Methods to Reduce Human-Elephant Conflict

Context: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released a Regional Action Plan for Comprehensive Understanding and Management of Human-Elephant Conflict during the 23rd Steering Committee Meeting of Project Elephant.

About Methods to Reduce Human-Elephant Conflict:

What It Is?

• Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) refers to negative interactions between humans and elephants that result in human or elephant deaths, injuries, crop and property damage, and livelihood losses.

Key Recommendations:

• Control Invasive Plant Species: Use mechanical removal, carefully regulated herbicides and biological control agents to suppress invasive plants that displace elephants’ natural food sources. Chemical and biological methods should undergo safeguards and risk assessment to protect non-target species.
• Conflict-Based Landscape Zoning: Divide elephant landscapes into Elephant Conservation Zones, Human-Elephant Co-existence Zones and Human-Elephant Management Zones, based on land use and conflict intensity.
• Restore Elephant Habitats: Improve core habitats through fodder enrichment, water augmentation and ecological restoration, reducing the need for elephants to enter farms and settlements.
• Protect Corridors & Plan at Landscape Level: Strengthen management of elephant corridors and movement routes through ecological assessments and coordinated landscape planning.
• Spatial Conflict-Risk Assessment: Map conflict hotspots and land-use patterns to enable location-specific preventive interventions rather than a uniform strategy.
• Community-Based Conflict Management: Strengthen local participation and institutional capacity so communities living near elephant habitats become active partners in conflict mitigation.
• Targeted Management in High-Conflict Areas: In human-dominated landscapes experiencing chronic conflict, consider measures such as translocation or rehabilitation of problematic elephants, alongside technological and adaptive management.

Significance:

• Habitat restoration and invasive-species control improve natural food availability, potentially reducing elephant movement into agricultural areas.
• Conflict zoning allows interventions to vary between core forests, forest-settlement interfaces and human-dominated landscapes.
• Combining ecological restoration, community participation and risk assessment can protect human lives, livelihoods and elephant populations.

Relevance in UPSC Examination

GS Paper II – Governance:

• Role of the MoEFCC, institutional coordination and community participation in environmental governance.

GS Paper III – Environment:

• Biodiversity conservation, wildlife protection, human-wildlife conflict, invasive alien species, habitat and wildlife corridor management.
• Community-based risk reduction, technological interventions and mitigation of wildlife-related risks.