Guwahati: A new initiative using solar lighting, solar fencing and community education is being rolled out in Assam’s Brahmaputra Valley to reduce human-elephant conflict in the region.
Competition for space, fear and a lack of peaceful interventions have resulted in the deaths of both people and elephants in recent times, Aryanak said in a statement.
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With support from the British Asian Trust, Aaranyak is taking a community-centric approach to address human-elephant conflict in six high-incidence districts of Assam and Meghalaya, where over 90 people have lost their lives in the last six months.
“Aaranyak is working with local communities to create change which helps protect both people and elephants,” said Aaranyak’s senior scientist Dr Bibhuti Prasad Lahkar.
Most of the villages affected by elephants are located in remote parts of the state with poor roads, communication, inadequate electricity connection and erratic power supply.
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Villagers, especially women and children, are often scared of going out of their houses after dusk in fear of encountering wild elephants that may have strayed into their villages. The lack of lighting facilities makes those nights eerie.
A prominent research-based biodiversity conservation organisation of the region, Aaranyak, in collaboration with Assam Forest Department, has been working on mitigating human-elephant conflicts in several parts of Assam through various measures taking the community along.
Besides organising sensitization campaigns for the community and other stakeholders on how to go about mitigating the conflict, and supplementing the livelihood of the conflict-affected people, Aaranyak has installed solar-powered fencing in hotspots where there has been conflict between people and wild elephants.
Solar lights have also been installed in some villages so villagers can sight wild elephants from a safe distance at night and take immediate measures to remain safe and protect their lives and property as much as possible.
With support from the British Asian Trust via a UK Government Darwin initiative grant, Aaranyak is delivering a project promoting the coexistence of human beings and wild elephants in some of the conflict hotspots, an additional 90 solar street lights have been purchased for some of the areas in eastern Assam.