When Elephants Trample Your Farm, Who Do You Call?

When Krithi Karanth enters a forest village in the shadow of India’s Bandipur National Park, she is often greeted by farmers with cellphones in hand, ready to report a video of a nighttime encounter with a herd of elephants or the fresh tracks of a leopard passing behind their homes.

These are dispatches from the front lines of some of the world’s most intense wildlife interactions. In the lush green hills of India’s Western Ghats, survival depends on coexistence with high-density populations of some of the planet’s most endangered species. This can come at a cost: herds of wild elephants can damage valuable banana plants, and tigers can appear unexpectedly in sugarcane fields, threatening livestock and sometimes lives.

For farmers like Shankarappa of Naganapura village in the region, these interactions often spark fear. His family’s land is just over a kilometer from Bandipur National Park, one of Asia’s last elephant harbors. “They created a lot of problems,” he said.

Even though global biodiversity is rapidly declining, many of the communities that live closest to nature are often excluded from solutions. In many rural areas of India, animal habitats are shrinking due to the expansion of agriculture and logging. This has forced villagers into closer contact with wildlife, with often devastating results. Karanth says the way forward is to transform the way farmers view wildlife and empower them to deal with animals moving through their fields.

CEO of the Center for Wildlife Studies, a nonprofit research organization based in India, Karanth grew up in the same forests where she now conducts research and implements conservation programs. His father is wildlife ecologist Ullas Karanth, one of the world’s leading tiger biologists. “I spent a lot of my childhood outdoors, observing wildlife and exploring forests,” she recalls. This early connection with nature shaped his approach to conservation.

To help communities struggling with wildlife interactions, Karanth launched a program in 2015 to facilitate responding to wildlife encounters in real time. After a dispute, farmers can call a toll-free number and leave a voicemail with details of the incident. Within hours, a trained field assistant arrives on site to document evidence of losses and help the farmer seek compensation from the government.

Most reported cases involve crop losses, property damage and livestock predation. But there are also occasional cases of injury or death. By making it easier for families to get quick answers, the Wild Seve program helps protect their safety and food security.

Before Wild Seve, this was an expensive process that required time, travel and endless forms. “It helps us a lot in terms of time and money,” says Shankarappa, who has now filed 59 claims and received nearly 96,000 rupees (about $1,082) in compensation.

So far, Wild Seve has helped more than 14,600 families in 3,495 settlements. Each report adds to a growing database of incidents, which researchers can use to study who is most affected by wildlife and where repeated conflicts are most common. Its trained field staff are able to answer questions about the meetings and the process, helping people gain confidence in the program and its real-world solutions.

Paul Robbins, director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, who has conducted extensive fieldwork in India with the CWS, explained that by putting the reporting process in the hands of communities, “you finally get a realistic account of what’s happening – which is good for science, and even better for trust.”

Crop damage from wildlife can wipe out half a year of income for a farming family, according to Karanth. To strengthen the financial stability of farmers, it launched an initiative with farmers in Nagarahole and Bandipur national parks. More than 10,000 people have registered to plant and care for fruit, forest and medicinal trees. Wild Carbon then uses drone technology to monitor tree growth and survival.

By abandoning vulnerable monocultures like bananas, the program helps farmers create new sources of income, while building green corridors that reconnect fragmented wildlife habitats. As an added benefit, trees also sequester carbon, helping to adapt to climate change while restoring the landscape.

Robbins says the contribution of local communities is integral to Wild Carbon’s success. The project reflects resident input, recognizing that people may appreciate different trees based on how they help support their livelihoods or provide food. “Giving people as much choice as possible is really important,” Robbins said.

Mohan, a farmer from Kalanahundi village on the southern edge of Bandipura National Park, planted more than 300 saplings with support from Wild Carbon. He says these newly planted trees have improved the quality of the soil and wild pigs, which are often the main cause of crop losses in his fields, don’t eat them. “The trees will also help me build a “Machan,” a sort of raised platform that allows him to protect his crops from tigers, he added.

Both programs are locally run and have earned the trust of rural farmers. “They understand the culture and speak the language, and are personally invested in the well-being of their neighbors and the wildlife around them,” Karanth added.

These innovative interventions earned Karanth’s team the prestigious John P. McNulty Award, which recognizes leaders for their courage and impact on critical global challenges. It is the first wildlife conservation organization among the 60 winners of the award. “This is an incredible honor, both personally and for the Center for Wildlife Studies,” says Karanth. “For me, this award recognizes the unique space we occupy, a space that combines rigorous science with tangible impact on humans and wildlife. »

While these approaches have already proven successful in India, Karanth believes they are adaptable and scalable to other biodiversity-rich regions. Whether it’s elephants and lions in Africa, or tigers and leopards in Asia, the goal, she says, is “to help communities prevent and recover from wildlife losses rather than expecting them to tolerate those losses.” In a country where 1.5 billion people compete with endangered species for access to land and resources, those who live closest to these animals, she says, will be a critical part of the solution.

Looking ahead, Karanth and his team hope to expand these solutions to address the pressing challenges facing wildlife. She sees her work as a test for the rest of the world: As climate change squeezes habitats and brings wildlife closer to humans, India’s response will shape conservation far beyond its borders.

Visit Wildlife Studies Center website for news and information on innovative rewilding efforts, or to support their vital work.

The McNulty Foundation inspires, develops and challenges leaders to solve the critical challenges of our time. Established in 2008 by Anne Welsh McNulty in honor of her late husband, the John P. McNulty Award is presented in partnership with the Aspen Institute and now recognizes more than 60 visionary leaders for their courage and lasting impact. The McNulty Prize strategically invests at the critical point between proof of concept and global scale, where few other supporters operate, to position leaders and businesses midstream for greater impact.