Corridor to Survival

Corridor to Survival

Project Animal(s) : Elephants
Project Category : Mammals
Project Region : Asia
Project Type : Conservation
Project URL : http://www.wpsi-india.org/projects/elephant_habitat_assessment.php
Project is timebound? : No

The ‘Corridor to Survival’ a landscape conservation plan for elephant management initiated in May 2006, was a natural sequel to the Singhbhum Elephant Study. It was largely designed to: (i) identify the causes for disruption of the elephants’ transition paths through traditional use areas, (ii) map the Elephant Transit Paths (ETPs) of the recent past, (iii) identify present paths connecting northern Orissa with Jharkhand, and (iv) assess the habitat status in relation to biogeography of the use areas. The primary aim of the study was to develop a Management Plan for Elephant Landscape Design. This included the development of site-specific habitat management procedures for the re-creation of   lost transit paths, that would ensure the uninterrupted movement of elephants between the northern limits of their traditional distribution range at Dalma Hills in Jharkhand, to Keonjhar in Orissa.

Project Achievements:

  • This is the first micro-level, on-foot distribution and landscape study of wild elephants undertaken in India.
  • An overview of forests in elephant-use areas, and past and present elephant transit paths (ETPs), has been completed in Orissa’s Sundergarh, Keonjhar and Angul districts.
  • The project team has identified suitable alternative ETPs in the areas mentioned above, and is in the process of developing the necessary methodology for re-creating ETPs that may be used by groups of elephants that are presently isolated.
  • The state Forest Departments are strongly supporting the study and some of the short-term recommendations have already been implemented.
  • Based on the study, the Forest Department has also come down heavily on both mining and the use of crushing plants at night.
  • Our Corridor to Survival project pointed out to the state authorities the gross irregularities in the EIA report still being followed by the Khanpur/Baitarani Irrigation Project that would submerge a vitally important elephant corridor in Keonjhar district in Orissa, along with nine villages to be submerged completely and seven partially.
  • The Action Plan has now been accepted by the Orissa Forest Department and is ready to be implemented.

Project Agency : Wildlife Protection Society of India

Project Agency Contact : http://www.wpsi-india.org/wpsi/index.php