Context: A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India said it is the state’s duty to protect a “keystone species” like elephants, which are immensely important to the wildlife ecosystem.
Key Points

• SC upheld the Madras HC’s 2011 order on the Nilgiris elephant corridor. 
• It affirmed the right of passage of the animals and the closure of resorts in the area.

Background

• In 2011, the Madras HC had upheld the validity of the Tamil Nadu government’s notification (of 2010) declaring an ‘Elephant Corridor’ in the Sigur Plateau of Nilgiris District.
• According to SC, it’s the State’s duty to protect a “keystone species” like elephants, which are immensely important to the environment.
• Elephant corridors allow elephants to continue their nomadic mode of survival, despite shrinking forest cover, by facilitating travel between distinct forest habitats. 
• These corridors play a crucial role in sustaining wildlife by reducing the impact of habitat isolation.
• The SC opined that the area is a fragile ecosystem, where the will of men must give way to elephants.
• The court has also allowed the formation of a committee led by a retired HC judge and two other persons to hear the individual objections of resort owners and private landowners within the corridor space.

The reason for such verdict

• The elephant corridor is situated in the Masinagudi area near the Mudumalai National Park in the Nilgris district.
• The apex court directed eviction of 39 resorts in the reserve forest area which were falling in the elephant corridor.
• The resorts obstructed the free movement of the animals through the passage.
• According to SC: the precautionary principle makes it mandatory for the state government to anticipate, prevent and attack the causes of environmental degradation.
• The elephant’s movement have been disrupted in ‘Sigur Plateau’ region.
• The bench noticed variance in the areas to be freed of encroachments to provide unhindered passage to migrating elephants and appointed a three-member committee to identify areas for securing the corridors.

Status of Asian Elephant

• There are three subspecies of Asian elephant – the Indian, Sumatran and Sri Lankan.
• The Indian has the widest range and accounts for the majority of the remaining elephants on the continent.
• Common threats to African and Asian elephants: Escalation of poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflict and mistreatment in captivity 
• IUCN Red List status: (1) African elephants: vulnerable; (2) Asian elephants: endangered.
• CITES status: (1) Appendix I for Asian Elephants; (2) Appendix II for African elephants in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
• Conservation Efforts by India: (1) Project Elephant in 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under which Elephant census is conducted once in 5 years; (2) Establishment of elephant reserves; (3) Adoption of the “World Elephant Day” (August 12); (4) Gaj Yatra –  a awareness campaign highlight the necessity of securing elephant corridors; (5) The Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme, launched in 2003, is an international collaboration that tracks trends in information related to the illegal killing of elephants from across Africa and Asia, to monitor effectiveness of field conservation efforts.

About Keystone Species

• A keystone species is a species which has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance.
• It is a concept introduced in 1969 by the zoologist Robert T. Paine.
• Such species plays a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem and helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the community.
• Without keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether.

Mudumalai National Park

• The Mudumalai National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary also a declared tiger reserve, lies on the northwestern Nilgiri Hills (Blue Mountains), Tamil Nadu.
• It shares its boundaries with the states of Karnataka and Kerala.
• The sanctuary is divided into five ranges – Masinagudi, Thepakadu, Mudumalai, Kargudi and Nellakota.
• The protected area is home to several endangered species including Indian elephant, Bengal tiger, gaur and Indian leopard.
• There are at least 266 species of birds in the sanctuary, including critically endangered Indian white-rumped vulture and long-billed vulture.
• In April 2007, the Tamil Nadu state government declared Mudumalai to be a tiger reserve, under section 38V of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
• The dominant type of forest found in the Mudumalai National Park is Tropical moist forest habitat. Tropical dry forest and scrub forests are also found here.

Blue Mountains

• Situated at a height of approximately 2,500 meters, the Nilgiri Mountain Range, or the “Blue Mountains” is at the junction of the two ghat ranges of the Saharvadi Hills in Tamil Nadu.
• With Kerala on the west, Mysore on the north and the Coimbatore district on the east and south, Udhagamandalam forms the headquarters of the Nilgiris, popularly known as Ooty.