WWF-Arunachal Report Maps Elephant Distribution and Conflict Hotspots Statewide

A new joint report by the Arunachal Pradesh government and WWF-India documents the first comprehensive statewide assessment of elephant distribution, human-elephant conflict hotspots and habitat pressures across the state, conducted between December 2024 and March 2026. The report identifies Arunachal Pradesh as having the potential to become a leading example of human-elephant coexistence management.

The assessment documented elephant herds at elevations above 3,000 metres above sea level in Arunachal Pradesh — the highest recorded elephant presence anywhere in the world. WWF-India and the Arunachal Pradesh forest department conducted systematic surveys across the state's diverse landscapes to map the scale, intensity and trends of adverse human-elephant interactions and to identify priority habitats and landscape corridors requiring protection or restoration. The study fills a significant knowledge gap that had constrained evidence-based management planning.

Human-elephant conflict is among India's most complex wildlife management challenges, with economic losses to crops and property, fatalities and retaliatory killings all creating persistent pressure on elephant populations. Arunachal Pradesh's unique situation — with elephants inhabiting high-altitude forests alongside indigenous communities with deep cultural relationships with wildlife — creates both challenges and opportunities for coexistence frameworks that integrate local knowledge with scientific management. The WWF report is expected to serve as the evidence base for a statewide conflict mitigation strategy.

The report's recommendations will feed into India's revised elephant conservation strategy and Arunachal's own forest governance planning. WWF's involvement signals international conservation attention on Northeastern India's biodiversity corridors, which connect South and Southeast Asian elephant populations. Securing these corridors against infrastructure encroachment and habitat fragmentation is increasingly recognised as a priority not only for elephants but for the entire suite of large mammals and biodiversity that characterise the Eastern Himalayan hotspot.

Key figure — Elephants documented above 3,000 metres elevation — world's highest known presence