Over 100 elephants and 350 people lose their lives to human elephant conflict in India. This is not surprising given that only 22% of elephant habitat in India is found within protected areas. The issue of HEC is compounded by increasing habitat fragmentation, due to urbanization, development of linear infrastructure and cropland expansion.
On this episode, I interview Prachi Mehta who is the Executive Director of Research at the Wildlife Research and Conservation Society. We discuss the drivers of HEC, potential solutions, the use of technology to mitigate HEC and the works of WRCS. We also talk about the highly engandered Forest Owlet, a species which is making a reappearance around central India over the last few years.
