Asian and African elephant populations require landscape-scale connectivity to meet their movement needs, but habitat fragmentation creates conflict with human communities that can be lethal for both.
Elephant corridor welfare encompasses both individual elephant wellbeing in navigating fragmented landscapes and the welfare of communities living in conflict with elephants. Elephants that destroy crops trigger retaliatory killings; elephants injured in conflict suffer injuries and stress. Connectivity of habitat through formal corridor designation, community wildlife management areas, and incentive programmes for coexistence reduces both conflict events and associated suffering. Community-based conservation that values elephants economically as well as ethically creates conditions for lasting coexistence.