Promoting Human Elephant Coexistence among Communities in Odisha, India

Community members in the 36 villages of the Rayagada and Koraput Forest Division in southern Odisha suffer from high incidents of human-elephant conflict and crop raiding as elephants migrate from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Reported mortalities of humans and elephants due to this conflict have created a negative opinion regarding elephants for those who live in the area, frequently leading to retaliatory killing. In order to increase security and change local perceptions of elephants and conservation at the community level this project is conducting a survey to understand the intensity of the problem and identify key areas of focus, train 15-18 educators about HEC and coexistence, create a “teachers target group” to spread knowledge throughout the community, and create and disseminate educational tools both printed and online utilizing the educator network.

IEF #1040

Project Years: 2022

Project Partners:
Ms. Mamatha Sathyanarayana, De Paul International College, India