High-Tech tracking of elephant movement in Chhattisgarh to avoid human-elephant conflict

Forest Department aims to provide self-employment opportunities for families affected by the elephant movement

 Forest Department uses the AI-based 'Chhattisgarh Elephant Tracking and Alert' app to track elephant movements and inform villagers

 Department gears up for a series of awareness events to commemorate World Elephant Day on August 12

Raipur, TNINS 

The Forest Department of the Chhattisgarh Government is actively implementing various initiatives to curb human-elephant conflicts. The implementation of High-Tech monitoring through the AI-based system has shown promising results, which provide real-time information about the elephant movement in a particular region via wireless, mobile, and microphone speakers to the villagers. The department is also providing information to villagers about cohabiting with elephants and respecting their habitats. The Forest Minister, Mr. Mohammad Akbar, has instructed the officials to provide aid for families affected by the elephant movements. Besides providing compensation, the department also provides them with self-employment opportunities through various departmental schemes.          

The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Mr. V Srinivasa Rao, shared that Chhattisgarh is witnessing a rising elephant population due to ample food, water, and suitable habitats. Consequently, human-elephant conflicts are escalating in forest and elephant-inhabited regions. To address this, the Forest Department is actively engaged in establishing the ‘Hathi Mitra Dal’ in affected villages, launching public awareness initiatives, and enhancing natural elephant habitats. Besides addressing compensation cases, the department aims to provide self-employment opportunities for families impacted by property, monetary, and crop losses. As World Elephant Day approaches on August 12, the state is gearing up for a series of awareness events to commemorate the occasion.

The Chhattisgarh Government has initiated High-Tech monitoring of elephant movements in its forests. For this purpose, an artificial intelligence-based "Chhattisgarh Elephant Tracking and Alert App" was developed and has been functional for the past three months at the Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve. An alert of elephants' real-time movement within a 10-kilometre radius is successfully sent to the villager's registered mobile numbers. To send an alert, the villagers' mobile phone numbers and GPS location data are stored in this app. When the elephant trackers record any elephant movement inputs on the app, the app sends alerts to the mobile phones of the villager

To inform people in Chhattisgarh's elephant-affected areas, the Wildlife Wing and Forest Management Information System (FMIS) collectively developed this app. This application uses an artificial intelligence (AI)-based system to process the inputs (information) provided by Elephant Trackers (Hathi Mitra Dal). Except for "Munaadi," performed by elephant trackers, this app sends notifications about the presence of elephants to everyone in the affected village via calls, SMS, and WhatsApp messages. The department is focusing on raising awareness, educating villagers about cohabiting with wild elephants, and sharing conflict avoidance measures.

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