An elephant does not know where a forest ends and a village begins. It does not recognise a railway boundary, a State border or a highway on a map. It follows the routes it has used for generations. It moves between forests, farms, water sources and grasslands in search of food, water and safety.
That simple fact has changed the way India looks at elephant conservation. What was once largely seen as the protection of elephants inside forests and protected areas has now become a much larger task. It is about keeping landscapes connected, making infrastructure safer, reducing conflict with people and using science to understand elephant populations.
At the centre of this shift is Project Elephant, which has expanded its work from species protection to landscape-level conservation.
Today, the programme provides financial assistance to 23 States and Union Territories and covers 33 Elephant Reserves across 14 States, spread over more than 80,777 sq. km. But the real measure of its progress is not only the size of the map. It is the growing effort to understand how elephants move, where they face danger and what is needed to allow both elephants and people to live safely in the same landscape.
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FROM PROTECTED AREAS TO ENTIRE LANDSCAPES
Elephants are wide-ranging animals. Their movements often take them beyond protected forests and into agricultural fields, villages and other human-use areas. This has made a landscape approach essential.
The expansion of 33 Elephant Reserves has created a wider framework for planning elephant conservation. Management is increasingly looking at habitats, corridors, water sources, seasonal movement routes, farms, settlements and infrastructure together. This is important because the challenges are not the same everywhere.
In the East-Central landscape, for example, human–elephant conflict is particularly severe. In southern India, habitat connectivity, agriculture and infrastructure are major concerns. The North-East presents another set of ecological and social challenges. The answer, therefore, cannot be one uniform model.
Project Elephant is increasingly moving towards landscape-specific, integrated and evidence-based conservation.
150 CORRIDORS: KEEPING ELEPHANT PATHWAYS OPEN
One of the most important steps has been the identification and ground validation of 150 elephant corridors across 15 elephant-range States in 2023. These corridors are more than lines on a map. They are traditional routes through which elephants move between habitats.
But securing them is difficult. Many corridors pass through agricultural land, villages, private holdings and areas where roads, railways, power lines or other infrastructure already exist or are being planned.
That is why corridor conservation now requires cooperation between Forest Departments, local administrations, communities, Railways, road agencies, power utilities and other sectors. The objective is no longer simply to identify a corridor. It is to secure, restore, monitor and maintain its functionality.
Project Elephant has also developed Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) Classification reports for Elephant Reserves, helping managers understand how habitats are changing. The publication of the Elephant Reserves of India: An Atlas has further strengthened the spatial and ecological knowledge available for elephant landscapes.
FROM NOTIFICATION TO BETTER MANAGEMENT
Another major development has been the move towards systematic planning within Elephant Reserves. A comprehensive framework for preparing Elephant Conservation Plans (ECPs) was developed and released in 2024. These plans are intended to help identify conservation priorities and guide management at the landscape level.
A model Elephant Conservation Plan for the Nilgiri Elephant Reserve has also been prepared and is slated for release on World Elephant Day 2026. Management itself is also being measured more closely.
Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) guidelines for Elephant Reserves were formulated in 2023. Pilot assessments and revisions of criteria were undertaken in the Shivalik, Kaziranga–Karbi Anglong, Mayurbhanj and Nilgiri Elephant Reserves in 2024. The process for MEE of all Elephant Reserves has now been initiated.
This marks an important change. Conservation success is increasingly being assessed not only by whether activities were carried out, but by whether those activities actually produced results.
SCIENCE IS CHANGING HOW INDIA COUNTS ELEPHANTS
Perhaps the biggest scientific advance has been the country’s move towards genetic monitoring. India conducted its first DNA-based Synchronous All India Elephant Population Estimation (SAIEE), marking a major step towards more scientifically robust elephant population assessment.
Traditional methods such as direct sightings and dung counts remain important. But they can be affected by terrain, vegetation, visibility and the movement of elephants. DNA from dung can help identify individual elephants genetically. Repeated samples can potentially be linked to the same animal, helping reduce some uncertainties in population estimation.
The value goes beyond simply counting elephants. Genetic information can help researchers understand population structure, genetic diversity, connectivity and isolation between populations.
This is increasingly important as elephant habitats become fragmented by agriculture, roads, railways, mining and settlements. Project Elephant has also undertaken DNA profiling of captive elephants, strengthening their identification, monitoring, welfare and management.
Together, these efforts point towards a future in which elephant conservation is guided not only by numbers, but by a deeper understanding of individual animals and populations.
MAKING RAILWAYS SAFER FOR ELEPHANTS
For elephants, a railway track can become a deadly barrier. Train collisions have emerged as an important conservation concern in several elephant landscapes. Recognising this, Project Elephant has undertaken studies across all elephant-range States to identify vulnerable railway stretches.
The report Suggested Measures to Mitigate Elephant and Other Wildlife Train Collisions on Vulnerable Railway Stretches in India, released in June 2025, identified 77 critical stretches requiring mitigation across the country.
A dedicated Railway Mitigation Monitoring Portal has also been developed. The portal is designed to help prioritise, plan and monitor mitigation measures along railway tracks passing through elephant habitats.
This reflects a larger principle now emerging in elephant conservation: infrastructure planning must consider elephant movement before a project creates a problem, rather than trying to solve the problem afterwards.
THE BIGGEST TEST: LIVING WITH ELEPHANTS
No discussion on elephant conservation can avoid human–elephant conflict. Crop damage, property loss, injuries and deaths can place a heavy burden on communities living close to elephant habitats.
At the same time, elephants face retaliation, habitat loss, electrocution and other risks. Project Elephant has supported detailed studies on human–elephant conflict in Assam, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Phase-II studies have also been completed in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha.
The studies are aimed at making conflict management more evidence-based. This is particularly important in the East-Central landscape, which supports only around 10% of India’s elephant population but accounts for nearly 61% of reported human–elephant conflict.
Such a disproportionate burden shows why conflict cannot be addressed through a single national formula. Solutions may include early-warning systems, rapid-response teams, crop-protection measures, habitat and corridor restoration, safer infrastructure, village-level planning and timely compensation.
Increasingly, the focus is shifting from reacting to conflict after it happens to predicting where it is likely to occur and reducing the risk beforehand. Communities are also being seen as partners rather than simply beneficiaries.
A REGIONAL PLAN FOR SOUTHERN INDIA
The same philosophy is behind the Regional Action Plan for Elephant Conservation and Human–Elephant Conflict Management in Southern India. The plan brings together habitat conservation, corridor security, conflict mitigation and stakeholder participation at a regional scale.
Its importance lies in the fact that elephant populations do not stop at State borders. The plan can help identify common regional priorities, conflict hotspots and mechanisms for inter-State coordination, while allowing individual States to adopt measures suited to their own ecological and social conditions.
It also provides a bridge between regional planning and village-level action plans, which can address the specific causes and patterns of conflict faced by individual communities.
The Regional Action Plan is slated for release on World Elephant Day 2026.
STRONGER RULES, BETTER INSTITUTIONS
Project Elephant’s progress has also involved strengthening the institutional framework around elephant conservation. The Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024, issued under Section 62 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, provide a regulatory framework for the transfer and transport of captive elephants.
An Elephant Cell was established at the Wildlife Institute of India during 2019–20 to strengthen research, scientific monitoring, capacity building and technical support. The Gaj Gaurav Award, instituted in 2023, recognises individuals and institutions that make exemplary contributions to elephant conservation and management.
International cooperation has also been strengthened. India and Bangladesh signed a Transboundary Elephant Conservation Protocol on 17 December 2020, recognising that elephant conservation can extend beyond national borders.
SUPPORTING THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE WITH WILDLIFE
Conservation cannot succeed if local communities carry all the costs. Crop losses caused by wild animals were included as an add-on coverage under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in 2019, providing another mechanism of support to affected farmers. This is part of a wider recognition that protecting elephants also means protecting the people who share their landscapes.
THE NEXT PHASE: FROM NUMBERS TO OUTCOMES
Project Elephant has come a long way. It now covers 33 Elephant Reserves, more than 80,777 sq. km., and supports conservation across 23 States and Union Territories. It has helped identify 150 elephant corridors, introduced Elephant Conservation Plans, developed MEE guidelines, undertaken the country’s first DNA-based Synchronous All India Elephant Population Estimation, identified 77 critical railway stretches, created a Railway Mitigation Monitoring Portal, and supported major human–elephant conflict studies across several States. The next challenge is to make these efforts work together.
The coming decade will need stronger habitat connectivity, safer infrastructure, better genetic and ecological monitoring, predictive conflict management and deeper community participation.
Success should not be measured only by the number of reserves notified or corridors mapped. It should be visible on the ground — in functional elephant corridors, fewer elephant deaths, reduced human–elephant conflict, safer communities, healthier habitats and better livelihood security.
The larger goal is simple but difficult. India must create landscapes where elephants can move safely and people can live securely.
That is the new story of Project Elephant — a journey from protecting elephants in isolated spaces to building connected, resilient and people-centred landscapes where conservation and development can coexist.
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