Importance of Elephant Corridors in Reducing Human–Elephant Conflict

The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, has directed the Centre to conduct a fresh survey of elephant corridors and stressed that these natural movement routes cannot be blocked merely to prevent crop damage.

Moving Long Distances

• Asian elephants are highly mobile animals, with a male elephant’s home range extending roughly 50–300 sq km.
• Elephant movement depends on habitat quality, food and water availability, population density and human disturbance.
• Elephant corridors connect separated natural habitats and enable safe seasonal movement and migration.
• Disruption of corridors increases encounters with people and can intensify human–elephant conflict.
• Seasonal elephant migration is common in regions such as the Western Ghats, where animals move in search of food and water.
• Climate change and drought can alter migration patterns and further increase movement into human-dominated landscapes.

Elephant Corridors in India

• The government’s 2023 elephant corridor mapping exercise identified 150 elephant corridors across 15 States.
• These corridors are critical for maintaining connectivity between fragmented elephant habitats.

Fragmented Corridors

• Infrastructure, mining, industries, highways, railways, canals and power lines are major causes of elephant-corridor fragmentation.
• Corridor disruption can push elephants towards farmlands and human settlements, increasing crop damage and conflict.
• India has four major elephant landscapes — Western Ghats; North-East Hills and Brahmaputra floodplains; Shivalik Hills and Gangetic plains; and Central India–Eastern Ghats.
• The Western Ghats landscape is increasingly fragmented due to land-use change, plantations and expansion of farmland.
• Similar habitat disruption has been observed in the Shivalik and Brahmaputra landscapes.
• In Central and Eastern India, habitat loss and mining pressure have contributed to elephant range expansion into newer areas, including parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Importance of Corridor Mapping

• Elephant corridors facilitate genetic exchange and dispersal between populations, helping maintain genetic diversity.
• Well-protected corridors provide elephants access to food and water during seasonal movements.
• Maintaining natural movement routes reduces the likelihood of elephants entering croplands and settlements.
• Scientific mapping and protection of corridors are therefore essential for both elephant conservation and reduction of human–elephant conflict.