By Monica Verma | Project Leader
Dear Patron,
Today's updates for the project are from the tea gardens of Chenga and Panighatta regions in the Northern West Bengal.
Around the tea gardens in the above mentioned regions, the human-elephant conflict instances were on the rise - the elephants were reportedly damaging houses and other infrastructure. Through WTI's intervention, our Rapid Action Project (RAP) proponent from the region, Mr Avijan Saha, identified certain factors which were responsible for this unrest.
There were several unused or non-functional plantations near human settlements in which the unkempt tea bushes and invasive weeds had grown quite dense. This encouraged the elephant herds to come and take shelter within these plantations and near the human settlements resulting in frequent conflict instances.
Mr. Saha engaged a small conservation group comprising science students and community youth as well as the gram panchayat in an initiative to de-weed and clear the bushes.
Further, the movement of elephants through tea-bushes is mostly silent and does not alert the local communities about elephant presence. To address this, the team helped in installing bamboo fences around the settlements in the landscape. The bamboo barricade would serve as an early warning system if the elephants do try venturing in.
These interventions have significantly brought down conflict in the last couple of months as the elephants continue to move across and do not halt near the settlements any longer. Mr. Saha and his team continue to sensitise these communities.
That's all for today's updates. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your generous support and for believing in our project. Thank you for being a part of our team as we look forward to continue the good work.
Regards
Team WTI
By Monica Verma | Project Leader
By Avrodita Chakladar | Project Leader
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