- Novanita Sharma
Wildlife conservation in Assam, for the past four decades since the early 1980s is marked with remarkable conservation stories like the successful conservation of the natural habitats of Golden Langur across Assam Duars, the conservation of the largest rainforest of the Brahmaputra valley which saved the biodiversity rich home of many endangered species including the Hoolock Gibbon, White Winged Wood Duck, Asian Elephant, several species of wild cats, other fauna, flora, etc. These four decades has put Assam in a significant place of national as well as global recognition for biodiversity conservation. Tracing common roots, these trailblazing conservation stories were stirred and led through decades of grassroots-based conservation movements of Assam, which flourished due to the steadfast efforts of Nature’s Beckon in strengthening a participatory drive for permanent protection of many large tracts of natural forests and important wildlife habitats as wildlife sanctuaries and national parks in Assam. These Nature’s Beckon led grassroots-based conservation movements have paved the future conservation path for many wildlife species and their habitats in Northeastern India. This has also contributed to finding long-term solutions for difficult wildlife problems like the decades long Man – Elephant crisis in Assam.
Nature’s Beckon’s continued efforts in integrating an inclusive approach of wildlife conservation within the contemporary Indian society have succeeded in making the cause of wildlife conservation a common agenda for the people of Assam, which has earned support and participation from the common citizens, the grassroots people, the intellectuals, social leaders, etc. This instilled transformative changes of socio-political commitment for issues related to wildlife conservation in Assam. A glaring example of this is witnessed in the recent notification of the Assam Government in July 2026 regarding the payment of crop-damage compensation worth Rs.8000 per bigha for the farmers who face crop damage due to elephant depredation in Assam. The declaration of Forest Minister Sri. Jayanta Malla Baruah regarding this political intervention came as a historic turning point for Asian Elephant conservation in Assam. This cabinet decision came as a long-awaited corrective measure to end the collective use of violence towards wild elephants in the state, which found prevalence under the faulty defensive methods involving the use of firecrackers and offensive techniques propagated by the state forest department among grassroots villagers in the name of wildlife management for years. These aggressive methods have implanted friction in the traditional legacy of compassionate bond shared between the people of Assam and elephants for ages. This situation is aptly termed as ‘Man-Elephant Crisis’ by Sri. Soumyadeep Datta, according to whom this crisis is wholly attributed to unsustainable human activities across pristine Elephant habitats in Assam, the colonial exploitation of Assam’s rich forests for tea plantations being the biggest blow to the Elephant populations of Assam and Northeast India.
Sri. Soumyadeep Datta has strongly opposed the use of fire crackers and other violent methods against wild elephants for a very long time, who has been raising objections to the faulty practices used by the state forest department in the name of mitigating Man-Elephant conflicts in Assam, and have repeatedly appealed for permanent protection of natural forests and wetlands for Elephant conservation in Assam; he speaks about the significance of the recently announced Elephant depredation related crop-damage compensation which will eventually reduce the conflicts between the grassroots people and wild Elephants across Assam. He said, “Earlier, the crop-raiding wild Elephants were pushed back by farmers from one cropland to the next, leading to the loss of cultivated crops and paddy by Elephants over a large area. This is how Elephants used to damage paddy crops over a large area in a region. We have been saying this from Nature’s Beckon, over a long time, that Elephants should not be pushed back from the croplands; they should be allowed to eat paddy while the government can compensate the farmers for the crop damage. Now, the Forest Minister Sri. Jayanta Malla Barua has made an important announcement regarding an intervention to provide crop damage compensation to the farmers. He has announced that farmers will be paid Rs. 8000/- per bigha of crop damage due to Elephant depredation. This is a judicious compensation for the farmers in Assam. This intervention will greatly benefit the farmers as well as the wild Elephants. Nature’s Beckon had a long-standing demand to implement this compensatory crop damage support to the farmers, which will stop the prevalent chasing of Elephants from the croplands using firecrackers, etc.”
Sri. Soumyadeep Datta also provides a peek into the anomalies related to the misuse of funds earmarked for Asian Elephant conservation by the state forest department under the Project Elephant, as he continues to state, “I had repeatedly appealed for this intervention during my tenure as a member in the Government of India’s Elephant Task Force, but the then governments and the political leaders of that time never implemented this. I think this is a significant step towards mitigating the problems of our people and the wild Elephants. Earlier, a nexus of corrupt Forest Officials and politicians used to siphon off funds worth crores, which were earmarked for Project Elephant. They used to falsely depict the investment of these funds in the distribution of firecrackers, kerosene, etc. From our RTI, we came to know that they burst firecrackers worth 30 lakh rupees in the Goalpara district. So, this intervention is very significant; it is a landmark decision which will be welcomed by our farmers. I think those with vested interests, those who are neither on the side of the elephants nor on the side of the farmers, will stand against this decision. We, Nature’s Beckon, welcome this landmark decision of the Forest Minister which will immensely benefit the farmers and wild Elephants in Assam.” His words speak about Nature’s Beckon’s continued efforts to find a reconciliatory path to solve the problem of the Man-Elephant crisis in Assam, which is caused mainly due to shrinking natural forests, grasslands, and wetlands across Assam and all over the natural range of Asian Elephants in the Northeastern states of India.
The Asian Elephant populations of Northeast India extend across the eastern Himalayan foothills from northern Bengal into Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Meghalaya. This is a transboundary distribution that is contiguous with the forests of Bhutan, Bangladesh, and possibly Myanmar, which supports approximately 9,500 elephants in the region. Assam, with more than 5,000 elephants, is one of the last strongholds of the Asian Elephant population in the Northeast, and hence, the conservation of existing elephant habitats across Assam is crucial for Asian Elephant conservation in Asia. The conservation of the large population of the long-ranging, large herbivore like the Asian Elephant requires a multipronged approach of community involvement, wetland conservation, grassland preservation, restoration of fragmented corridors, and most importantly, the conservation of the natural forests across its natural range all over Northeast India. The destruction of Elephant habitats in different hill states of Northeastern India has forced elephants to remain confined in certain pockets of the surviving natural habitats within their natural range in the region. This further accentuates the importance of effective and holistic Elephant conservation measures across the thriving Elephant habitats of Assam. In Assam, the permanent protection of Elephant habitats by upgrading the legal status of the forests from Reserve Forests to Wildlife Sanctuaries is the urgent need of the hour, while it is also very important to preserve the surviving wetlands to sustain the natural food sources of this elephant population, and thus check the rise of elephant depredation in human inhabited areas in and around the Elephant habitats of Assam.
Nature’s Beckon’s Elephant conservation program titled ‘Ganesh Mangal Yatra ’, which was launched in 2021, has effectively contributed to building awareness among the grassroots people who have been on the frontline of Elephant habitats in Assam. This program sensitised the people regarding their role in achieving the goals of holistic conservation of Asian Elephants and their habitats in Assam, where we have to collectively fight the challenges of rampant encroachments, deforestation, and conversion of forest lands across traditional elephant habitats due to the lack of concrete forest conservation measures in many elephant habitats of Assam. This program also created awareness regarding the traditional roots of our indigenous cultures, according to which we always revered Elephants as the incarnation of Lord Ganesha; the ancient historical canons, traditional literature, the archaeological remains of our empires, and our religious places speak volumes about this glory of Elephants in our heritage. Nature’s Beckon is making all efforts to heal the wounded relationship between the Assamese people and Asian Elephants, which inflicted pain and misery for both species over the past decades. Nature’s Beckon has successfully built a participatory approach for Elephant conservation where the people of Assam, as well as the government and people’s elected leaders have come together to find lasting solutions for Asian Elephant conservation through a robust model based on habitat protection, community participation for peaceful co-existence with the Elephants, and government’s judicious support for loss of crop, property, and lives incurred by our grassroots people due to Elephant depredation.
The recent political interventions by the government of Assam have immensely contributed to this participatory approach to elephant conservation in Assam. These interventions under the Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Forest Minister Sri. Jayanta Malla Barua, in returning large tracts of forest land to the Elephant populations in Goalpara after the stringent eviction drive to free the encroached forests of western Assam earlier in 2026, and the latest notification of the crop damage compensation for the affected farmers due to elephant depredation have set the path for a decisive turn of effective Elephant conservation in Assam. These interventions will truly contribute to holistic Asian Elephant conservation in Assam when we succeed in protecting the surviving Elephant habitats in different parts of the state. Some of these habitats remain threatened and call for immediate protection, like the proposed Panchartna Wildlife Sanctuary and the proposed Ajagar Wildlife Sanctuary, which includes the entire area of the Urpad Beel. These two proposed wildlife sanctuaries constitute the last surviving vestiges of natural Elephant habitats in the Goalpara district of Assam, where the lost forests used to harbor one of the biggest Elephant populations of India at one time. It is ironic that the present Goalpara district, with its rich history of forests, forest-related culture, folklore, and heritage, is yet to get its first protected area. Goalpara is inseparably connected with the traditional forest history of Assam, but today it is known for the rising toll of elephant depredation and the rampant loss of forest cover in the district. This predicament of Goalpara epitomises the complete lack of conservation efforts to preserve the lush forests and biodiversity of the area by consecutive governments in Assam. The present state government of Assam has positively responded to Nature’s Beckon’s appeal for the declaration of the Pancharatna Wildlife Sanctuary and the Ajagar Wildlife Sanctuary to save these last relics of Elephant habitats in Goalpara. The legal protection for these two forest areas, along with the permanent protection of Urpad Beel, the biodiversity rich largest wetland in Goalpara, which is integral to the landscape of the proposed Ajagar Wildlife Sanctuary, is very important for Asian Elephant conservation in this part of Assam. These proposed wildlife sanctuaries of Goalpara form an important part of the extended Elephant habitats in western Assam.
It is noteworthy that India has nearly 60% of the world’s Asian Elephant population, though the current distribution represents only 3.5% of its historical range, which once extended over a large landmass across the Indian subcontinent. Asian Elephant is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act of India, 1972, and is categorized as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is facing threats due to habitat loss, fragmentation of forests, poaching, loss of wetlands, and grasslands all across its natural range in the present world. Apart from this, another major reason for the plight of Asian Elephants is the lack of proper conservation measures across their habitats in different parts of Asia owing to socio-economic and political disparities in these Asian countries. In this context, we Indians have a big role to play to ensure the survival and flourishing of the gentle giants in our country. This brings a great onus of responsibility on the shoulders of the Assamese people to protect and respect the wild Elephants and their homes in Assam. In this context, the innovative thoughts and vision of Indian naturalist and environmental activist like Soumyadeep Datta have shown a unique approach for Elephant conservation in Asia. The grassroots-based, participatory conservation of Elephants could be a ray of hope for Asian Elephant conservation in other parts of Asia as well. Moreover, it is well discernible that the future of Asian Elephants will hugely depend on the protection of their natural habitats across Assam, other Northeastern states, and the eastern Himalayas through concerted efforts for transboundary grassroots -based conservation programs of Elephant conservation among the Indian states, and also in cooperation with other elephant countries of Asia.
On the occasion of the World Elephant Day celebration, I join everyone in solemn prayers for the well-being of Elephants, for the safety of their homes, and the cultures that thrived on the blessings from these gentle giants of this planet.
