A long-term study of Asian elephants and their relationships with people has helped understand and minimise conflicts  in a landscape of forests and plantations in the Valparai plateau.

Wild elephants and people both modify the landscapes they live in: elephants by their movements and foraging behaviour and people by clearing forest lands for agriculture and other activities. With the advent of agriculture, the increased interface between elephants and people has led to interactions and confrontations, including negative ones causing loss of human and elephant lives, crops, habitat, and property.  This issue, labeled human - elephant conflict (HEC), is often due to changing land-use patterns coupled to loss of elephant habitats and resultant conflicts over resources such as food and space. Understanding the causes, patterns, and nature of relationships between people and elephants is vital to minimise negative interactions and build coexistence.

The Anamalai hills supports the second largest elephant population in India. Beginning in the late 1800s, large expanses of rainforest were cleared for plantations leaving behind smaller fragments in the Valparai plateau. From 2002 onwards, we began studies of elephants in this landscape, including on elephant behaviour through individual identification, patterns of habitat use and ranging, and  interactions with people. Our database built over the years now includes around 100 elephants in three regular herds and other peripheral herds in the plateau. The studies identified important habitats such as riverine forest and fragments, and helped pin-point locations and seasons of conflict.

Elephants in the Valparai landscape occasionally damage buildings, such as ration shops, school noon-meal centres, and kitchens of households, where foodgrains are stored. Based on close monitoring and mapping of such incidents across years, with the support of the Forest Department and local plantation companies, we were able to target mitigation measures to avoid such incidents. This included changing the storage locations to better buildings, moving shops and stores to a safer distance away from housing colonies, installing better protection for buildings such as electric fences, and encouraging companies to insure specific buildings to offset risk. The Government has also mooted mobile ration shops for supply of essentials to local communities.

Simultaneously, we have identified measures to enable elephants to move through the landscape, which is a part of their home range, with minimal harassment and obstacles. This includes identifying areas important for elephants such as crucial habitat fragments, rivers and water bodies, and movement routes. In a few cases, electric fences that blocked movement routes were taken down by sensitive and responsible local companies, who instead deployed them in smaller areas to protect specific buildings and colonies.

One of the most serious consequences of people and elephants sharing a landscape is that it occasionally leads to human deaths due to elephants. Elephants, too, may die due to accidents, pressures, or use of inappropriate retaliatory measures. In the Anamalai hills, our studies showed that lack of information on elephant presence and movements was a primary reason behind unexpected encounters with elephants, conflict incidence, and resulting human fatalities. In order to reduce this, we developed and implemented an innovative early warning system (EWS).

The system, initiated from 2006 onwards, is coupled to an elephant informant network, which receives and passes on messages about elephant presence to people in the landscape. With the advent and widespread use of mobile phones, the EWS also initiated bulk-SMS system to inform, on a daily basis, specific people among more than 2800 subscribers. When elephants are found in an area, a personalized elephant location alert message is sent to people living in the vicinity. Elephant presence is also communicated as a crawl on the local cable TV channel. Additionally, GSM-based elephant alert red indicator lights are mounted in over 25 prominent locations and remotely operated when elephants are within 1 km. These methods have been well received and implemented by the community and are proving to be effective. A prototype GSM-based voice system for public transport buses to inform passengers before they alight is also being tested.

A documentary by Evanescence Studios

The measures in place in the Valparai landscape have helped reduce the incidence of damages to buildings, bring down the number of human and elephant deaths in the landscape, and continue to facilitate movement of elephants. Our pioneering work on deployment of early warning systems has received support from the state Forest Department and local plantation companies, who have now extended and deployed such systems to benefit more areas and people. The Forest Department has also created a rapid response team to assist local people in time of need.

Collaborative research is adding more layers to our work on elephants in this landscape, even as we begin to extend our work elsewhere. This includes research into elephant behaviour and stress physiology, impacts of early warning systems, participation and attitudes of local community, extension into other Western Ghats landscapes such as in Satyamangalam and Nilgiris.

Broadly, our work reveals the crucial importance of understanding  aspects at the level of individual elephants. Our work suggests that there are no problem elephants, while there are problem locations. By assisting and empowering local communities to use science-based, innovative, and pro-active early warning systems and mitigation measures, we can build coexistence between people and elephants in the long run.

As human-elephant interactions in shared landscapes continue to rise across India, the need for effective conservation strategies and human safety measures is more urgent than ever. In the Hassan region of Karnataka, where coffee plantations dominate the landscape, the daily interactions between people and elephants have led to significant challenges and conflicts. The Hassan district encompasses 2779 administrative villages; people and elephants overlap in about 500 of them, leading to intense human-elephant conflict. The area serves as a critical connecting habitat for elephant populations between Kodagu and Bhadra Tiger Reserve. This region supports around 55-65 elephants, while over 200,000 people depend on coffee and paddy cultivation for their livelihoods. The Hassan region is primarily dominated by coffee plantations, with paddy being grown in fallow areas in between coffee plantations, interspersing with monoculture plantations of Acacia and Eucalyptus, and natural vegetation areas of forest fragments and widely distributed habitations pose a challenge to elephants and people as they come into conflict with each other over space and resources. The region has been debated within both the government and scientific communities to find ways to address human-elephant conflict. More importantly, addressing human safety issues caused by elephants has become a high priority.

Over the past decade, the NCF team has been conducting scientific and conservation research and working with the Karnataka Forest Department and local communities to address human safety concerns by analysing elephant movements and identifying key habitats, land use impacts on elephants' use of villages, and circumstances that have led to human fatalities and crop damage. Our research highlights the importance of monoculture plantations of Acacia and Eucalyptus, as well as forest fragments, which represent less than 7% of the total project area, act as shelter and feeding grounds for elephants as they move through production habitats. We found that 90% of human fatalities (56 of 62 incidents) caused by elephants between 2010 and 2026 resulted from a lack of awareness of elephants' presence and their movements. 

This has prompted us to initiate technology-based early warning systems, including the replication of SMS alerts and the introduction of GSM-based Digital Display Boards, in partnership with the Karnataka Forest Department and local communities. About 8,600 families subscribed to SMS alerts, helping residents to avoid encounters with elephants in 350 villages. Seventeen Digital Display Boards have been installed at key junctions that help people living in 55 villages. The forest department has also implemented information boards and public announcement systems to improve awareness about elephant locations. These technological systems have been well-regarded and welcomed by local communities, as they help residents prepare and make informed decisions to avoid encountering elephants. 

However, the situation is not without its complexities. Over the years, the installation of solar-powered electric fences around coffee plantations has pushed elephants into new villages in Belur and Sakleshpur, where people have not experienced elephant presence for over three decades. Moreover, fences on either side of the estate roads may push elephants to use pathways, increasing the chance of encounters. This shift in elephant use of new villages, along with the conversion of National Highway 75 from two to four lanes, obstructed their movement, blocked access to habitat refugia, and restricted them in 150 villages. As a result, the human-elephant conflict situation in these new areas increased significantly, with an average of six human death incidents annually from 2023- 2026. Given the sensitivity of human-elephant conflict in new areas, we have expanded and strengthened early-warning and outreach activities in these villages to prevent encounters between people and elephants. 

Implementation of the “Coexist” mobile application

With advances in mobile networks, NCF is implementing the "Coexist" mobile application. This innovative tool, currently in the testing phase, will send real-time notifications to users about nearby elephant activity, thus promoting safer interactions. We will be rolling out the app in collaboration with the Karnataka Forest Department and local people. This Android app sends automated push notifications about elephant presence, promoting safer interactions between humans and elephants. If successful, this initiative could set a precedent for similar technology-driven solutions across India.

Experimenting with Solar-powered Elephant Alert Traffic Lights

Additionally, NCF is exploring the introduction of solar-powered elephant alert traffic lights. Many rural communities rely on roadways and pathways that are frequented by both humans and elephants, particularly at night. The absence of adequate communication systems significantly increases the risk of accidental encounters. Establishing these alert systems could play a crucial role in enhancing safety for both species.

Outreach through street plays

Outreach activities to create awareness among local communities are an important channel for informing residents about precautionary measures in elephant-prone areas. Continuing such activities in villages draws people’s attention to the seriousness of the do’s and don’ts and alleviates apprehensions about elephants as killers. These activities also help residents develop a positive attitude towards elephants. In this regard, we conduct street plays by professional artists from Mysore (Prithvi Trust) in conflict-prone villages to raise awareness of the importance of elephants in the landscape, communicate the precautionary steps residents should take to avoid encounters with elephants, and promote human-elephant coexistence. 

Impact of technology and stakeholders’ participation in enhancing safety to lives

India, with high human density and the largest population of Asian elephants, experiences daily interactions between people and elephants across numerous landscapes. Establishing exclusive zones for humans and elephants remains a distant aspiration. The only viable path is to adopt proactive management of elephants and conflicts through innovative solutions and by involving local communities to promote coexistence between elephants and people.

The use of technological interventions is gaining momentum in wildlife conservation worldwide. The initiatives implemented in the Valparai and Hassan regions are simple, innovative, and participatory, and align with people's daily lifestyles. These two landscapes serve as reference landscapes for effective, proactive management of human-elephant interactions to promote coexistence.

These collective efforts have reduced human fatalities from an annual average of five (2010-20) to one (2020-2026) across 350 villages. However, the challenge lies in shifting the narrative from conflict to coexistence, with people’s acceptance of elephants as part of their landscape. 

In conclusion, the journey towards sustainable human-elephant coexistence is fraught with challenges and opportunities for innovation and collaboration. We believe there are ample opportunities to create an environment in which the two protagonists can live with minimal friction. Hence, the project tackles the critical challenge of human-elephant conflict through innovative technology and community engagement that encourages others to adopt a science-based, participatory approach to elephant conservation in human-modified landscapes. The project aims to build a model for human-elephant coexistence.

Over the past decade, the NCF team has been conducting scientific and conservation research and working with the Karnataka Forest Department and local communities to address human safety concerns by analysing elephant movements and identifying key habitats, land use impacts on elephants' use of villages, and circumstances that have led to human fatalities and crop damage. Our research highlights the importance of monoculture plantations of Acacia and Eucalyptus, as well as forest fragments, which represent less than 7% of the total project area, act as shelter and feeding grounds for elephants as they move through production habitats. We found that 90% of human fatalities (56 of 62 incidents) caused by elephants between 2010 and 2026 resulted from a lack of awareness of elephants' presence and their movements.  

This has prompted us to initiate technology-based early warning systems, including the replication of SMS alerts and the introduction of GSM-based Digital Display Boards, in partnership with the Karnataka Forest Department and local communities. About 8,600 families subscribed to SMS alerts, helping residents to avoid encounters with elephants in 350 villages. Seventeen Digital Display Boards have been installed at key junctions that help people living in 55 villages. The forest department has also implemented information boards and public announcement systems to improve awareness about elephant locations. These technological systems have been well-regarded and welcomed by local communities, as they help residents prepare and make informed decisions to avoid encountering elephants. 

However, the situation is not without its complexities. Over the years, the installation of solar-powered electric fences around coffee plantations has pushed elephants into new villages in Belur and Sakleshpur, where people have not experienced elephant presence for over three decades. Moreover, fences on either side of the estate roads may push elephants to use pathways, increasing the chance of encounters. This shift in elephant use of new villages, along with the conversion of National Highway 75 from two to four lanes, obstructed their movement, blocked access to habitat refugia, and restricted them in 150 villages. As a result, the human-elephant conflict situation in these new areas increased significantly, with an average of six human death incidents annually from 2023- 2026. Given the sensitivity of human-elephant conflict in new areas, we have expanded and strengthened early-warning and outreach activities in these villages to prevent encounters between people and elephants. 

Implementation of the “Coexist” mobile application

With advances in mobile networks, NCF is implementing the "Coexist" mobile application. This innovative tool, currently in the testing phase, will send real-time notifications to users about nearby elephant activity, thus promoting safer interactions. We will be rolling out the app in collaboration with the Karnataka Forest Department and local people. This Android app sends automated push notifications about elephant presence, promoting safer interactions between humans and elephants. If successful, this initiative could set a precedent for similar technology-driven solutions across India.

Experimenting with Solar-powered Elephant Alert Traffic Lights

Additionally, NCF is exploring the introduction of solar-powered elephant alert traffic lights. Many rural communities rely on roadways and pathways that are frequented by both humans and elephants, particularly at night. The absence of adequate communication systems significantly increases the risk of accidental encounters. Establishing these alert systems could play a crucial role in enhancing safety for both species.

Outreach through street plays

Outreach activities to create awareness among local communities are an important channel for informing residents about precautionary measures in elephant-prone areas. Continuing such activities in villages draws people’s attention to the seriousness of the do’s and don’ts and alleviates apprehensions about elephants as killers. These activities also help residents develop a positive attitude towards elephants. In this regard, we conduct street plays by professional artists from Mysore (Prithvi Trust) in conflict-prone villages to raise awareness of the importance of elephants in the landscape, communicate the precautionary steps residents should take to avoid encounters with elephants, and promote human-elephant coexistence. 

Impact of technology and stakeholders’ participation in enhancing safety to lives

India, with high human density and the largest population of Asian elephants, experiences daily interactions between people and elephants across numerous landscapes. Establishing exclusive zones for humans and elephants remains a distant aspiration. The only viable path is to adopt proactive management of elephants and conflicts through innovative solutions and by involving local communities to promote coexistence between elephants and people.

The use of technological interventions is gaining momentum in wildlife conservation worldwide. The initiatives implemented in the Valparai and Hassan regions are simple, innovative, and participatory, and align with people's daily lifestyles. These two landscapes serve as reference landscapes for effective, proactive management of human-elephant interactions to promote coexistence.

These collective efforts have reduced human fatalities from an annual average of five (2010-20) to one (2020-2026) across 350 villages. However, the challenge lies in shifting the narrative from conflict to coexistence, with people’s acceptance of elephants as part of their landscape. 

In conclusion, the journey towards sustainable human-elephant coexistence is fraught with challenges and opportunities for innovation and collaboration. We believe there are ample opportunities to create an environment in which the two protagonists can live with minimal friction. Hence, the project tackles the critical challenge of human-elephant conflict through innovative technology and community engagement that encourages others to adopt a science-based, participatory approach to elephant conservation in human-modified landscapes. The project aims to build a model for human-elephant coexistence.