Announcing LIGHTS FOR LIFE-FOOD TO LIVE

A joint project between:

  and     

LIGHTS FOR LIFE-FOOD TO LIVE aims to improve safety for the local villagers

and provide sustainable food sources for elephants along the Karbi Anglong

mountains in Assam/India.

Human Elephant Conflict is a big problem along the Karbi Anglong hills, with regular intrusions of huge elephant herds into the surrounding human settlements.

Villagers are poor and ill equipped to drive the elephants from their paddy fields, this results in numerous casualties on both sides every year.

Hundreds of villagers equipped with sticks and knives  are guarding their paddy fields almost round the clock but still the elephants manage to eat more

than 30% of the paddy every year. Lacking money to buy lights and batteries, this is a highly dangerous undertaking.

As the paddy is for the families consumption only, villagers have to buy rice for their daily use, this results in villagers not being able to send their children to school.

To reduce Human elephant conflict and especially casualties in the area, NWA and GGNO

have initiated LIGHTS FOR LIFE-FOOD TO LIVE, a multi year project, starting in October 2017.

the first phase in 2017 is planning the following

1.  provide 500 lights to 50 villages in the area in exchange for help with habitat improvement

2. organizing a big habitat improvement event ; removal of invasive species, improving sustainable water resources (check-dams), planting grass, etc

3. training all stakeholders with or quick identification program to have a softer, less risky HEC mitigation

4. education on HEC mitigation for all stakeholders

   Andy Merk, Nani Fouad, 29.August 2017