AUC GEOGRAPHICA

Significant changes in land use and land cover (LULC) lead to the shrinking of elephant habitats and regular human-elephant confrontations, triggering human-elephant conflict (HEC). The present study aims to assess the underlying causes of HEC in the Indo-Bhutan Foothill region of Assam, India by using both primary and secondary data. The study area was divided into three buffer zones extending from the forest zone. Landsat 4-5 TM C2L2 and Landsat 8-9 OLI/TIRS C2L2 data were used for supervised image classification for 2011 and 2023, respectively, to detect LULC changes. A Getis-Ord Gi analysis was performed to identify hotspots, and kernel density analyses were used to map HEC density. Further, primary data were collected from 384 households in 2023 using a semi-structured interview schedule. A decrease in agricultural land was observed across all zones in all districts. Dense forest vegetation increased in all zones except zones 1 and 2 of the Udalguri district. An increase in built-up areas/settlements, open forest and man-made vegetation was evident throughout the study area. The density of HEC incidents is highly concentrated in zone 1 across three of the districts, except in Chirang. The hotspot patterns are more pronounced in Udalguri and Baksa at confidence levels of 99%, 95% and 90%, whereas in Kokrajhar, they are significant only at 99%, and no hotspots were observed in Chirang. The main reasons for HEC are changes in LULC, distance from elephant habitats, and the attraction of elephants to available of food sources in the human landscape.

1. Alfred, R., Williams, A. C., Vertefeuille, J., Payne, J., Andau, P., Ambu, L., Sipangkui, S., Lim, A. (2006): Satellite tracking of Borneo's pygmy elephants. Asian elephant rhino and tiger programmes. WWF International, Washington DC. Available online: https://wwfint.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/stpe_1wwf.pdf (accessed on 10 October 2025).

2. Arham, B., Abu Kasim, N. H., Hambali, K. (2018): Home range and movement patterns of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) in Gua Musang, Kelantan, Malaysia. Malayan Natural Journal, 70(2), 221-232. Available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326258368_Home_range_and_movement_patterns_of_Asian_elephant_Elephas_maximus_in_Gua_Musang_Kelantan_Malaysia (accessed on 10 October 2025).

3. Baruch-Mordo, S., Webb, C. T., Breck, S. W., Wilson, K. R. (2013): Use of patch selection models as a decision support tool to evaluate mitigation strategies of human - wildlife conflict. Biological Conservation 160, 263-271. CrossRef

4. Beyers, R. L., Hart, J. A., Sinclair, A. R. E., Grossmann, F., Klinkenberg, B., Dino, S. (2011): Resource Wars and Conflict Ivory: The Impact of Civil Conflict on Elephants in the Democratic Republic of Congo - The Case of the Okapi Reserve. PLOS One 6(11), 1-13. CrossRef

5. Chen, Y., Marino, J., Chen, Y., Tao, Q., Sullivan, C. D., Shi, K., Macdonald, D. W. (2016): Predicting Hotspots of Human-Elephant Conflict to Inform Mitigation Strategies in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China. PLOS One 11(9), 1-15. CrossRef

6. Cochran, W. G. (1977): Sampling Techniques. 3rd ed.; John Wiley & Sons: New York, USA.

7. Compaore, A., Sirima, D., Hema, E. M., Doamba, B., Ajong, S. N., Vittorio, M. Di, Luiselli, L. (2020): Correlation between increased human-elephant conflict and poaching of elephants in Burkina Faso (West Africa). European Journal of Wildlife Research 66(24), 1-9. CrossRef

8. Ekobo, A. (1997): Elephant problem in the Mungo Division, Littoral Province (Cameroon). Pachyderm 24(1), 53-63. CrossRef

9. Fernando, P., Wikramanayake, E., Weerakoon, D., Jayasinghe, L. K. A., Gunawardene, M., Janaka, H. K. (2005): Perceptions and patterns of human-elephant conflict in old and new settlements in Sri Lanka: insights for mitigation and management. Biodiversity and Conservation 14, 2465-2481. CrossRef

10. Gubbi, S. (2012): Patterns and correlates of human-elephant conflict around a south Indian reserve. Biological Conservation 148(1), 88-95. CrossRef

11. Gubbi, S., Swaminath, M. H., Poornesha, H. C., Bhat, R., Raghunath, R. (2014): An elephantine challenge: human-elephant conflict distribution in the largest Asian elephant population, southern India. Biodiversity and Conservation 23, 633-647. CrossRef

12. Hema, E. M., Barnes, R. F. W., Guenda, W. (2010): The seasonal distribution of savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana africana) in Nazinga Game Ranch, southern Burkina Faso. Pachyderm 48, 33-40. CrossRef

13. Hoare, R. E. (1999): Determinants of human-elephant conflict in a land-use mosaic. Journal of Applied Ecology 36(5), 689-700. CrossRef

14. Hoare, R. (2015): Lessons From 20 Years of Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation in Africa. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 20(4), 289-295. CrossRef

15. Kusena, K. (2009): Land cover change and its impact on human-elephant conflicts in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia (Zimoza) Transboundary Natural Resources Management Area. Master's thesis, Swedish Biodiversity Centre (CBM), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala.

16. Lenin, J., Sukumar, R. (2011): Action Plan for the Mitigation of Elephant-Human Conflict in India; Asian Nature Conservation Foundation: Bangalore, India.

17. Liyanage, A. W. (2012): The possibility for developing a sustainable strategy to solve the conflict between local people and elephants in Hambantota District, Sri Lanka. Master's thesis, University of Agder, Kristiansand.

18. Mariki, S. B., Svarstad, H., Benjaminsen, T. A. (2015): Elephants over the Cliff: Explaining Wildlife Killings in Tanzania. Land Use Policy 44(3), 19-30. CrossRef

19. Mills, E. C., Poulsen, J. R., Fay, J. M., Morkel, P., Clark, C. J., Meier, A., Beirne, C., White, L. J. T. (2018): Forest elephant movement and habitat use in a tropical forest-grassland mosaic in Gabon. PLOS One 13(7), 1-17. CrossRef

20. Mobasheri, A., Buckley, C. (2021): Elephants, Mobility and Captivity: What Can These Mighty and Majestic Animals Teach Us About Joint Health and Osteoarthritis? Preprints 2020, 2020120271. CrossRef

21. Naha, D., Dash, S. K., Chettri, A., Roy, A. (2020): Elephants in the neighborhood: patterns of crop-raiding by Asian elephants within a fragmented landscape of Eastern India. PeerJ 8: e9399. CrossRef

22. Nath, N. K., Dutta, S. K., Das, J. P., Lahkar, B. P. (2015): A quantification of damage and assessment of economic loss due to crop raiding by Asian Elephant Elephas maximus (Mammalia: Proboscidea: Elephantidae): A case study of Manas National Park, Assam, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(2), 8953-8969. CrossRef

23. Ndlovu, M., Devereux, E., Chieffe, M., Asklof, K., Russo, A. (2016): Responses of African elephants towards a bee threat: Its application in mitigating human-elephant conflict. South African Journal of Science 112(1/2): 5. CrossRef

24. Ngure, N. (1995): People-elephant conflict management in Tsavo, Kenya. Pachyderm 19(1), 20-25. CrossRef

25. Piraisoodan, B., Arun Vignesh, C., Jayashree, N. (2024): Elephant Population Estimation in Assam 2024; Assam Forest Department: Guwahati, Assam, India.

26. Rahman, M. H. (2019): Rohingya refugee crisis and human vs. elephant (Elephas maximus) conflicts in Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh. Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity 3(3), 10-21.

27. Reddy, R. U., Workneh, S. (2014): Conflicts between the conservation of Elephant and Human activities: In the case of Babile Elephant Sanctuary (BES), Ethiopia. Journal of Geography and Regional Planning 7(2), 25-29. CrossRef

28. Santiapillai, C., Wijeyamohan, S., Bandara, G., Athurupana, R., Dissanayakea, N., Read, B. (2010): An assessment of the human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka. Ceylon Journal of Science (Biological Sciences) 39(1), 21-33. CrossRef

29. Shaffer, L. J., Khadka, K. K., Hoek, Van Den, J., Naithani, K. J. (2019): Human-Elephant Conflict: A Review of Current Management Strategies and Future Directions. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 6(235), 1-12. CrossRef

30. Suba, R. B., van der Ploeg, J., van't Zelfde, M., Lau, Y. W., Wissingh, T. F., Kustiawan, W., de Snoo, G. R., de Iongh, H. H. (2017): Rapid Expansion of Oil Palm Is Leading to Human-Elephant Conflicts in North Kalimantan Province of Indonesia. Tropical Conservation Science 10, 1-12. CrossRef

31. Sukumar, R. (2003): The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behaviour, and Conservation. New York, 478 pp. ISBN 0-19-510778-0, price (hardbound), $74.50. Journal of Mammalogy 85(3), 581-582.

32. Talukdar, B. K., Barman, R. (2003): Man-elephant conflict in Assam, India: Is there any solution? Gajah 22, 50-56. Available online: https://asesg.org/PDFfiles/Gajah/22-50-Talukdar.pdf (accessed on 11 September 2025).

33. Thant, Z. M., May, R., Røskaft, E. (2020): Pattern and distribution of human-elephant conflicts in three conflict-prone landscapes in Myanmar. Elsevier: Global Ecology and Conservation 25: e01411. CrossRef

34. Uakarn, C., Chaokromjthong, K., Sintao, N. (2021): Sample Size Estimation using Yamane and Cochran and Krejcie and Morgan and Green Formulas and Cohen Statistical Power Analysis by G*Power and Comparisons. APHEIT International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and Technology 10(2), 76-88. Available online: https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/ATI/article/view/254253 (accessed on 11 September 2025).

35. Whyte, I. J. (2012): The elephant management dilemma. In: Schmidtz, D., Willott, E. (Eds.), Environmental Ethics: What Really Matters, What Really Works. 2nd ed.; Oxford University Press: New York, USA, pp. 71-84.