Environmental Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan emphasized that resolving human-elephant conflict in the Garo Hills requires patience and behavioral change. “Elephants lived in the hills before humans. We won’t survive if we continue destroying forests and harming elephants,” she said. Rizwana criticized the Forest Department for planting invasive eucalyptus and acacia trees, which disrupted the ecosystem. She called for removing these trees and planting species better suited to the habitat of elephants.