Author: Dolsy David

Key highlights:

  • The paper aims to bring out the importance of identifying conservation-compatible landscapes for large herbivores and carnivores  outside protected areas (PAs)
  • The potential of a tea plantation-dominated landscape in North-west Bengal, India to conserve these wild fauna is explored by documenting the presence/absence of elephants and leopards, and identifying factors affecting their occurrence in the larger landscape,
  • Out of ~1200 km² area, elephants were seen to use 57% of the non-PA area whereas leopards were seen to use 79% of the non-PA area. 
  • Key stakeholders of the area were identified and mapped in a power vs interest grid. 

Land sharing between people and wildlife is common in areas where the existing protected area (PA) network is insufficient to meet conservation targets. Therefore, there is now a greater need for understanding the ecology of large carnivores and mega-herbivores in areas outside wilderness zones. Present and future roadblocks to conservation also need to be foreseen and minimized to mitigate negative impacts of increased wildlife-people interactions. However, the areas adjacent to PAs are rarely considered in species conservation programmes. The dominant focus of wildlife preservation continues to be maintaining the PA network as an ark for wildlife. However, wildlife such as elephants and leopards continue to persist outside protected spaces, close to human settlements, and even found to access human food sources. The aim of this study is to explore the opportunities as well as challenges of conserving potentially dangerous, charismatic wildlife outside of designated PAs, in a densely human-populated landscape.

The study region of interest comprises the north-east Indian states of West Bengal and Assam. A total of ~1200 km² of non-protected areas was sampled which consisted of tea-estates, human habitations and agriculture fields. This area has a high human density (700 people per km)². The use of the same areas by leopards and elephants, leads to great human and economic loss through damage to life and property. Between 2009 and 2013, an average of 22 human deaths per year, and 56 ha. of crop damage, by elephants was reported. Whereas, an average of 56 cases per year of human injury by leopards were reported from the study area between 2009 and 2018.

The researchers focused on these two representative species of large herbivores and carnivores. Conservation and management strategies may differ substantially between large herbivores and carnivores due to varying ecological needs.  The researchers have attempted to understand this by recording the presence or absence of signs of elephants (dung, footprint, feeding signs) and leopards (scat, scrape, kill, pugmark) in the area, as well as certain characteristics of the habitat. Of the area sampled, elephant and leopard signs were recorded in 684 km² (57%)  and 932 km² (79%) respectively. The habitat-use patterns of leopards and elephants showed stark contrasts. While leopards are ubiquitous in the tea-plantation-dominated areas, elephant presence is greater and closer to the forested areas, and in areas in between two adjacent forest patches.

An elephant inside a Protected Area in Assam.

 

Despite the contrasting species and their habitat usage, commonalities emerge on how both species are involved in negative interactions with people. This is especially true for human injuries where it was seen that these incidents were largely due to the lack of human safety practices rather than unprovoked ‘attacks’ by the species. These commonalities emphasize the role of the various stakeholders in the region in addressing the critical issue of human safety. The key interest groups such as those with high interest and low power (e.g. tea estate workers) and those with high power and low interest (e.g. tea plantation manager) need to find shared solutions to the problems. The study finds that this process could be mediated by groups with high interest and moderate power such as National/International conservation organizations.

The researchers argue that the PA network in developing nations will saturate in the near future and considerable biological diversity will persist outside the confines of these reserves. The proposed term, Conservation Compatible Landscapes (CCL), denoting regions with potential for large animal conservation in human-use areas, becomes increasingly critical for the survival of biodiversity. Enabling space sharing using a host of social, cultural, economic and legal frameworks, concurrent with ecological adaptations, will ascertain the future of high conservation priority species.