Marrying technical data and conservation Premium

Project Gaj Sanchar, a collaboration between Bengaluru-based ANCF and Dakshin Foundation, explores the possibility of a protected area for elephants in Assam with the help of research and technical data.

Bengaluru-headquartered Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF) founded by Prof Raman Sukumar of IISc and the late Prof Dhritikanta Lahiri Choudhury has been actively involved in elephant conservation since 1997.

ANCF and Bengaluru-based Dakshin Foundation have been working on a collaborative project called ‘Gaj Sanchar’ focusing on the Kaziranga and Karbi Anglong landscapes in Assam.

Every year when Kaziranga gets flooded the animals move towards Karbi Anglong hills. Issues of poaching and human-elephant conflicts have been rampant in this region.

Project GajSanchar-ASM was started with the thought of exploring the possibility of a holistic elephant-conservation plan at a landscape level, covering Kaziranga National Park, Karbi Anglong and nearby districts with the help of research and technology involving multiple stakeholders including the forest department. The Assam Forest Department wanted actionable insights and requested the team to look at the human-elephant conflicts in Golaghat district near Kaziranga and Hamren district near Karbi Anglong.

In Golaghat, the team saw scattered agricultural areas and fragmented landscapes. Animals coming in contact with humans was unavoidable in such a scenario. So, the team set a short term as well as a long-term approach towards the problem.

“The short-term goal was providing the elephants’ location using a GPS collar so that it acts as an early warning during the crop-harvesting season for the forest department, gram panchayat members and farmers. This helps in preparing for driving the elephants out of agri-fields,” says Amlan Aditya Goswamy, senior programme associate at Dakshin Foundation.

“The long -term goal is to collect a year-long data on the movement patterns of the elephant, their eating habits, and the social interface between elephants and people. This would help to limit the elephants to certain areas which is safe for the elephants as well as for people. This way you are preventing or suspending the contact between elephants and people.”