CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday, which is marked as World Elephant Day, made public the population estimation protocol to be adopted in the all-India elephant and tiger population estimation in 2022.

Detailed explanation-2: -The first elephant population estimation, however, was done in 1979, when each state was using its own method of counting and forest guards were asked to count elephants, which was obviously not very scientific, says Raman Sukumar, professor of ecology at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru.

Detailed explanation-3: -Given that elephants and tigers occupy 90% of the area in common, and once estimation methodologies are standardised, having a common survey can result in significant cost savings. Tiger surveys are typically conducted every four years, whereas elephants are tallied every five years.

Detailed explanation-4: -The population of 29, 964 elephants as recorded in the last elephant census conducted in 2017 speaks volumes of the passion for wildlife conservation ingrained in Indian culture.

Detailed explanation-5: -India has 2, 967 tigers in the wild, the world’s highest population of wild tigers.