The Assam Corridors Project
Why is this project so important?
Two hundred people (38 families) from two villages will benefit enormously from their voluntary location outside the elephant corridor and thereby avoid dangerous encounters with wildlife, be able to sleep soundly at night without having to worry about wild animals coming through their villages or destroying crops and food stores.
At the beginning of 2016 the first village was successfully relocated to a safer location with the second village currently underway.
Corridors are like bridges between islands, they reconnect forest fragments. They allow elephants and other animals to feed and move freely, unthreatened by humans, farms, roads or railway lines. This project is therefore transforming the lives of up to 2,000 elephants and countless other species.
Project partner: Wildlife Trust of India
Duration: Work began in 2013 and will be ongoing until 2018
Elephant population in Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong: 1,700 - 1,800
Securing five corridors in the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Landscape. One of these, the K-D Corridor, had become degraded as a result of two villages settling there, and a further four corridors/elephant routes are disturbed by highways and illegal forest cutting.
What we do
We are supporting the voluntary relocation of remote communities from dangerous wildlife-migratory areas to safer farmlands. Their new settlements are nearer to markets, and enable them for the first time to have brick houses, electricity and safe drinking water.
Elephant Family has invested in officially marking out the corridors country-wide, providing a warning for would-be developers near the routes.