Human-elephant Conflict Research Articles

Analytical review of methods and tools for assessing crop damage caused by elephants: implications of new information technologies

The devastation of crops by elephants is increasingly fuelling the anger of farmers in the human-elephant conflict. However, the crop damage attributed to elephants by farmers appears disproportionate. Despite the fact that observed crop damage has an impact on the lives of local populations, the assessment of damage remains a controversial issue. The multitude of evaluation methods used by informants makes it difficult to compare results from different areas and to harmonise and/or transpose management strategies. It is therefore wise to take an interest in evaluation methods, to know their constraints, their advantages, and their connection points. This is the purpose of this study, which offers a bibliographic synthesis of the subject based on documentary research and a synthetic analysis of articles and documents. Two types of damage assessment emerge: quantitative and qualitative. Each type of assessment requires different assessment methods, which can be combined to obtain more accurate results. A qualitative assessment can be carried out through interviews, questionnaires, bibliographic research/review, etc., and a quantitative assessment through a total site visit, a visit to conflict hot and cold spots, or a visit to a random sample of the site. Ratings can be combined because qualitative rating is subjective. Many informants use it because it is easy to carry out and gives an idea of the state of devastation of cultures and sociological constraints. Quantitative assessment requires resources but provides results on the ground. However, combining different types of assessment improves the accuracy, reliability of results, and understanding of the conflict. This bibliographic synthesis also reveals that damage assessment tools are today moving towards new information and communication technologies, because these make the work easier and more practical while improving precision.

Human-elephant conflict in the African rainforest landscape: crop-raiding situations and damage mitigation strategies in rural Gabon

While the conservation of forest elephants is a global concern, human-elephant conflict (HEC), especially crop-raiding by elephants, is a serious threat to both human livelihoods and conservation efforts. However, only a few studies have explored elephant crop-raiding and related damage mitigation strategies in Central Africa’s forest landscapes, which are characterized by low human and high animal densities and shifting cultivation practices. This study investigates HEC in rural Gabon, where human activities are limited, and local livelihoods are severely threatened by crop-raiding elephants. Through long-term ethnographic research and an in-depth analysis of damage mitigation practices by local people, the study unveils serious crop-raiding by elephants, leading to a significant change in the local lifestyle. Most households spend the majority of days in the field protecting crops, resulting in the village becoming almost empty. In addition to the physical burden of staying in poor living conditions, there is a considerable psychological burden for local people. Establishing effective elephant conservation systems requires understanding each local situation and evaluating the various costs to local people. To sustain livelihoods and address the challenge of HEC, it is crucial for local communities and various stakeholders to act collectively.

Elephant conservation in India: Striking a balance between coexistence and conflicts

AbstractIn the human‐dominated epoch of the Anthropocene, nations worldwide are trying to adopt a variety of strategies for biodiversity conservation, including flagship‐based approaches. The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) plays a pivotal role as a flagship species in India's biodiversity conservation efforts, particularly within its tropical forest ecosystems. As the country harboring the largest Asian elephant population among the 13 range countries, India's conservation strategies offer valuable insights for other range countries. This study elucidates India's elephant conservation paradigm by outlining a historical account of elephant conservation in the country and examining the current administrative and legal frameworks. These are instrumental in implementing strategies aimed at maintaining sustainable elephant populations. Our study also analyzes trends in elephant populations and negative human–elephant interactions, drawing upon data from a centralized government database. Our findings indicate that the elephant population in India is reasonably stable, estimated at between 25,000 and 30,000 individuals. This figure constitutes nearly two‐thirds of the global Asian elephant population. India's elephant population occupies ~163,000 km2 of diverse habitats, comprising 5% of the country's land area, with their distribution spread across the northern, northeastern, east‐central, and southern regions. This distribution has shown fluxes, particularly in the east‐central region, where large‐scale elephant dispersals have been observed. Between 2009 and 2020, human–elephant conflicts in India have resulted in an average annual loss of 450 (±63.7) human lives. During the same period, the central and state governments paid an average of US$ 4.79 million (±1.97) annually as ex gratia for property losses. Recognizing the critical nature of these conflicts, India has implemented various measures to manage this pressing conservation challenge. Overall, sustaining the world's largest extant population of wild elephants in the midst of India's human‐dominated landscapes is enabled by a robust institutional policy and legal framework dedicated to conservation. This commitment is further reinforced by strong political will and a deep‐rooted cultural affinity towards elephants and nature, which fosters a higher degree of tolerance and support for conservation efforts.

Mapping the potential distribution of Asian elephants: Implications for conservation and human–elephant conflict mitigation in South and Southeast Asia

Asian elephants play a pivotal role in their ecosystem. Understanding the potential distribution area of this species is vital for effective conservation efforts and mitigation of human-elephant conflicts. In this study, we used the maximum entropy to simulate the potential distribution area of Asian elephants across South and Southeast Asia, leveraging Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) and presence data sourced from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The analysis revealed that the potential distribution area of Asian elephants spans 530,418 km2 (10.59% of the study area), with significant potential distribution areas observed in Indonesia (136,890 km2) and Malaysia (119,497 km2). Vegetation type emerged as the dominant environmental factor influencing model outcomes, encompassing aspects such as broadleaved evergreen tree coverage, broadleaved deciduous closed tree coverage and EVI. The potential distribution area of Asian elephants overlaps with regions inhabited by 55.25 million people, with 6.07 million people residing in highly suitable habitats. India and Malaysia have high potential for human-elephant conflict (HEC) due to the high number of people living in potential and highly suitable habitats for elephants. Bangladesh and Nepal, on the other hand, have fewer people living in these habitats suitable for elephants, but they face relatively high human population density in these areas.

Ecosystem management to reduce human–elephant conflict in Thailand

Ecosystem management to reduce human–elephant conflict in Thailand

Land use drives differential resource selection by African elephants in the Greater Mara Ecosystem, Kenya

Understanding drivers of space use by African elephants is critical to their conservation and management, particularly given their large home-ranges, extensive resource requirements, ecological role as ecosystem engineers, involvement in human-elephant conflict and as a target species for ivory poaching. In this study we investigated resource selection by elephants inhabiting the Greater Mara Ecosystem in Southwestern Kenya in relation to three distinct but spatially contiguous management zones: (i) the government protected Maasai Mara National Reserve (ii) community-owned wildlife conservancies, and (iii) elephant range outside any formal wildlife protected area. We combined GPS tracking data from 49 elephants with spatial covariate information to compare elephant selection across these management zones using a hierarchical Bayesian framework, providing insight regarding how human activities structure elephant spatial behavior. We also contrasted differences in selection by zone across several data strata: sex, season and time-of-day. Our results showed that the strongest selection by elephants was for closed-canopy forest and the strongest avoidance was for open-cover, but that selection behavior varied significantly by management zone and selection for cover was accentuated in human-dominated areas. When contrasting selection parameters according to strata, variability in selection parameter values reduced along a protection gradient whereby elephants tended to behave more similarly (limited plasticity) in the human dominated, unprotected zone and more variably (greater plasticity) in the protected reserve. However, avoidance of slope was consistent across all zones. Differences in selection behavior was greatest between sexes, followed by time-of-day, then management zone and finally season (where seasonal selection showed the least differentiation of the contrasts assessed). By contrasting selection coefficients across strata, our analysis quantifies behavioural switching related to human presence and impact displayed by a cognitively advanced megaherbivore. Our study broadens the knowledge base about the movement ecology of African elephants and builds our capacity for both management and conservation.

Effects of climate, land use, and human population change on human–elephant conflict risk in Africa and Asia

Human-wildlife conflict is an important factor in the modern biodiversity crisis and has negative effects on both humans and wildlife (such as property destruction, injury, or death) that can impede conservation efforts for threatened species. Effectively addressing conflict requires an understanding of where it is likely to occur, particularly as climate change shifts wildlife ranges and human activities globally. Here, we examine how projected shifts in cropland density, human population density, and climatic suitability-three key drivers of human-elephant conflict-will shift conflict pressures for endangered Asian and African elephants to inform conflict management in a changing climate. We find that conflict risk (cropland density and/or human population density moving into the 90th percentile based on current-day values) increases in 2050, with a larger increase under the high-emissions "regional rivalry" SSP3 - RCP 7.0 scenario than the low-emissions "sustainability" SSP1 - RCP 2.6 scenario. We also find a net decrease in climatic suitability for both species along their extended range boundaries, with decreasing suitability most often overlapping increasing conflict risk when both suitability and conflict risk are changing. Our findings suggest that as climate changes, the risk of conflict with Asian and African elephants may shift and increase and managers should proactively mitigate that conflict to preserve these charismatic animals.

Cocoa, livelihoods, and deforestation within the Tridom landscape in the Congo Basin: A spatial analysis.

In the context of emerging international trade regulations on deforestation-free commodities, the drivers of households' deforestation in conservation landscapes are of interest. The role of households' livelihood strategies including cocoa production, and the effects of human-elephant conflict are investigated. Using a unique dataset from a survey of 1035 households in the Tridom landscape in the Congo basin, the spatial autoregressive model shows that: (1) Households imitate the deforestation decisions of their neighbors; (2) A marginally higher income from cocoa production-based livelihood portfolios is associated with six to seven times higher deforestation compared to other livelihood strategies with a significant spillover effect on neighboring households' deforestation. The increase in income, mainly from cocoa production-based livelihoods in open-access systems can have a negative effect on forests. Households with a higher share of auto-consumption are associated with lower deforestation. If economic development brings better market access and lower auto-consumption shares, this is likely to positively influence deforestation. Without proper land use planning/zoning associated with incentives, promoting sustainable agriculture, such as complex cocoa agroforestry systems, may lead to forest degradation and deforestation.

Adrenal and metabolic hormones demonstrate risk-reward trade-offs for African elephants foraging in human-dominated landscapes.

A key driver of the African savannah elephant population decline is the loss of habitat and associated human-elephant conflict. Elephant physiological responses to these pressures, however, are largely unknown. To address this knowledge gap, we evaluated faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) concentrations as an indicator of adrenal activity and faecal thyroid metabolite (fT3) concentrations as an indicator of metabolic activity in relation to land use, livestock density, and human landscape modification, while controlling for the effects of seasonality and primary productivity (measured using the normalized difference vegetation index). Our best-fit model found that fGCM concentrations to be elevated during the dry season, in areas with higher human modification index values, and those with more agropastoral activities and livestock. There was also a negative relationship between primary productivity and fGCM concentrations. We found fT3 concentrations to be higher during the wet season, in agropastoral landscapes, in locations with higher human activity, and in areas with no livestock. This study highlights how elephants balance nutritional rewards and risks in foraging decisions when using human-dominated landscapes, results that can serve to better interpret elephant behaviour at the human-wildlife interface and contribute to more insightful conservation strategies.

A Review of the Modern Methodological Approaches to Tracking Elephant Intrusion in Sri Lanka

This review aims to address the prevailing issues of elephant intrusion and the subsequent Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) in Sri Lanka, particularly in villages where the seasonal concentration of elephants can be observed in agricultural and surrounding wetlands. The episodic gatherings of elephants in these specific areas are a serious concern due to the lack of integrated control measures. The incidents of elephant gatherings are increasing in rural villages, especially during the off-season of paddy cultivation or nearing the harvesting period, as well as during the blooming times of fresh grass in the riverbeds. These interactions with people along their range lead to the onset of HEC scenarios. If these elephant gatherings are left without solutions, it could pose a significant threat to the affected areas, settlements, and economic values, making them highly vulnerable. Therefore, this paper suggests a holistic approach that integrates modern techniques with a literature review to explore and assess existing methods and identify viable ones to control elephant intrusion and mitigate the impacts on the affected areas and Sri Lanka as a whole.

Interspecific competition between ants and African honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata) may undermine the effectiveness of elephant beehive–deterrents in Africa

AbstractBeehive deterrents are commonly used to mitigate human–elephant conflict and protect woody vegetation. To ensure hive activity, reduce abscondment risks, and maintain deterrent effectiveness, resident bee colonies require supplementary feeding during periods of low resource availability. However, our study found that ants frequently consume the supplementary feed in open feeders intended for bees. Anoplolepis custodiens was the most numerically dominant species that excluded bees from the feeders, followed by Camponotus and Crematogaster spp. With higher ant abundance, the predicted probability of zero bees being present at feeders increased up to 82%. This competition may undermine the efficacy of beehive deterrents as a conflict mitigation tool. We developed a simple and effective ant exclusion method that raised the overall predicted probability of bees' presence at supplementary feeding stations from 32% to 68%. Our findings suggest that innovative solutions to exclude ants from supplementary feed may improve the implementation and success of this conflict mitigation method across Africa.

PERSEPSI MASYARAKAT TERHADAP KEBERADAAN GAJAH DI DESA TEGAL YOSO KABUPATEN LAMPUNG TIMUR

The public's perception of the existence of elephants, which are often on community cultivated land and outside forest areas, is very important to study, as a guide in mitigating conflicts between humans and elephants. This conflict has economic, socio-cultural and ecological impacts. This research aims to analyze the economic, social and cultural impacts of human-elephant conflict, based on community perceptions. This research was carried out in Tegal Yoso Village, East Lampung Province. This research method was carried out by means of field surveys and interviews with the community as many as 30 respondents. The results of this research show that people understand that elephants are considered protected animals, but elephants are also destroyers of people's crops or plant pests. The economic impact that occurs is the size of the potential harvest of agricultural crops, especially corn, rice and cassava. This conflict causes crop failure losses of 30% -100% of agricultural crops. On the other hand, elephant activity results in damage to work huts, lookout towers, human injuries, broken bones and even fatalities. This conflict also resulted in socio-cultural impacts on the community, such as horizontal conflicts between communities and vertical conflicts, namely between the community and Way Kambas National Park officials. On the other hand, the community agrees that there is social responsibility in the form of mutual cooperation in controlling elephant attacks. Another effort that has been implemented is the construction of embankments and canals. The community agrees that efforts to resolve the conflict between elephants and humans continue to be made. The community hopes that Way Kambas National Park can provide the latest innovations in overcoming conflict.Keywords: conflict, economic and social-cultural, impact, elephants, people

All aboard the 'Elephant Express', a practical solution for human-elephant coexistence

One of the most significant challenges for elephant conservation is managing negative interactions that occur where people and elephants use the same space and compete for resources. Human–elephant conflict (HEC) incidents often manifest in direct impacts to humans or elephants. However, some HEC situations result in long-term risk and chronic stress among communities living with elephants. Indirect impacts or opportunity costs, such as people being disadvantaged by the presence of elephants are harder to quantify and are not often addressed. In the eastern Okavango Panhandle, in northern Botswana, 17,500 people share space and resources with 18,000 elephants. Elephants here use distinct, historical corridors on a daily basis, moving from dryland resources to the wetlands of the Okavango Delta. Confrontations with elephants occur most frequently where these elephant corridors cross the main service road in the area, increasing fear among people walking to work, children going to school, parents sending children to school, and the elderly or expectant mothers accessing medical care. This constant fear contributes to chronic stress and can drive negative perceptions towards elephants. A novel intervention has been introduced to help reduce the costs of HEC and foster coexistence, in the Okavango Panhandle area—"The Elephant Express". The bus service was established through a multi-stakeholder collaboration to provide primary school children and medical personnel safe transport across elephant corridors. The complementary bus service have reduced stress from living with elephants, increased attendance and performance in schools, and facilitated improved access to medical care.

One year after the rollout of the Coexistence Toolbox for reducing human-elephant conflict

One year after the rollout of the Coexistence Toolbox for reducing human-elephant conflict

Factors affecting movement pattern of Sumatran elephant in Air Rami Production Forest, Bengkulu, Indonesia

Abstract. Laksmitha N, Santosa Y, Rahman DA. 2023. Factors affecting movement pattern of Sumatran elephant in Air Rami Production Forest, Bengkulu, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 24: 5539-5546. The decline in the quality and quantity of elephant natural habitat is a trigger factor for human-elephant conflict and results in a decrease in the elephant population. Research related to movement and habitat factors determining elephant movement is important to obtain information that can be used as a basis for conflict management and mitigation in the long term. We analyzed collared GPS data from a female adult elephant (n=1) in Air Rami Production Forest with recordings from November 2020 to August 2022. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the Sumatran elephant’s daily movement distance and movement period with habitat factors. The data obtained were analyzed using multiple regression analysis with tested variables, including secondary forest land cover, altitude, slope, distance from water sources, settlements, roads, and daily movement distance/movement period. The results showed that secondary forest land cover, slopes, movement period, distance from water sources, settlements, and roads influence the elephant's daily movement distance. Meanwhile, the relationship between the movement period is only influenced by slopes, distance from settlements and roads, and daily movement distance. Our study further provides information recognizing the preferred habitat factor of the Sumatran elephant, which gives stakeholders an essential tool for conservation.

Lunar phase as a dynamic landscape of fear factor affecting elephant crop raiding potential

Risk assessment relies on cost–benefit analysis by prey species in relation to predator behavior. The lunar cycle can have strong influences on the way that predator and prey species behave in their environment as light levels can influence activity patterns. By examining how lunar phase influences behavior, we may be able to better predict instances of human–wildlife conflict. As part of the Elephants and Sustainable Agriculture in Kenya project, over 5 years of study have been dedicated to mitigating human–elephant conflict in the Kasigau Wildlife Corridor in southern Kenya, focusing on the construction of deterrent fences and the collection of environmental data in and bordering the Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary. Elephant presence around crop fields was hypothesized to have a negative relationship with lunar light levels because of an increase in perceived risk from typically greater human activity with moonlight, and a positive relationship with increased darkness during the waning moon phases. The lunar phase data were compared to elephant presence within 12 m of experimental crop fields along the boundary of their wild habitat and human agricultural land to provide insight for potential crop raiding events. Elephants were present significantly less during the full and gibbous moon phases when compared to the new moon phase, and significantly more during the new and waning moon phases. Our findings are being shared with the farmers living in the KWC and may be useful to others living in high HEC areas by providing a form of early warning system that also may have broader applications in the mitigation of other human–wildlife interactions.

Human-Elephant Conflict: Trauma Surgical, Critical Care, and Health Economic Concerns

Human-Elephant Conflict: Trauma Surgical, Critical Care, and Health Economic Concerns

Testing the Effectiveness of the "Smelly" Elephant Repellent in Controlled Experiments in Semi-Captive Asian and African Savanna Elephants.

Crop-raiding by elephants is one of the most prevalent forms of human-elephant conflict and is increasing with the spread of agriculture into wildlife range areas. As the magnitude of conflicts between people and elephants increases across Africa and Asia, mitigating and reducing the impacts of elephant crop-raiding has become a major focus of conservation intervention. In this study, we tested the responses of semi-captive elephants to the "smelly" elephant repellent, a novel olfactory crop-raiding mitigation method. At two trial sites, in Zambia and Thailand, African elephants (Loxodonta africana) and Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) were exposed to the repellent, in order to test whether or not they entered an area protected by the repellent and whether they ate the food provided. The repellent elicited clear reactions from both study groups of elephants compared to control conditions. Generalised linear models revealed that the elephants were more alert, sniffed more, and vocalised more when they encountered the repellent. Although the repellent triggered a response, it did not prevent elephants from entering plots protected by the repellent or from eating crops, unlike in trials conducted with wild elephants. Personality played a role in responses towards the repellent, as the elephants that entered the experimental plots were bolder and more curious individuals. We conclude that, although captive environments provide controlled settings for experimental testing, the ecological validity of testing human-elephant conflict mitigation methods with captive wildlife should be strongly considered. This study also shows that understanding animal behaviour is essential for improving human-elephant coexistence and for designing deterrence mechanisms. Appreciating personality traits in elephants, especially amongst "problem" elephants who have a greater propensity to crop raid, could lead to the design of new mitigation methods designed to target these individuals.

Local's attitude towards African elephant conservation in and around Chebra Churchura National Park, Ethiopia.

Economic growth and development in developing countries often involves land-use changes which fragment natural areas, bring humans and wildlife into closer proximity and escalating human- wildlife conflicts. Human-wildlife conflicts impose huge costs on local people and their livelihoods. Balancing developmental activities with the conservation of mega fauna such as the African and Asian elephants (Loxodonta Africana, Elephas maximus; respectively) remains problematic. Understanding the reasoning upon which perceived risks and level of human- elephant conflict laid is critical to address societal or cultural beliefs in order to develop effective mitigation strategies. The perceived risks and level of conflict have to be properly addressed for effective planning and implementation of appropriate mitigation strategies. We studied human- elephant interactions in Chebra Churchura National Park Ethiopia (CCNP) from September 8 to October 28, 2022 and collected baseline data on human perceptions of conflicts in an area where elephant populations are increasing. To complete our study, we surveyed 800 household from 20 villages adjacent to the CCNP. The purpose of this investigation was to identify the relevance of the existing human-elephant conflict (HEC) with the attitude of local communities towards elephant conservation, the park management and perceived effective mitigation techniques. The local communities trust in the implementation of different traditional mitigation techniques is generally weak. The households interviewed were less positive towards the effectiveness of most of the traditional techniques in chasing elephants away from their farm lands. They believed that elephants had already adapted and do not respond to most of these techniques. Against the above perception in exception of their usual absence and late arrival, perception of local communities about shooting warning gun by park scouts is among the most accepted effective methods in chasing elephants from their farm lands. The majority of respondents believe that separation of elephants and humans by constricting barriers is the best solution to the problem. The idea of constructing barriers such as electric fence; ditch or concrete wall and blocking corridors between the Park boundary and the villages have become the most popular idea of local communities followed by relocating people to other safer places, as the best protection method against the elephant attack irrespective of the associated initial and maintenance costs.

Infrared barriers as a detection tool to reduce human–elephant conflicts

Elephant incursions into farms represent an important challenge for local communities and farmers living around protected areas, but also for the long‐term conservation of elephants. Early detection of elephants is a promising technique to reduce elephant presence in farms and human settlements reducing human–elephant interactions. In this study we investigated the potential of infrared barriers to detect African savannah elephants Loxodonta africana. We designed and tested battery‐operated photoelectric beam sensors in 12 locations of southern Tanzania and assessed the elephant detection accuracy through camera trapping for a total of 246 days. We obtained 1803 recordings of wildlife crossing the barriers range (30 different species of mammals and several bird and bat species). Our results show that infrared barriers, when located at 1.75–2.2 m high, detect 100% of adult elephants and ∼ 29% of subadult elephants. Giraffes were the only other wildlife species detected by the barriers. Interestingly, large vehicles were also detected, which might be helpful to prevent motorized poaching. Given the gregarious behaviour of elephant families, and the limited access for vehicles, infrared barriers may represent an interesting and cost‐effective detection system for early warning strategies in elephant‐dominated areas of Africa and Asia or for other large‐sized visitors.