Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) Increasing iron and coal mining activities in some states posed the biggest threats to elephants in the country, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Tuesday.

Addressing the Elephant 8 Ministerial Meeting, comprising eight elephant countries in Africa and Asia, Ramesh said it was important to become sensitive to elephant conservation.

The meeting was attended by delegates from Botswana, Congo, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Thailand — countries where two-thirds of the world’s wild elephant population is found.

He also launched a mass campaign ‘haathi mere saathi’ (elephant my companion), which calls for involving people in elephant conservation.

“Unlike the tiger, which faces threat of extinction, the elephant faces threats of attrition. The elephant numbers have not increased or decreased drastically, but there is increasing pressure on the elephant habitats and it is a serious concern that we will try and address by involving people in elephant conservation and welfare through this campaign,” Ramesh said.

He emphasised on the need to bring a greater degree of sensitivity in coal and iron mining as the pachyderm habitat was getting disturbed and elephant corridors getting affected.

“Increasing mining activities especially in central India - Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh - are posing big threats to elephants. We need to mine iron and coal but resources should be extracted without devastating the elephant corridor,” he said.

India is home to over 25,000 Asiatic elephants spread in 88 elephant corridors in the country.

Ramesh highlighted the difficulty being faced by his ministry in securing elephant corridors.

“Securing elephant corridors is very difficult compared to securing protected and reserve area as there is huge demographic pressure. We need to look at new ways of securing it,” he said.