The 21st Project Elephant Steering Committee Meeting was presided over by Union Minister for Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, on Thursday at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) in Dehradun. Together with members from top conservation organizations, the summit brought together senior officials, scientists, and field specialists from states where elephants are found to assess the accomplishments of Project Elephant and develop plans for elephant conservation in India.

The ongoing problem of human-elephant conflict was one of the main topics of discussion during the 21st Project Elephant Steering Committee Meeting. Yadav emphasized the importance of local populations taking an active role in conservation, particularly in areas most severely impacted. He noted that controlling conflicts between people and wildlife is essential to the effectiveness of conservation efforts. Additionally, he demanded improved social security and working conditions for field-level conservation workers and frontline forest employees.

To reduce human-wildlife conflict, the Minister called for coordinated efforts by Indian Railways, the Ministry of Power, NHAI, and mining developers. He emphasized the awareness-raising and outreach functions of organizations like SACON, IIFM, WII, and state forest training institutes. Yadav emphasized the importance of cross-state information exchange to replicate best practices and the necessity of organized data collection on elephant mortality resulting from railway accidents.

Project Progress and Scientific Achievements

The Committee reviewed significant achievements under Project Elephant, including Regional Action Plans for conflict mitigation in Southern and Northeastern India, and a survey of 3,452.4 km of railway lines that identified 77 high-risk areas. DNA profiling of 1,911 captive elephants has been completed across 22 states in India. Phase I of the synchronized population estimation in the North-East has collected over 16,500 dung samples. Work continues on the Model Elephant Conservation Plan for the Nilgiri Elephant Reserve, with an expected completion date of December 2025.

Several key documents were released, including a report on elephant-train collision mitigation, a 23-year conflict analysis for Assam, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh, an advisory on safe tusk trimming for captive elephants, and the latest issue of Trumpet, the Project Elephant newsletter.

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Future Planning and World Elephant Day

There was discussion about preparations for World Elephant Day, which will take place in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, on August 12, and will include the Gaj Gaurav Awards. A three-year elephant monitoring project in Bandhavgarh, MEE evaluations in Elephant Reserves under CAMPA, the completion of the Nilgiri ECP, and an integrated plan for Ripu-Chirang, with a focus on the Udalguri environment, are some of the other forthcoming initiatives.

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