As Elephant Battle Shifts, Nepal’s Border Village Provides Clues for Coexistence

By Deepak Adhikari

Human-elephant conflicts have been as soon as concentrated within the border village of Bahundangi in japanese Nepal, however the issue has since unfold to different villages additional west on account of fast urbanization, deforestation and infrastructure enlargement which have pressured elephants into human settlements.
A number of villagers have been killed in elephant assaults in these villages in Koshi province, leaving native households residing in fixed concern as they battle to guard their houses, crops and lives from wild elephants.
Native authorities have tried options like digging trenches, putting in sirens and conducting consciousness campaigns, however many measures have proved ineffective or created new issues; restricted funding and lack of long-term planning hinder sustainable options.
Conservationists say the template from Bahundangi, the border village that learnt to reside with the elephants, might assist new battle areas keep away from losses rather more swiftly and with out losing assets.

SUNDAR HARAICHA, Nepal — A bundle of firewood lay deserted on the trail, a silent witness to tragedy. Close by, a crimson scarf, as soon as wrapped round Chandra Kumari Limbu, remained. The footprints of the wild Asian elephant that killed her have been nonetheless etched on the sting of the forest.

Two weeks after the assault, these remnants served as painful reminders of Limbu’s sudden and violent demise. The 61-year-old’s household stays in shock. Her daughter-in-law, Prishna Limbu, recalled the night of the assault. “She had just gone to collect firewood,” she says. “We never thought this would happen to us.”

At their modest tin-roofed house on the sting of Sundar Haraicha, in japanese Nepal’s Koshi province, Prishna tended to livestock, her every day routine overshadowed by grief.

For years, human-elephant battle simmered round Bahundangi, a border village in japanese Nepal. As Bahundangi, after protracted battle, discovered to reside with elephants, communities additional west — reminiscent of these in Sundar Haraicha, unaware of such prospects — now grapple with comparable trials. Their state of affairs highlights the urgency of swifter coexistence consciousness, and conduct change with fewer losses than what Bahundangi endured, conservationists say.

Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) as soon as roamed your complete east-west hall of Nepal’s southern plains, a variety of greater than 900 kilometers (560 miles). The wealthy floodplains of the perennial Koshi, Gandaki, and Karnali rivers offered ample meals, and huge areas freed from human habitation allowed the elephants to make the east-west journey with out a lot hindrance. Nonetheless, as human migration to those plains elevated and roads and infrastructure developed, conventional elephant corridors have been disrupted, splitting populations within the east and west.

The waves of migration and infrastructure enlargement persist even at the moment. Within the center hills, residents struggling water shortage and insufficient well being care and schooling are relocating to the plains of the Terai Arc. In the meantime, huge roadwork enlargement works collect momentum within the japanese Terai, to spice up commerce and connectivity with neighboring areas. This transformation is reshaping the forested panorama, as squatters settle alongside its fringes and swaths of forests are razed for roads — encroaching upon important elephant corridors. All this provides gasoline to the damaging human-elephant interactions within the area.

Radha Ghimire, a 41-year-old mom of two in Shantinagar close to the dense Char Kose Jhadi, a patch of forest positioned between the cities of Itahari and Dharan in japanese Nepal, nonetheless remembers the evening she was jolted awake by her daughter’s scream. An elephant had snatched a sack of rice from their house and was making its approach again to the forest.

“The next night, it returned while we were sleeping,” recollects Ghimire, from a migrant household.

“It ate 16 or 17 cobs of maize, scattering a few along the path to the forest.”

Ghimire’s concern is echoed by many. “The fear of elephants is constant. You never know when they will come and cause destruction or even kill someone,” she says. “Who is responsible for controlling this — the ward office, the municipality? There must be some authority that takes action.”

Beeju Poudyal, assistant professor on the Agriculture and Forestry College, Hetauda, says Bahundangi was synonymous with human-elephant battle, so many of the interventions centered on the border village. “It served as an easy entry point for elephants crossing into Nepal,” she tells Mongabay. “However, it now appears that elephants are avoiding Bahundangi and using the alternative routes further south to move west on their traditional routes, where communities are unprepared to cope with these changes.”

The world south of Bahundangi, or jhalthal (“water and land” in Nepali), additionally has dense forest cowl. On the forest’s edges, farmers domesticate crops reminiscent of rice and maize, favorites of the elephants, Poudyal says. “These conditions make jhalthal a natural corridor for their movement, allowing them to pass through while also teaching younger generations their migratory routes.”

Information reviews of human-elephant battle, which as soon as got here largely from Bahundangi, are rising from areas reminiscent of Sundar Haraicha, about 85 km (53 mi) to the west. In January alone, three villagers have been killed there following an encounter with a wild elephant. Certainly one of them was a 71-year-old farmer who, within the chaos of the nighttime encounter, fell close to a child elephant and was killed by the protecting mom.

At the very least 18 individuals have been killed in human-elephant conflicts in Koshi province over the previous decade, at the same time as no deaths have been reported in Bahundangi since 2015, in line with the provincial Ministry of Tourism, Forests and Setting. Throughout the identical interval, an almost equal variety of wild elephants have been killed, primarily because of electrocution, gunfire, and, in a single occasion, poaching.

The villages west of Bahundangi are resorting to measures tried and failed in Bahundangi many years in the past, says Shankar Luitel, a conservationist in Bahundangi. “We tried these measures and we have learned the lesson: they didn’t work,” he says.

Throughout a latest go to to Shantinagar, residents inform Mongabay that they need higher lighting, as many areas stay darkish at evening. Whereas the municipality has put in sirens in homes close to the forest, locals say this measure is insufficient. Native officers have even tried deterrents like trenches. A trench 3 meters (10 ft) deep alongside the forest edge, ordered by ward chief Madhav Koirala, has as an alternative grow to be a hazard; following heavy rains, a calf belonging to a resident fell in and drowned. “Instead of stopping elephants, it created new problems,” Koirala says.

Tanuj Gurung, one other ward consultant, says he opposed the ditch from the beginning. “Trenches might deter elephants temporarily, but they are not a long-term solution,” he says. His workplace has explored putting in electrical fences, however lack of cash and municipal curiosity stalled the challenge.

Since Nepal transitioned to a federal system of presidency in 2015, authorities in any respect ranges have accelerated building tasks, together with of roads, highways and concrete facilities. As soon as-dense forests are actually giving approach to housing developments, water parks and paved roads, disrupting the pure motion of elephants.

A flurry of street tasks is reshaping Koshi province, reducing by way of vital wildlife corridors for migratory elephants, together with the Char Kose Jhadi forest. Amongst them, a 15-km (9-mi) stretch of the East-West Freeway is being upgraded, operating from Kakkarbhitta, on Nepal’s border with India, to Laukahi close to the Koshi River. This enlargement is a part of the Asian Freeway, an bold community linking South and Southeast Asia.

Nonetheless, other than a single underpass in Chaar Aali, the freeway section — carving by way of a number of the province’s final dense forests — lacks secure crossings for wildlife. Equally, the 1,200-km (750-mi) Madan Bhandari Freeway, which snakes by way of the delicate Chure area, has moved ahead regardless of criticism from environmentalists involved about its ecological impression. That is hindering the motion of elephants and probably making them conflict-prone, says Narendra Babu Man Pradhan, an elephant researcher.

In Bahundangi, as soon as Nepal’s epicenter of human-elephant battle, communities have shifted from concern to coexistence. By grassroots volunteer groups, volunteer-facilitated compensation claims, and crop diversification, villagers have discovered to attenuate danger. These are the templates that must be shared and applied in villages like Sundar Haraicha and Shantinagar to attenuate losses and forestall human casualties, conservationists say.

“Raising awareness is crucial, but it must go hand in hand with action,” says Luitel, the conservationist from Bahundangi, drawing on his personal expertise. “Local governments need to be proactive in addressing human-elephant conflict, rather than reacting only when tragedy strikes. Communities should keep this issue at the forefront, consistently engaging with authorities. If their voices are heard and their demands for compensation are met, their attitude toward wild elephants will shift.”

It’s a view shared by Ashok Ram, the chief conservation workplace at Bardiya Nationwide Park. “When people understand wild elephants — their behavior, food habits, and the pros and cons of living alongside them — their perspective shifts. Awareness is key,” he says.

Whereas bodily boundaries like electrical fences can deter elephants, Ram says lively neighborhood participation is vital. He cites Bahundangi’s transformation: “Everyone got involved in guiding elephants safely through the area, minimizing damage to crops and property. Volunteer groups like the Rapid Response Team manage elephant encounters without causing harm,” Ram tells Mongabay.

Proactive measures reminiscent of crop diversification, as applied in Bahundangi, can even scale back conflicts, says Poudyal, the college professor and a local of Koshi province. “Growing less palatable crops, such as tea or mustard, has proven effective in deterring elephants. This not only reduces conflict but also provides economic benefits to farmers,” she says.

The street forward

In early 2022, Nepal got here up with the Wildlife Pleasant Infrastructure Pointers to stop fragmentation of vital wildlife habitats. But it surely applies solely to new tasks; present ones such because the enlargement of roads passing by way of vital elephant habitats in japanese Nepal won’t be upgraded as per the rules, posing additional challenges.

Narendra Babu Man Pradhan, a former chief warden of Chitwan Nationwide Park, says it’s essential to take action. “Simple changes, like adding green overpasses or underpasses on highways, can significantly reduce encounters,” he says. Nonetheless, such measures stay insufficient in Nepal.

Poudyal requires constructing underpasses as probably the most efficient options for making infrastructure wildlife-friendly. “These should be planned at the outset of any construction project, not as an afterthought. Unfortunately, such measures are typically concentrated around national parks, while areas directly affected by wild elephants often lack even basic infrastructure, such as signboards warning drivers about wildlife crossings,” she says.

“To foster coexistence, communities should consider bringing in experts like us–people who understand elephant behavior and can help design effective mitigation programs,” says Luitel, the conservationist. “We’ve gained valuable experience in Bahundangi, and new conflict areas can benefit from that knowledge. Even a short-term engagement of a few weeks or months could help lay the groundwork for long-term solutions.”

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