Getting Along with Elephants

Community Engagement & Elephant Habitat Restoration in Royal Manas National Park, Bhutan

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The funding of this project by AES and other NGOs started in March of 2016 when the Royal Manas National Park Department of Forestry began a community-led habitat restoration project. The project location, in the village of Tanzema, has been home to both humans and wild elephants for many generations. The local residents have become the activity leaders, planners, and the laborers in an effort to replenish the area around the community to a more elephant and human-friendly ecosystem. By creating elephant-enticing areas around the villages they are hoping to mitigate human-elephant conflict.

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Since the last update, jackfruit tree seeds have been sown, 200 napier grass stumps have been planted, along with 50 banana plants. The local villagers have agreed to sow new jackfruit seeds every season, while the grasses will take root and spread like annual wild grasses that self sow. The watering hole and artificial mineral salt licks (replenished by the villagers) have proven critical components to keeping the elephants satiated.

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For the villagers and their dedication, a clean water system was installed on the perimeter of the village. Also a multi unit community center has been constructed and finishing touches on the inside are nearing completion. Lastly, a kilometer-long walking trail was developed to provide the experience of watching wild animals at a safe distance. This trail is also used for herding cattle within the village.

We are so proud of the work from the villagers and the Royal Manas National Park Department of Forestry. This project is the first of its kind in Bhutan and they were recognized by the Balipara Foundation based in Assam during the Eastern Himalaya Naturenomics Forum in November 2018.

A BIG Trunks Up to the First Elephant Friendly Village in Bhutan!

Community Engagement & Elephant Habitat Restoration in Royal Manas National Park, Bhutan

Villagers that worked on the construction

Villagers maintaining the mineral salts around the watering holes

Last March, Jigme Dorji of the Royal Manas National Park Department of Forestry approached us for funds to begin a community-led habitat restoration project.  The village of Tanzema has lived with wild elephants near them for generations and they are now dedicated to restoring their habitat.

The goal for the local residents and farmers is to mitigate human-elephant conflict in the most effective and wildlife-friendly manner as possible. This includes replanting of forest areas to encourage natural foraging, providing a clean water source and mineral salt lick, and the construction of a community center.  It is important to note that this project was proposed by the villagers and the labor is being done by them.

The beginning stages of the community center

While the clean water system is being built to deter elephants and keep them on the perimeter of their city, it is also helping to provide the people of the community with clean drinking water.  While the watering holes will be most useful in winter, the salt licks are replenished monthly.  The sites seem to be getting much traffic from elephants!

We are happy to report that the community center is 50% complete.  It will have a meeting hall, a prayer center, two guest houses, and bathrooms.

So far the villagers have encountered one elephant that came into the village that stayed for two days; they were able to chase him away without the use of any negative stimuli.  Two cows were taken and eaten by Bengal tigers during the project which only strengthened the resolved of the villagers to find and use the best methods possible to keep both people and animals safe.

HDPE piping supplies for the water systems

In the next year, the community hopes to plant native trees for the elephants to eat and construct a nature trail.  We very much look forward to continued updates from this area.  We are inspired by the villagers’ dedication to protecting and coexisting with their natural surroundings.  

Human-Elephant Conflict Program for Schools

HEC in Bhutan has become an increasing problem, especially around the perimeter of the Royal Manas National Park (RMNP).  Mr. Yeshy Wangdi is a forestry official from the area and has conducted several HEC awareness programs in nearby schools over the years.  This past year the classes were held at two local schools within the RMNP buffer zone.  The goal is for students to learn the natural history, biology, and ultimately the cultural value of elephants within their society.  The hope is for these children to go on and teach their relatives and other community members about the importance of saving elephants within their country and how to coexist peacefully.  The program consisted of a PowerPoint presentation, a role-play enactment of elephant conflict, prizes, and a Q&A session.  After following up with the students, Mr. Wangdi found and overall 75% increase in positive attitude towards elephants from the kids.  We’d call that a success!

Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation Workshops

“The current trend of human-elephant conflict in Bhutan is very scary.  This is because it involves two important dimensions – the livelihood of the poor farmer and conservation of the endangered Asian elephants.”

The above quote, submitted by Yeshey Wangdi, Senior Park Ranger, Royal Manas National Park, is in his final report covering the first series of community workshops.   Ranger Wangdi is offering HEC mitigation workshops to communities created by government resettlement in areas that were previously forested elephant corridors and are now experiencing a steadily increasing incidence of human-elephant conflict.  The workshop includes some general biology and behavior of elephants as well as the do’s and don’ts of living with elephants.  Mini dramas were performed to help the people understand more peaceful ways of coexisting with these large and strong pachyderms, and school bags were given to all students and teachers, with their agreement to share the HEC awareness program with their nearby communities.

As Ranger Wangdi so succinctly states, “HEC entails need for strategy that will favorably create win-win for both the parties (people and elephants)”.

Elephants on the Line - Bhutan and India

Mamatha

Part of the AES mission statement is “to increase awareness and offer support for human-elephant coexistence to help protect the needs and future of the Asian elephants”.  Over the past couple of years, AES has supported Mamatha Sathyanarayana,  a high school Biology teacher from Mysore, India.   Along with her teaching responsibilities, she is also involved with wildlife conservation. She facilitates workshops about wildlife co-existence (elephants, in particular)  for the local village children.  In October 2014 we had the opportunity to support Mamatha to attend and facilitate educational workshops in Bhutan. The North East India and Bhutan border is home to a sizable population of Asian elephants.  Elephants on the Line (EoL) is an organization that is collaborating between Bhutan, India and US partners to address the major human-elephant conflict issues in this area.   In 2014 the focus of EoL is the Udalguri District of Assam, India, which has one of the highest HEC rates in all of Asia. The following is Mamatha’s account of the workshops:

Elephants on the Line Education Workshops

Bhutan and Assam, India, October 2014

Role playing exercise

Elephants on the Line (EoL) is a trans-boundary, community based project that has been initiated to help local communities in Northern Assam and Southern Bhutan deal with human elephant conflict by providing awareness activities and encouraging villagers to voluntarily participate in conservation activities. From October 3-5, a two-day education workshop was held at the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan. The workshop was organized by the EoL project and was attended by about 20 staff from the Bhutan Forest Department, as well as some volunteers from the Assam EoL project.

During the workshop there were presentations about the status of elephants in Bhutan and in Assam, elephant behavior, causes of Human-Elephant conflict (HEC), and addressing conflict through coexistence.  I led the workshop components that specifically addressed coexistence and used various activities to share information and engage participants.  The activities included having participants develop short dramas, participate in a role play situation, and learning how to use energizers to refocus participants’ attention and teach. While at the Park all participants also enjoyed an evening session about elephant husbandry and care with the camp elephants that are used to patrol the park.

Workshop participants

From Oct 6-8, a second workshop was held in Orang National Park, Assam (India).  The area affected is Udalguri District; there have been many human casualties from HEC as well as some elephant casualties in this region. In this workshop all of the participants were local villagers who are directly affected by HEC.  The workshop started with presentations about the causes of HEC, as well as the use of maps and GPS units to identify elephant habitat.  We also presented a few activities related to coexistence and the participants were very engaged. 

AES would like to thank Mamatha for her hard work for Asian elephants in India.  We are proud to support local people that are so dedicated to saving this amazing species and finding ways for elephants and humans to co-exist.