India holds about 60% of the global population of the Asian elephant
(Elephas maximus) in the wild and three of the 34 global “biodiversity hotspots”.and three of the 34 global “biodiversity hotspots”.In recent decades, the country has enacted several laws to establish National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries
(Protected Areas – hereinafter referred as PAs) as
well as to conserve the forest cover and protect its wildlife.Nevertheless, such a PA network in itself is still
inadequate to conserve a wide-ranging species such as the elephant.
Elephants have large home ranges that extend across
PAs and other land-use categories including privately owned
lands.Asian elephants still
occur in isolated populations across much of their historical
ranges, and many of these are still threatened by habitat
loss and degradation, poaching for ivory and other products,
and direct conflict with humans especially in cultivated.The species is currently
listed as ‘endangered’.included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and in Schedule I of India’s Wildlife Protection Act
land