Large mammal populations in the Periyar and Agasthyamalai reserves of the Western Ghats, India were once contiguous but are now isolated by a mosaic of human-impacted habitat and linear barriers. Restoration of movement is essential to buffer their populations from demographic stochasticity and loss of genetic diversity. Past projects by FERAL have identified a 185 km² linkage zone where movement corridors can potentially be restored.

The proposed project aims to build upon our experience in dealing with human-elephant conflict in human-dominated areas by partnering with local communities and other civil societies. It addresses two key issues, human-elephant conflict and removal of male elephants from wild populations, which seriously affects our ongoing conservation efforts.

A landscape-level approach is required for the management of wild elephants. Hosting a rich biodiversity, the Brahmagiri-Nilgiri-Eastern Ghats Landscape (BNEGL) hosts a significant population of the Asian elephants and is important for its conservation. However, various factors such as habitat loss, human population growth, poaching, and infrastructure development leads to human-animal conflict. Lack of available data, predictive models, and perspectives hinder efficient conservation.