Guwahati: Nagaland’s elephant corridors are under growing pressure from plantations, mining, roads, settlements and other land-use changes, with a new field-based study identifying 11 interstate corridors linking Nagaland with Assam. Nine remain functional, while two have effectively been severed.
Published in Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, the study combines field observations, community interviews, GPS mapping, remote sensing and land-use analysis to examine how elephants are navigating an increasingly human-modified landscape.
The study was conducted by Imnawapang Jamir of Mizoram University, Moanungsang Imchen of Nagaland University and Shri Kant Tripathi, professor in the Department of Forestry at Mizoram University, Aizawl.
The corridors span Peren, Dimapur, Chumukedima, Niuland, Wokha, Mokokchung, Mon and Longleng, connecting elephant habitats in Nagaland with Assam’s reserve forests and protected areas, including Dhansiri, Abhyapur, Geleki, Desoi and Daldali reserve forests and Nambor Wildlife Sanctuary.
Two corridors have gone silent
The Baghty Valley–Nambor Wildlife Sanctuary and Sitap Range–Geleki Reserve Forest corridors have been classified as inactive.
No confirmed elephant movement has been recorded through the Baghty corridor since the late 1980s, while the Sitap corridor has seen no recorded movement since 2015.
The collapse of the Baghty–Nambor link has left an elephant population isolated in the Baghty landscape. The study estimates that around 180 elephants remain in the area, with human-elephant conflict reported across 90 villages in Wokha, 11 in Zunheboto, five in Tseminyu and 15 in Mokokchung.
Researchers link the corridor’s breakdown to long-term encroachment, forest clearance and landscape modification that have severed connectivity through Rengma Reserve Forest. The isolation has, in turn, altered elephant ranging behaviour and increased their dependence on human-dominated areas.
A greener landscape is not necessarily a healthier one
One of the study’s more striking findings comes from satellite imagery.
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) analysis showed that 65.9% of the study landscape became greener between 1994 and 2024. On the surface, this might suggest recovering vegetation.
Field investigations, however, told a different story.
Much of the increased greenness was associated with the expansion and maturation of rubber, areca nut, teak, tea and agar plantations, as well as regenerating fallows, rather than the recovery of structurally intact native forests.
That distinction matters for elephants.
The conversion of jhum areas into permanent monoculture plantations has simplified vegetation structure and reduced forage availability and habitat diversity, according to the study. Roads, highways, railway infrastructure, transmission lines, mining roads, tea-estate fencing and illegal logging roads add further obstacles.
Not every corridor is disappearing
The situation is not uniform across Nagaland.
Researchers classified the corridors as stable, recovering, declining or inactive. The Intangki National Park–Dhansiri Reserve Forest and Singphan Wildlife Sanctuary–Abhyapur Reserve Forest corridors remain important year-round routes.
The Longtho Range–Changdang Beat–Hollongpar–Desoi corridor is also significant, with an estimated 80–100 seasonal elephants using it.
Elephants have also returned to two degraded corridors — Kuhuboto–Bokajan and Doyapur–Daldali — after prolonged periods of limited or no recorded movement. Renewed use was documented in 2023 and 2024.
Researchers say the return shows that fragmented landscapes can retain enough connectivity for elephants to reclaim old routes if key forest links survive.
But that does not necessarily mean the habitat has recovered.
Conflict is following the broken landscape
Human-elephant conflict was recorded across all 11 corridor landscapes, with crop damage the most common form, followed by damage to plantations and homes.
Conflict tends to increase during crop-maturation periods, particularly from May to August and October to January, when elephants moving seasonally between Assam and Nagaland encounter agricultural areas.
The study also raises concerns about elephant mortality. Community accounts covering three decades suggest that deaths associated with corridor landscapes may be considerably higher than official records indicate.
Most reported deaths were linked to retaliatory shootings following repeated crop and property damage, while electrocution and accidental drowning accounted for fewer cases.
Nagaland presents a particular challenge because around 88% of its land is community-owned under the state’s distinctive land-tenure framework.
The study therefore argues that elephant conservation cannot rely solely on conventional protected areas or regulatory measures.
There is, however, a potentially important opening. Researchers found generally positive attitudes among village councils and community leaders towards conserving elephant corridors, including in conflict-affected areas.
Some communities indicated a willingness to designate degraded or conflict-prone forest patches as community conservation areas or community reserves, provided there is government support through timely compensation, livelihood assistance and long-term conservation incentives.
What needs to happen next?
The researchers recommend a corridor-by-corridor approach.
Kuhuboto–Bokajan and Doyapur–Daldali, where elephants have resumed movement, should receive protection before further fragmentation occurs. Severely degraded corridors such as Baghty–Nambor and Sitap–Geleki, along with parts of Tuli–Geleki, require ecological restoration, including regeneration of native vegetation and protection of remaining forest patches.
Mining and quarrying are also flagged as immediate concerns, particularly in Mon, Longleng, Mokokchung and Wokha.
And because all 11 corridors cross the Nagaland-Assam boundary, the study argues that the two states need to manage them as a connected landscape.
The study’s warning is broader than the loss of a few forest routes: a landscape can become greener on a satellite image while becoming less useful to elephants on the ground. For Nagaland’s elephants, keeping the remaining links open may depend as much on community decisions and land-use planning as on conventional wildlife protection.
Also Read: Where roads end, learning finds a way: Teaching in remote Assam
You just read a story that took days to report. Help us keep our reporters on the ground in the Northeast.
Ad-free reading, support and keep important stories alive
Support once (any amount)
Scan to pay via UPI