Take a walk in the verdant tea estates of West Bengal, and you will be awestruck by their spectacular beauty. Also, if you are lucky—or unlucky, in some cases—you may lock eyes with a leopard or sight the gentle walk of an elephant or two. Since 2013, a team of young wildlife biologists have been at work here exploring sustainable strategies to enable safer shared spaces, as part of their grassroots initiative, the Coexistence Project. Just before the pandemic shook the world, 19 quick response teams (QRT) were formed in January with the support of Wildlife Trust of India and a local NGO.
The members control crowds during elephant entry inside villages/crop fields, guiding them safely away from human habitations. They also inform Forest Department officials and assist them with wildlife emergencies. While the team had envisaged a fairly difficult time in managing the Coexistence Project, the lockdown only added to their woes. With many returning from work from outside the state and aiming to revive farming, there was suddenly more pressure on the organisation to keep humans and animals safe.
“The leopard or the elephant has every right to live in this natural space as much as we do, and deal sensitively with this reality. For the rare livestock casualties, we get compensation,” says Om, a member of the QRT, who sells buffalo milk for a living. Currently, the team operates across Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Alipur Duar, Darjeeling districts in West Bengal with the total intensive study area for leopard and elephant habitat survey being 2,500 sq km. It covers over 60 tea plantations and 40 villages.
A senior forest official says, “With private tea gardens expanding, the elephants’ habitat will too. And newer residents may not be as understanding of ‘coexistence’ as the older ones. Only proactive partnerships between social scientists, ecologists, government and non-government agencies in the conservation sector can help resolve the situation.” Awareness and education programmes across 20 critical tea-estates have been periodically conducted by the team, in association with the West Bengal Forest Department, local NGOs, local media, health department officials as well as tea estate management and village administration.
Interactive workshops combine interactive games, as well as discussion on wildlife issues and strategies pertinent to local residents. Project coordinator Tonmoy Mukherjee says, “The community has been very cooperative and accepting of our suggestions. A bilingual awareness film on safety practices was also made. Many from the villages connect through WhatsApp to post sightings of elephant movement.”
Schemes for strategic solar lights near settlements and flashlights for workers have been provided. Many communities have actually begun to demand proper lighting and toilet facilities from authorities as they understand the underlying causes of ‘accidents’ with wildlife who share the space.
Dr Vidya Athreya, a mentor from the Wildlife Conservation Society, says, “In rural areas, more stakeholder engagement is required. Areas are vast and forest departments don’t have enough staff. Sensitive top-down policies are needed.”
Team Leader of the project, Aritra Kshettry, says “Our remote camera traps over 200 sq km estimate around 15 leopards per 100 sq. km. of this landscape, even higher than within National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries in the region.”
This has been the second study (the first being in Junnar, Maharashtra) in India on leopard populations outside protected areas and for the first time ever in a tea plantation.