This will also be the first time tigers, leopards and elephants will be counted together, said ministry officials
The elephant count in India next year will be similar to tiger census. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change does this counting along with the ministry’s partners, including Wildlife Institute of India. For the first time, it will involve the identification of each of the elephants, their clusters as well as their health and nutrition levels.
To mark World Elephant Day, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday released the population estimation protocol to be adopted for the project.
This will also be the first time tigers, leopards and elephants will be counted together, said ministry officials.
Asian elephants are listed as “endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Most of the range nations, except India, have lost their viable elephant populations due to loss of habitat and poaching
A bottom-up approach will aid in minimising human-elephant conflict. At an event at Indira Paryavaran Bhavan, the minister spoke about the involvement of local communities in the conservation of elephants.
“It is important to have a scientific approach to conservation,” Yadav said.
Later in the day, he tweeted: “There has been a need to harmonise population estimation methods along more scientific lines. The MoEFCC for the first time is converging elephant and tiger population estimation.”
Asian elephants are listed as “endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Most of the range nations, except India, have lost their viable elephant populations due to loss of habitat and poaching. According to current population estimates, there are about 50,000-60,000 Asian elephants in the world, with more than 60 per cent of them in India.