Karnataka’s forest department has come up with a rather bizarre solution to end the age-old conflict between humans and elephants. It plans to cut down 10,000 hectares of teak plantations in two tiger sanctuaries in order to grow food for elephants so that the pachyderms don’t go looking for food in human settlements, where they cause chaos.
The elephant population in Karnataka is currently estimated to be in the range of 7,000 to 8,000 animals. The forest department’s reasoning is that the government spends a considerable amount of money to keep elephants in their natural abode. And, when elephants enter human habitations in search of food, the government is again forced to pay compensation for the loss of lives and crops. The department reckons that the proposal will save the government money in the long run.
‘Foolish plan’
According to the plan, fruit-bearing trees, and elephant fodder like bamboo, will replace teak plantations in reserved forest areas like the Rajiv Gandhi National Park in Nagarhole and the Bandipur tiger sanctuary. They will provide food to elephants who will then refrain from wandering out of the forest in search of sustenance. The plan is to eventually build elephant proof trenches and electric fences around the reserves to keep the pachyderms in.
Rough estimates put the teak plantation at Rajiv Gandhi National park alone at more than 10,000 hectares. The plantation is estimated to be at least 60 years old.
Flabbergasted at the proposal, wildlife activists and conservationists said it was an example of “Tughlak durbar thinking” (a reference to Sultan of Delhi Muhammed bin Tughlaq’s hare-brained plan to shift his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in the 14th century, which failed spectacularly).
This is a “foolish and impractical” plan, said S Srikanth, who heads Development through Education, an NGO working for tribal rights and the protection of Nagarhole National Park. Srikanth added that if the department was serious about growing fodder and fruit-bearing trees for elephants, it would be better to plant trees along the roads that criss-cross reserves.
“At present we have more than 200 km of roads in the Nagarhole park alone,” said Srikanth, who has been working in the area for three decades now. “If they plant trees on the side of these roads, it will be a major contribution to provide food to the elephants… Let them first take up planting of fruit-bearing trees in the many vacant spots in the park and the sanctuary.”
Thankfully, to proceed with its proposal, the forest department will need permissions from the National Tiger Conservation Authority, Union government and local tree courts too since felling of trees and their transportation from the park and sanctuary are prohibited.
Impact on ecology
Ravi Ralph, who retired last week as Karnataka’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), argued that the proposal should not be construed as an attempt to denude the forests. “This project is an intervention and management plan,” said Ralph. “It is purely an idea mooted by forest department officials and this has to be implemented in a phased manner over the years.”
But no one’s convinced.
Ajay Desai, an expert on elephant behavioural science, said the proposal has not taken into account the fact that containing elephants to a particular area when their population is increasing will require a multi-dimensional approach. “There are problems on both the ecological and official fronts,” said Desai. “The elephant corridor is spread over three states and felling a teak plantation in 40 sq km of the forest will not yield any result.”
If implemented, the proposal will have ramifications on the entire ecology of the Nilgiris biosphere that is spread over 9,000 sq km across three states – Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. “We have not allowed even a resort to be put up inside the park, and now we cannot allow the denudation of the park,’’ said Srikanth.
Desai has a couple of practical suggestions to keep the elephants from wandering. For one, he said, the department could clear the forests of invasive weeds like Lantana – a plant elephants don’t eat but that competes for space with elephant fodder, forcing the animals to move elsewhere in search of food.
A forest official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, said that the plan had little chance of going through. “Just imagine how Nagarhole park will look once all the teak trees are cut,” he said. "I doubt if the Union government will ever clear such a proposal because it has national implications.”
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