Northern West Bengal, or North Bengal, connects Northeast India with mainland India. It shares international boundaries with Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh and is a part of the northeastern biodiversity hotspot. This region is a mixed matrix of fragmented forests, tea plantations, agricultural lands, and human settlements and also experiences one of the highest forms of human-elephant conflict globally.

 

There are 676 elephants in this region whose home ranges constantly overlap with ‘human spaces.’ Increasing human and livestock populations puts pressure on natural habitats. Increasing land fragmentation due to linear development alters elephant movements and induces stress among the pachyderms—and eventually on humans, too.

 

Human-elephant conflict takes various forms such as property damage, crop depredation, and human casualties. Elephant mortalities through electrocutions, railway collisions, and poaching also take place less frequently. Together, these negative interactions emerge as a serious threat to both rural development and the endangered megafauna.