Navigating human-elephant conflict in Odisha, India: unraveling the causes, impacts, and compensation paradigm

Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) has emerged as a critical conservation, governance and socio-environmental challenge in India; particularly in Odisha, where high elephant populations coexist with expanding human activities. Increasing human-elephant interactions have resulted in rising human fatalities, elephant deaths, crop loss, habitat fragmentation, and livelihood insecurity. This study examines the ecological, socio-economic, legal, and governance dimensions of HEC in Odisha with particular emphasis on compensation mechanisms, coexistence strategies, and conservation governance. The policy and practice review research paper adopts a qualitative and doctrinal research methodology based primarily on secondary data, including government reports, policy documents, wildlife literature, census records, and conservation studies. Through interdisciplinary analysis, the paper identifies habitat fragmentation, land-use change, mining activities, infrastructure expansion, climate variability, and socio-economic vulnerabilities as major drivers intensifying HEC in the state. The study further evaluates the effectiveness and implementation challenges associated with compensation mechanisms, and existing mitigation frameworks. The findings indicate that although Odisha possesses a comparatively structured compensation framework and several conservation initiatives, persistent governance challenges such as delayed compensation disbursement, fragmented institutional coordination, weak habitat governance, and inadequate community participation continue to undermine long-term conflict mitigation efforts. Comparative analysis of selected elephant-range regions and countries highlights the growing importance of coexistence-oriented governance approaches integrating habitat connectivity, scientific monitoring, community participation, land-use planning, and localized mitigation strategies. The paper argues that sustainable mitigation of HEC in Odisha requires a shift from reactive compensation-based responses toward integrated coexistence-oriented conservation governance. Strengthening habitat protection, improving compensation administration, enhancing institutional coordination, incorporating ecological considerations within developmental planning, and promoting community-based conservation strategies remain essential for reducing conflict intensity and fostering long-term human-elephant coexistence in Odisha.