Scientific approach, local involvement must for conservation: Minister - New Delhi News

"Only technical advances cannot save environment. Without public participation, without traditional wisdom, we cannot carry out conservation," he said, while addressing an event organised by his ministry to mark the World Elephant Day.

"Just as we are the trustee of the jungles, so are the locals in their respective areas. We have to work in tandem for conservation activity, something that Prime Minister Narendra Modi too has envisioned," Yadav asserted.

On the occasion, the minister released a document for concurrent population estimation protocol for elephants and tigers for the next census to take place in 2022. Most elephant areas are coterminous with tiger ranges.

As per the results of the last elephant census in 2017, the number of wild elephants in India was barely 27,312.

Karnataka with 6,049 elephants led the states, followed by Assam (5,719), Kerala (3,054) and Tamil Nadu (2,761). Of the approximate 50,000 elephants in the world, India has almost 60 per cent of them.

There are approximately 3,000 to 4,000 elephants in captivity, which forms 20 per cent of those in captivity globally.

Minister of State at the MoEF&CC, Ashwini Kumar Choubey spoke about the many references found in India's traditional literature, including Puranas, about elephants.

Director General (Forests) and Special Secretary Subhash Chandra reminded the gathering that India's conservation story can be divided into two parts -- 'before' and 'after' the Godavarman judgment of 1996 which imposed a ban on timber felling. He said that the conservation of big animals such as elephants and tigers is possible only with the conservation of the vegetative ecosystem.

Ministry secretary R. P. Gupta, Dhananjay Mohan of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun and S. P. Yadav from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) also expressed their views at the event.