smaller, isolated patches.
• Dung Decay Rates: The rate at which animal waste decomposes, used in traditional wildlife population estimation methods.