• Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched a project aimed at reducing elephant-human conflict using bees in Assam, nine months after it was initiated in Karnataka.

• The project was launched in Mornoi village in Goalpara district of Assam which severely grapples with elephant-human conflicts.

• The project would prove to be a sustainable solution to the human-elephant conflicts that are very common in Assam.

• Nearly 500 people die every year due to elephant attacks in India.

• From 2015 to 2020, nearly 2,500 people have lost their lives in elephant attacks. On the contrary, nearly one-fifth of this number, nearly 500 elephants, have also died in retaliation by humans in the last five years.

• In the past, crores of rupees have been spent on digging up trenches and erecting fences to dissuade elephants. Also, lots of money has been spent on compensation for loss of human lives. These trenches and barbed wire fences have often caused the deaths of elephant calves and thus rendering these ideas largely impractical.

What is Project RE-HAB?

• Project RE-HAB was first launched at 11 locations in Kodagu district of Karnataka on March 15, 2021. In just six months, this project has reduced elephant attacks by over 70 per cent.

• Project RE-HAB is part of KVIC’s National Honey Mission.

• Under the Project RE-HAB (Reducing Elephant-Human Attacks using Bees), fences are created by setting up bee boxes on the passageways of elephants to block their entrance to human territories. 

• The boxes are connected with a string so that when elephants attempt to pass through, a tug or pull causes the bees to swarm the elephant herds and dissuade them from progressing further. 

• It is a cost-effective way of reducing human-wild conflicts without causing any harm to the animals. 

• It is scientifically recorded that elephants are annoyed by the honey bees. Elephants also fear that the bee swarms can bite their sensitive inner side of the trunk and eyes. The collective buzz of the bees is annoying to elephants that force them to return.

• The project has been implemented in Assam with the support of the local forest department.

• Surrounded by dense forests, a large part of Assam is infested by elephants with 332 human deaths reported between 2014 and 2019 due to elephant attacks.

• A total of 330 interspersed bee boxes will be placed at Mornoi and Dahikata villages in Assam in a week’s time to ward off elephants. 

• These bee boxes have been given to 33 farmers and educated youths of these villages by KVIC whose families have been affected by elephants. 

• Crop-raiding by elephants in these villages are reported almost every day for 9 to 10 months a year. The conflict is so severe that villagers, over the last few years, had stopped cultivating their farms fearing elephant attacks. 

• These villages have abundant production of paddy, litchi and jackfruit that attract elephants. High resolution, night-vision cameras have been installed at strategic points to record the impact of bees on elephants and their behaviour in these zones.

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