Project Elephant

PROJECT ELEPHANT

According to the Indian Wildlife Protection Act  the Project Tiger included in:

• The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (Schedule I )
•  (CITES) – The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (Appendix I).

The Indian Elephant – Elephas maximus occurs in

Central and southern Western Ghats,

North-east India,

Eastern India and

Northern India and

Southern peninsular India (in some parts)

Total- 16 States / UTs implemented in , viz. Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal.

Project Elephant was launched by the Government of India (GOI) in the year 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with the following objectives:

1. To protect elephants, their habitat & corridors
2. To address issues of man-animal conflict
3. The welfare of the domesticated elephants and their breeding,
4. To assist the states to protect the existing population of elephants,
5. To protect elephants from poaching.
6. To ensure long term survival of identified viable populations of elephants in their natural habitat.

Elephant population estimates for 2007 and 2012 in India

(Source: MoEF, 2013)