Hojai elephant deaths expose limits of corridor-based conservation in Assam

Guwahati, Jan 3: The recent death of eight elephants after being hit by a train in Hojai district has reignited debate over the effectiveness and relevance of designated elephant corridors amid rapid habitat degradation.

According to a study, as many as 67 elephants were killed in train collisions across Assam between 2000 and 2023. Notably, several of these incidents occurred in areas that are not officially notified as elephant corridors, raising concerns about the limited scope of current conservation measures.

The latest incident in Hojai also did not take place within a designated corridor. Citing this, railway authorities have maintained that no mandatory speed restrictions were applicable in the area.

Conservationists argue that increasing fragmentation of forest habitats has forced elephants to move beyond traditional corridors, making existing classifications inadequate to prevent such tragedies.

“The word corridor is a misnomer. Most portion of the railway track in this section (Lumding) cuts through elephant movement areas. Just because elephants are using certain areas more frequently doesn’t mean we term these areas as corridors and limit our monitoring and mitigation activities only to these areas leaving out the rest. We will witness more such occurrences if we do not change our mindset and remain fixated with the word corridor,” conservationist Kaushik Barua said.

According to a government report, the Northeast region has around 48 notified corridors, but elephant movement has decreased in 14 of them while nine are “impaired”.

“By giving elephants a designated “right of passage” and preventing them from becoming stranded in human areas, an elephant corridor – a strip of natural land connecting fragmented habitats – allows elephants to travel safely between larger forest patches for food, water, mating, and genetic diversity. Elephant existence depends on these essential channels, which allow gene flow and sustain healthy populations. However, due to severe alteration of elephant habitats and paths used by elephants for years coupled with disturbances created by local people when elephant herd intends to move from one habitat to another habitat, of late elephants were forced to abandon earlier identified corridors in parts of Assam,” says, Dr Bibhab Talukdar, secretary general of Aaranyak.

However, he said that since their movement is a biological need, elephants are exploring new routes to move from one habitat to another resulting in crossing of railway tracks in Assam beyond the identified elephant corridors.

“As such proactive vigil should go beyond corridors, engaging village level institutions like VDP,” he felt.

According to a recent study, areas where human-elephant interactions are frequent are near highly fragmented forests, agricultural fields, and encroached elephant corridors. Human expansion into elephant ranges has disrupted their migratory routes, often forcing them to enter human settlements in search of food and water, further escalating conflict, it noted.

“Additionally, the degradation of forest corridors has disrupted elephant movement patterns, compelling them to navigate through human settlements,” the study observed.