Community Perspectives on Elephant Conservation in Eastern Nepal

Understanding people’s attitudes towards elephants (Elephas maximus) is crucial forformulating appropriate policies for species conservation and mitigating human-elephantconflict (HEC). Therefore, this study aimed to assess attitudes and perceptions towardelephant conservation in Udayapur District, eastern Nepal. Based on information fromkey informants (n = 10) and focus group discussions (n = 3), a total of 97 households wereselected for a semi-structured questionnaire survey to collect data on human-elephantincidents. Half of the respondents (50%) identified crop damage as the primary issue causedby wild elephants, and nearly half (46%) reported an increase in HEC over the past fiveyears (2016-2020). The majority (60%) claimed habitat encroachment as a major cause ofHEC in the study area. Approximately 46% of respondents use fire-related techniques tomitigate such conflicts. Moreover, more than half of the respondents (62%) showed a lowwillingness to conserve elephants, which was significantly influenced by their educationlevel [χ2(2) = 9.43, p < 0.001] and occupation [χ2(2) = 7.81, p < 0.05]. The findings of thisstudy will help develop management interventions that benefit communities and elephantsthrough effective HEC mitigation.