Promoting Harmonious Co-Existence
Yunnan Province is the last habitat for China’s remaining wild elephants, which
are given the highest possible protection under Chinese wildlife laws. But since
1992, due to the depletion of natural habitat caused by human activities, wild
elephants have frequented villages in Simao where they have destroyed crops and
houses, and harmed people.
IFAW’s Asian Elephant Project is easing the pressure on farmers caused by elephant activities by providing small "micro-credit" loans.
More than 370 families in seven communities pooled the loans and their own pledges into funding groups. Each group democratically selected the most needy families and supported their alternative farming ventures to reduce agricultural activities in the forest.
IFAW committed US$175,000 over three years to the project. IFAW and its partner, the Simao Forestry Bureau, found the rate of return plus interest for these micro-credit loans to be 100 percent.
Many families have successfully shifted to alternative farming to ease the land pressure in the forest. As a result, farmers are more accepting of the wild elephants and willing to protect their shared habitat voluntarily.
The project includes education in farming techniques, human safety awareness, wildlife protection and habitat conservation. Following on the success of our first year, the US Fish and Wildlife Service recently granted US$48,000 to the project.
In Kenya’s Rift Valley, where the Maasai’s ancestral grazing lands extend as far as the eye can see, people and animals are living side by side in a unique community wildlife protection project that enables elephants and other animals to co-exist alongside grazing stock on the Maasai’s land.
The Koiyaki Lemek Wildlife Trust (KLWT) allows local tourist lodges to use their land for safaris in exchange for a fee. The lodges also employ members of the Maasai community.
In return, the Maasai do not graze their livestock near the areas inhabited by wildlife, or interfere with wildlife on their land. So far the Trust has paid for five primary schools in Koiyaki and provided health care for the community.
In support of this project, IFAW helped train 22 Maasai rangers employed by the KLWT. They are part of a game scout force that protects wildlife, local residents and tourists.
IFAW hopes these model community projects will continue to grow and be replicated in other areas to encourage a shared existence that benefits both animals and people.
IFAW’s Grace Gabriel speaks with local villagers about the Asian Elephant Conservation Project.
IFAW's Asian Elephant
Conservation Project was recently audited - and highly rated - by the
UK NGO, Elephant Family.
The independent audit presented a view of
the state of wild Asian elephant conservation and assessed the capacity of ten
Asian countries to conserve and manage elephants.
Evaluating the conservation
impact of the two dozen projects run by non-government organizations (NGOs) in
Asian countries, the audit aims to empower donors to make informed decisions
concerning which elephant conservation project they support.
The
audit highly rated IFAW's project for its role in providing interface between
the government machinery and the people, stating:
“The project was well received by local people, local government and central government. As a result, China used the model to establish its own National Plan for elephants. It also ensured that the Simao region extended its hunting ban (on all wildlife) for another five years." Photo © IFAW/ Xu Jan
