ID: 1279

A route to coexistence: The establishment of an elephant corridor

In August 2019, World Land Trust and Wildlife Trust of India began work on a project that would connect landscapes, protect elephants and empower communities in northeast India. The project aims to link the D’ering Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh with Assam’s Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. Providing safe passage for species like elephants and tigers helps to reduce human-wildlife conflict, a key concern in the world’s second-most populous country. Corridors provide greater protection to wildlife as well as people and their livelihoods, helping to keep elephants away from community crops. Though mutually beneficial, the creation of a corridor may require some land to be ceded, which is why Wildlife Trust of India conducted 25 meetings with Forest Department representatives, village heads and around 300 local people between July and September 2021. One of the main aims of this project is to set aside at least 500 hectares of the D’ering-Dibru Saikhowa corridor as Community Conserved Areas, one for each of the three nearby villages: Mer, Paglam and Namsing. The process is now well underway following Wildlife Trust of India’s meetings. As compensation for the land that will be set aside, they will be providing fishery ponds, piggery farms and cattle sheds to help boost the villagers’ food output and income sources. Although the community conserved areas have not yet been officially declared, conservation work has already begun in the proposed Paglam Community Conserved Areas. In Paglam residents helped to plant a total of 44,000 saplings comprising 32 different native plant species, in an effort to restore degraded habitat. A subsequent visit found that close to 90% of the saplings were still healthy and intact, a high initial survival rate that looks very promising for the ongoing growth of the Paglam Community Forest.

Planned actions

Protection of land/water

Management of land/water

Species management