WORLD ELEPHANT DAY

  • On the occasion of World Elephant Day (12th August) the Union Environment Minister made public the population estimation protocol to be adopted in the all-India elephant and tiger population estimation in 2022.
  • World Elephant Day was launched in 2012 to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.

Important points:

Current Data on Elephants in India:

According to the last count in 2017, there were 29,964 elephants in India. Which is a slight increase from 2012’s mean of 29,576 elephants.

Asian Elephants:

  • There are three subspecies of Asian elephant which are the Indian, Sumatran and Sri Lankan.
  • The Indian subspecies has the widest range and accounts for the majority of the remaining elephants on the continent.
  • Global Population: Estimated 20,000 to 40,000.
  • Protection Status:
  • IUCN Red List-Endangered.
  • Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972- Schedule I.
  • CITES- Appendix I

African Elephants:

  • There are two subspecies of African elephants, the Savanna (or bush) elephant and the Forest elephant.
  • Global Population: Around 4,00,000.
  • Earlier in July 2020, Botswana (Africa) witnessed the death of hundreds of elephants.
  • Protection Status:
  • IUCN Red List Status:
  • African Savanna Elephant– Endangered.
  • African Forest Elephant– Critically Endangered
  • CITES–Appendix II

Concerns:

  1. Escalation of poaching.
  2. Habitat loss.
  3. Human-elephant conflict.
  4. Mistreatment in captivity.
  5. Abuse due to elephant tourism.
  6. Rampant mining, Corridor destruction.

SOURCE: THE HINDU ,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT

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