Vivek Menon, co-founder of the Wildlife Trust of India, has dedicated 30 years to constructing a network of 101 elephant corridors across India. These corridors protect migratory routes for elephants, enabling them to move safely across fragmented habitats from the Himalayas to southern forests.

His work began from humble origins with a team of just three members working out of his house. That passion fueled efforts to map traditional elephant pathways and advocate their recognition as protected zones. Using four core strategies community-managed zones (particularly in the Northeast), government land acquisition and infrastructure adjustments, grassroots monitoring groups (like schoolchildren halting traffic in Kaziranga), and relocating villages when necessary Menon and his team innovatively addressed human–elephant conflict.

His contributions also bolstered policy impact: the Supreme Court designated the Sigur Plateau as an elephant corridor in 2020, guided by Menon’s evidence-led advocacy. Beyond corridors, Menon’s broader conservation strategy includes anti-poaching training and orphan elephant rehabilitation efforts garnering international recognition, including the prestigious Whitley Award.

Menon’s holistic model blending science, community cooperation, and policy engagement offers a replicable blueprint for wildlife conservation that balances ecological integrity with human livelihoods.