In the past few years, wild elephants have entered the state of Madhya Pradesh. Scientists believe that these elephants have migrated from Chhattisgarh and have made Bandhavgarh and Kanha tiger reserves their home. Around 50 elephants are believed to be in Bandhavgarh and 14 are in Kanha. While this is a welcome addition to the mega fauna of these two popular Protected Areas, this ingression has created a new set of challenges for the forest department and local communities, who have never seen these 'gentle giants' in their areas before. The resident elephants were last reported in Madhya Pradesh in the late 1800s and it seems these pachyderms are now recolonising their past habitats. Very recently, a herd of elephants has also entered the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra from the adjacent Chhattisgarh state. This is a good indicator of the overall functionality of wildlife corridors in this landscape and carries tremendous potential for the conservation of elephants. However, wild elephants continue to face constant threats from land-use changes due to expansion of agriculture, linear infrastructure, urbanisation and industry. With most of the elephants in India surviving outside forests, forest fringes or in human-dominated landscapes, over 500 humans and 100 elephants are killed, and crops and property worth millions are damaged every year. Nevertheless, wild elephants continue to adapt and shift ranges to find suitable habitats, and as their existing habitats saturate, colonisation of habitats that they once inhabited centuries ago is becoming an emerging trend.

Elephants have settled in Motinala Range Kanha Tiger Reserve (KTR) and Phen Wildlife Sanctuary – a satellite core of KTR. In Bandhavgarh, Khitauli, Magadhi, Tala, Pataur and Panpatha ranges have recorded the presence of elephants. Unfortunately, loss of property and life has been reported due to conflicts related to elephants in Bandhavgarh and Kanha. This is a matter of concern and needs to be addressed with utmost priority. 

With the support of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), The Corbett foundation (TCF) has embarked on a 3-year project to bring about a holistic rural development in 15 villages of Sawantwadi block in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. The project addresses the needs and challenges of livelihood, education, natural resource management/conservation, water and sanitation, awareness generation and conservation education in these villages. The project is in tune with the holistic approach that TCF believes in and practices to address the conservation issues around wilderness areas. The area around Amboli-Dodamarg Conservation Reserve, where many of the villages are situated, is a part of the Western Ghats and acts as a corridor for the dispersing population of tigers and other threatened wildlife between the forest areas of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. 

TCF has begun its interventions at all levels. Many families suffer losses due to the feeding of tender coconuts by langurs and giant squirrels. Therefore, to mitigate this conflict, local women self-help groups were provided training to prepare coir door mats and other products from the fallen coconuts, thus ensuring an alternative and additional livelihood activity for these families. 

A total of 600+ households have also been provided with energy-efficient cookstoves to reduce their dependency on firewood sourced from nearby forest areas.   

TCF is grateful to NPCI for this valuable funding support towards this important project. 

To develop sustainable livelihood around eco-tourism, 15 villagers selected from the Tamenglong district were taken to a four-day exposure and learning visit to Khonoma village in Nagaland. Tipped as the first green village in India, Konoma translates to a much bigger vision than merely a green village. It embodies a belief system that goes beyond the passive educational system in our schools. The most sustainable agricultural methods practiced in the village could challenge any science expert. The learnings of the Khonoma model based on sustainable harvesting of Alder sps for fuelwood could be replicated at other places using locally suitable plant sps. Khonoma is a society that still believes in itself. The cumulative wisdom transcending for generations is a heritage now. The Naga participants from Tamenglong and the hosts from Khonoma share a common ancestry. Still, there exists a significant gap in the ecological wisdom of the two settlements. The participating group was split into three sub-groups and stayed with three different families in Khonoma to gain firsthand experience of homestay management and hospitality. Field visits were organised to experience the management of abandoned jhum sites to grow Alder trees for meeting the fuelwood requirement. A meeting with the representatives of the Khonoma Conservation Committee was also organised to learn from the Khonoma experience. Following the visit, two participants in the two villages of Tamenglong have been identified to replicate the eco-tourism component with modifications to suit the local conditions in Manipur. 

TCF is grateful to IndiGo Reach for supporting this initiative in one of the remotest corners of the country.