In Assam, North-eastern India, the human population has been growing rapidly, which inevitably brings more urbanization and expansion of agricultural lands, leading to deforestation and the disappearance of natural habitats for wild animals. In connection with that, new highways and train tracks are being built, cutting through the already shrinking natural areas. One of the species that especially suffer from these issues is the Asian elephant. Facing a food shortage and being pushed out of their natural habitats, the elephants increasingly often come to search for food in villages and fields, making them a threat to vulnerable rural communities.
This project approaches this highly contested landscape from an urban ecology perspective and analyses the reasons and aspects of the human-elephant conflict and aims to formulate a landscape-based strategy for a landscape of human and wildlife coexistence.
A regional vision for the study area of Nagaon, Karbi Anglong and Golaghat districts in central Assam is proposed. In this report, the reader will find a conceptual plan for the research area that includes building green corridors and new spaces for wildlife. Part of the project are strategies to achieve the coexistence of humans and animals and two case studies, in which these strategies were tested on specific sites.