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World Elephant Day 2025

12 Aug 2025 GS 3 Environment
World Elephant Day 2025 Click to view full image

World Elephant Day 2025 – Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

Date: 12 August 2025
Theme: Conservation & Human-Elephant Coexistence

Organisers

  • Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC)

  • Tamil Nadu Forest Department

  • Supported by: Ministry of Railways & elephant range states

India’s Elephant Profile

  • 60% of the world’s wild asian elephant population

  • 33 Elephant Reserves & 150 identified Elephant Corridors (2023 Report)

  • National Heritage Animal status

  • Cultural & ecological significance

Key Event Focus

  1. Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) Mitigation

    • Rising incidents of elephants entering human settlements for food/water

    • Exchange of best practices among elephant range states

    • Measures: habitat management, corridor maintenance, awareness, capacity building

    • Alignment with Project Elephant (community participation + scientific methods)

  2. Knowledge Sharing

    • Foresters, policymakers, wildlife experts, civil society dialogue

    • Balancing human welfare with elephant conservation

  3. Public Outreach

    • 12 lakh students from 5,000 schools to participate nationwide

    • Awareness programmes to build conservation ethos in youth

Significance of Venue – Tamil Nadu

  • Rich in biodiversity & culture

  • Important elephant habitat

  • Active in conflict mitigation initiatives

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species:
African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta Cyclotis) – Critically Endangered
African Savanna Elephant (Loxodonta Africana) – Endangered
Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) – Endangered

Convention of the Migratory Species (CMS):
African Forest Elephant – Appendix II
Asian Elephant – Appendix I

Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES):
African Savanna Elephant – Appendix II
Asian Elephant – Appendix I

"Project elephant" Central Government sponsored initiative launched in 1992 

Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) Programme - The MIKE Programme was established by the CITES by Resolution 10.10 adopted at the tenth Conference of the Parties in 1997.

The MIKE program started in South Asia in the year 2003 with the following purpose:
To provide information needed for elephant range States to make appropriate management and enforcement decisions, and to build institutional capacity within the range States for the long-term management of their elephant populations.

Mike Sites in India:

  • Chirang-Ripu Elephant Reserve (Assam)
  • Deomali Elephant Reserve (Arunachal Pradesh)
  • Dihing Patkai Elephant Reserve (Assam)
  • Garo Hills Elephant Reserve (Meghalaya)
  • Eastern Dooars Elephant Reserve (West Bengal)
  • Mayurbhanj Elephant Reserve (Odisha)
  • Shivalik Elephant Reserve (Uttarakhand)
  • Mysore Elephant Reserve (Karnataka)
  • Nilgiri Elephant Reserve (Tamil Nadu)
  • Wayanad Elephant Reserve (Kerala)


Recent Additions to Elephant Reserves

✔️ Lemru Elephant Reserve in Chhattisgarh

✔️ Singphan Elephant Reserve in Nagaland

✔️ Agasthiyamalai Elephant Reserve in Tamil Nadu

✔️ Terai Elephant Reserve in Uttar Pradesh




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