Centre approves Terai elephant sanctuary

• 25 Oct 2022

Why in news?

• According to the information given by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department on October 23, 2022, the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment has given its approval to the Terai Elephant Reserve (TER), which covers 3,049 sq km including Dudhwa Tiger Reserve and Pilibhit Tiger Reserve located in Lakhimpur and Pilibhit districts. will be developed in the area.

Imp points

• According to the UTTAR Pradesh forest department, the department had prepared the proposal in April and forwarded it to the Centre on October 11, 2022. After getting approval from the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment for TER, a notification will be issued by the state government soon.
• With the terai elephant reserve coming into existence in Uttar Pradesh, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve will be the only national park in Uttar Pradesh that will protect and conserve four iconic wild animal species — Tiger, One-horned Rhinoceros, Asian Elephant and Swamp deer.
• Apart from Dudhwa and Pilibhit Tiger Reserves, the elephant reserve will include Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary, Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Dudhwa buffer zone and parts of South Kheri forest division.
• The establishment of the Terai Elephant Sanctuary will be a milestone in terms of wildlife conservation, especially for Asian elephants, as it is located on the Indo-Nepal border, where cross-border movement of elephants is a routine routine.
• The Centre will provide all financial and technical assistance under project Elephant, which will help in handling human-elephant conflicts. The establishment of an elephant sanctuary at Dudhwa will help in adopting an elephant-centric approach towards their conservation.
• Also, the financial and technical assistance received under Project Hathi will be used in managing the elephants present in dudhwa's camp and incidents of human-elephant conflict, which are currently dependent on the state, will be controlled more effectively.
• The Dudhwa Tiger Reserve has attracted wild elephants through various domestic and cross-border corridors for decades, including Basanta-Dudhwa, Laljhari (Nepal)-Sathiyana and Shuklaphanta (Nepal)-Dhaka-Pilibhit-Dudhwa buffer zone corridors. The Terai Elephant Reserve under Project Elephant will help revive or restore these corridors, which have been defunct.