Elephant collaring: Help in manage human-elephant conflict in Assam

Context: Recently, to avoid human-elephant conflict Assam Forest department planned to collar at least five elephants in high-conflict habitats.
The factor that results in Elephant-human conflict are

• Habitat loss and fragmentation: Elephants are being killed by humans for reasons other than ivory and habitat degradation.
• Change in cropping pattern: Elephants may prefer feeding on crops when compared to wild forage because of their higher nutritive content and palatability.
• Lethal retaliation against elephants: This was illustrated in the case of >60 elephants found dead in retaliation incidents in North East India.
• Elephants across Asia live in a variety of habitats and landscapes: Agricultural encroachments and are also found in fragmented landscapes with a mosaic of crop fields, plantations, and patches of forest.

Suggestions to prevent Human-Elephant conflict

• Protected areas and ecological corridors: There is need to give emphasis on ecological corridors that allows elephants to move between secure habitats without being disturbed by humans. 
• Electric fences and trenches: Physical exclusion methods such as electric fences and trenches are commonly used to deter elephants from entering farmland and human settlements.
• Acoustic deterrents: Farmers guard crops and scare away crop-raiding elephants by yelling, setting off firecrackers or carbide cannons, hitting metal objects, and throwing stones.
• Light-based deterrents: Farmers may light bonfires and use flaming torches or flashlights to guard ripening crops and deter raiding elephants.
• Early detection and warning: Techniques for early detection and warning of elephants involve using mobile phones for quick communication among farmers, and between farmers and local officials.

Long Term Methods
Land-use planning: Some of the recommended land-use changes that address the spatial basis of conflict are

• Reduce the conflict interface between elephants and people.
• Restrict and consolidate human settlements and relocate agricultural activity within elephant habitat

Make agriculture production more efficient: Change location of fields, move to inedible crops, grow a diversity of crops, change cropping patterns

• Buffer zone: Having another farm along the forest boundary as a buffer will be useful where forest are prone to elephant.
• Habitat protection and Forest Management: In cases where home ranges of elephants include Reserve Forests, they need to be managed as Elephant Conservation Areas. Revenue Forests that include elephant home ranges need to be acquired and managed as Reserve Forests.