SC Order on Nilgiris Elephant Corridor

Why in news?

Supreme Court recently directed the TN government to seal resorts and hotels in the Nilgiris elephant corridor.

What is the Court's order?

• The Tamil Nadu government has to seal or close down within 48 hours, 11 resorts and hotels.
• These were constructed on the elephant corridor of Nilgiris in violation of law.
• Owners of other resorts and hotels in the area were asked to place their documents of approval before the Collector within 24 hours.
• The Collector will verify the documents and check if a resort or hotel has been constructed with proper prior approval.
• If not, then the same should also be closed down within 48 hours.

What is the status of elephant corridors?

• As estimated, there are 101 elephant corridors, of which almost 70% are used regularly.
• Nearly three-quarters of the corridors are evenly divided among southern, central and northeastern forests.
• The rest are found in northwest Bengal and the northwestern region.
• Some of these passages are precariously narrow, at only a hundred metres wide.
• Nilgiris - There are an estimated 6,500 elephants in just the Brahmagiri-Nilgiris-Eastern Ghats ranges.
• Most of the resorts in the Nilgiris have come up right under the gaze of the Forest Department.
• The majority continue to function without the requisite permissions.
• This must be thoroughly investigated to check whether there was any wrongdoing.
• The grey area of mushrooming home-stay structures, which are just hotels on forest fringes, also deserves scrutiny.

What is the need?

• Forests that have turned into farms and unchecked tourism are blocking animals' paths.
• Animals are thus forced to seek alternative routes resulting in increased elephant-human conflict.
• Weak regulation of ecotourism is severely impacting important habitats.
• It particularly affects animals that have large home ranges, like elephants.
• The movement of elephants is essential to ensure that their populations are genetically viable.
• It also helps to regenerate forests on which other species, including tigers, depend.
• Elephant corridors are also crucial to reduce animal fatalities due to accidents and other reasons.
• So fragmentation of forests makes it all the more important to preserve migratory corridors.
• Ending human interference in the pathways of elephants is more a conservation imperative.
• The Supreme Court’s order is thus a necessary step to restore the ecology of these spaces.

What is the way forward?

• Nearly 40% of elephant reserves are vulnerable, as they are not within protected parks and sanctuaries.
• Also, the migration corridors have no specific legal protection.

• Illegal structures in these pathways should be removed without delay.
• Efforts should be to expand elephant corridors, using the successful models within the country.
• This includes acquisition of lands using private funds and their transfer to the government.

Source: The Hindu