Asiatic Elephant conservation as a driver of forest carbon stock stabilization and avoided degradation in India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.10471.18.6.29003-29009Keywords:
Biodiversity, carbon sequestration, Climate mitigation, Ecosystem engineering, elephant reserves, Forest conservation, habitat, population, Land-use stabilization, Megaherbivores, Nature-based solutions, Protected areas, REDD+, wildlifeAbstract
The conservation of the Asiatic Elephant Elephas maximus indicus serves a dual purpose: it maintains forest integrity and indirectly enhances carbon sequestration in the tropical ecosystems. This study assesses the relationship between elephant conservation efforts, the expansion of elephant reserves (ERs), and wildlife-associated carbon stock enhancement in India from 1992–2025. The present study employed an IPCC Tier-2–aligned model to estimate total carbon stock changes. This model integrated three primary data streams: elephant census data; the temporal expansion of ER surface area; and land use land cover-based carbon densities. Between 1992 and 2025, the ER network expanded from 18,297 km² to 80,777 km². This expansion coincided with a modest 6.7% increase in elephant population. The estimated total carbon stock within ER landscapes increased by 38%; however, this increase primarily reflects enhanced protection and reduced degradation of pre-existing forest carbon stocks, rather than newly generated biomass. Area-based protection accounted for ~95% of the observed change, while direct faunal biomass contribution remained limited. These findings highlight the role of conservation-driven land-use stabilization in supporting climate mitigation, while emphasizing the need for cautious interpretation of wildlife–carbon relationships.
References
Abernethy, K.A., L. Coad, G. Taylor, M.E. Lee & F. Maisels (2013). Extent and ecological consequences of hunting in Central African rainforests in the twenty-first century. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 368(1625): 20120303. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0303
Baasansuren, J., M. Fukuda, S. Ngarize, A. Osako, Y. Pyrozhenko, P. Shermanau & S. Federici (2019). 2019 refinement to the 2006 IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories. International Panel on Climate Change, Switzerland.
Baishya, J.B., P. Choudhury, R. Ahmed & N.R. Talukdar (2025). Assessment of Asiatic elephant habitats using satellite data: a study in Swang Reserve Forest of Assam, India. Tropical Ecology 67: 103–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-025-00415-7
Bangor, A., P.T. Kortum & J.T. Miller (2008). An Empirical Evaluation of the System Usability Scale. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 24(6): 574–594. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447310802205776
Bennett, E.L. & J.G. Robinson (2023). To avoid carbon degradation in tropical forests, conserve wildlife. PLOS Biology 21(8): e3002262. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002262
Berzaghi, F., F. Bretagnolle, C. Durand-Bessart & S. Blake (2023). Megaherbivores modify forest structure and increase carbon stocks through multiple pathways. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120(5): e2201832120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201832120
Berzaghi, F., M. Longo, P. Ciais, S. Blake, F. Bretagnolle, S. Vieira, M. Scaranello, G. Scarascia-Mugnozza & C.E. Doughty (2019). Carbon stocks in central African forests enhanced by elephant disturbance. Nature Geoscience 12(9): 725–729. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0395-6
Chaudhary, S.K., A.C. Pandey & B.R. Parida (2024). Geospatial analysis of elephant habitat suitability and movement for mapping the elephant corridor in Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary (India). Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 196(10): 936. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-024-13110-2
Chami, R., T. Cosimano, C. Fullenkamp, F. Berzaghi, S. Español, M. Marcondes, Milton & J. Palazzo (2020). On Valuing Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change: A Framework with Application to Elephants and Whales. Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID) Working Paper 297, 46 pp. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3686168
Christen, D.R., M.G. Espinosa, A. Reumann & J. Puri (2020). Results Based Payments for REDD+ under the Green Climate Fund: Lessons Learned on Social, Environmental and Governance Safeguards. Forests 11(12): 1350. https://doi.org/10.3390/f11121350
Danielsen, F., N.D. Burgess & A. Balmford (2005). Monitoring Matters: Examining the Potential of Locally-based Approaches. Biodiversity and Conservation 14(11): 2507–2542. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-005-8375-0
Doughty, C.E., A. Wolf & Y. Malhi (2013). The impact of large animal extinctions on nutrient fluxes in early river valley civilizations. Ecosphere 4(12): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES13-00221.1
Khan, Z., W. Khalid, S.A. Ali, S.K. Shamim & A. Ahmad (2024). Analysing the potential impacts of land use land cover (LULC) transformation on present and future carbon sequestration capabilities in the central Himalayas. Discover Geoscience 2(1): 92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44288-024-00097-z
Lamba, A., H.C. Teo, R. Sreekar, Y. Zeng, L.R. Carrasco & L.P. Koh (2023). Climate co-benefits of tiger conservation. Nature Ecology & Evolution 7(7): 1104–1113. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02069-x
Ong, L., W.H. Tan, L.C. Davenport, K.R. McConkey, M.K.A.B.M. Amin, A. Campos-Arceiz & J.W. Terborgh (2023). Asian elephants as ecological filters in Sundaic forests. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 6:1143633. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2023.1143633
Rawat, R.S. & V.R.S. Rawat (2025). Climate Change and Forest Sector in India, pp. 253–285 (33 pages). In: Mandal, A.K. & A. Nicodemus (eds.). Textbook of Forest Science. Springer Nature Singapore, Singapore, xii + 893 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8289-5_12
Sarkar A. & A. Mishra (2023). Study of current population status and major hazards faced by elephants in India. Journal of Experimental Zoology India 26(2): 1407–1412. https://doi.org/10.51470/jez.2023.26.2.1407
Sullivan, M.J.P., J. Talbot, S.L. Lewis, O.L. Phillips, L. Qie, S.K. Begne, J. Chave, A. Cuni-Sanchez, W. Hubau, G. Lopez-Gonzalez, L. Miles, A. Monteagudo-Mendoza, B. Sonké, T. Sunderland, H. ter Steege, L.J.T. White, K. Affum-Baffoe, S.I. Aiba, E.C. Almeida, E.A. Oliveira, P. Alvarez-Loayza, E.Á. Dávila, A. Andrade, L.E.O.C. Aragão, P. Ashton, G.A. Aymard, T.R. Baker, M. Balinga, L.F. Banin, C. Baraloto, J.-F. Bastin, N. Berry, J. Bogaert, D. Bonal, F. Bongers, R. Brienen, J.L.C. Camargo, C. Cerón, V.C. Moscoso, E. Chezeaux, C.J. Clark, Á.C. Pacheco, J.A. Comiskey, F.C. Valverde, E.N.H. Coronado, G. Dargie, S.J. Davies, C. De Canniere, M.N. Djuikouo K., J.-L. Doucet, T.L. Erwin, J.S. Espejo, C.E.N. Ewango, S. Fauset, T.R. Feldpausch, R. Herrera, M. Gilpin, E. Gloor, J.S. Hall, D.J. Harris, T.B. Hart, K. Kartawinata, L.K. Kho, K. Kitayama, S.G.W. Laurance, W.F. Laurance, M.E. Leal, T. Lovejoy, J.C. Lovett, F.M. Lukasu, J.-R. Makana, Y. Malhi, L. Maracahipes, B.S. Marimon, B.H. Marimon Jr., A.R. Marshall, P.S. Morandi, J.T. Mukendi, J. Mukinzi, R. Nilus, P.N. Vargas, N.C.P. Camacho, G. Pardo, M. Peña-Claros, P. Pétronelli, G.C. Pickavance, A.D. Poulsen, J.R. Poulsen, R.B. Primack, H. Priyadi, C.A. Quesada, J. Reitsma, M. Réjou-Méchain, Z. Restrepo, E. Rutishauser, K.A. Salim, R.P. Salomão, I. Samsoedin, D. Sheil, R. Sierra, M. Silveira, J.W.F. Slik, L. Steel, H. Taedoumg, S. Tan, J.W. Terborgh, S.C. Thomas, M. Toledo, P.M. Umunay, L.V. Gamarra, I.C.G. Vieira, V.A. Vos, O. Wang, S. Willcock & L. Zemagho (2017). Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome. Scientific Reports 7(1): 39102. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39102
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Tarun Kathula, Tanu Jindal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
