Protecting India’s endangered Asiatic elephants does more than conserve wildlife it also helps safeguard forests that act as major carbon sinks, according to a new scientific study. Researchers found that elephant conservation has contributed to preserving forest carbon stocks, highlighting the close link between biodiversity protection and climate change mitigation.
The study, published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa examined the relationship between elephant conservation, the expansion of elephant reserves and carbon storage in India between 1992 and 2025. During this period, India’s elephant reserve network expanded from just three reserves covering 18,297 square kilometres to 33 reserves spread across 80,777 square kilometres. While the elephant population increased by only about 6.7%, estimated carbon stored within these protected landscapes rose by 38%.
Researchers clarified that elephants are not directly responsible for creating more forest biomass. Instead, stronger protection of forests has reduced degradation, allowing existing carbon stocks to remain intact. Around 95% of the increase in carbon storage was attributed to the expansion and protection of forest areas.
Habitat Restoration More Important Than Declaring New Reserves
The study stresses that simply declaring additional elephant reserves will not guarantee long-term conservation success. Instead, improving habitat quality, restoring wildlife corridors and strengthening forest management are essential for protecting both elephant populations and forest ecosystems.
Often described as ecosystem engineers, elephants play a vital ecological role by dispersing seeds, enriching soils through dung, creating space for diverse vegetation and maintaining healthy forests that store carbon over long periods. However, researchers found only a weak relationship between the number of elephant reserves and elephant population growth, suggesting that fragmented habitats and poor management continue to threaten the species.
The study also highlighted concerns over recent elephant population estimates under the Synchronised All india Elephant Estimate (SAIEE) 2021-25 which recorded fewer elephants than the 2017 assessment, although experts caution that the two surveys used different counting methods and should not be directly compared.
Researchers said integrating wildlife conservation into India climate policies could help the country achieve its target of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030. They also suggested incorporating wildlife inclusive accounting into forest conservation programmes to generate measurable environmental benefits while protecting biodiversity.