In many communities in rural Africa, the vast majority of local people have no opportunity to support themselves except through small-scale, subsistence farming. In an environment that must support an increasing human population as well as that of a healthy elephant population, this dependence upon small-scale farming as a sole livelihood strategy forces people and elephants to directly compete with one another for things like space, and water. The human population around Ruaha National Park and at the headwaters of the Great Ruaha River, increased more than five fold, in the last seventy five years. The increased demand for water resources to support agriculture upstream is a primary contributor to the annual drying of the Great Ruaha River, which forces elephants, to leave the protected area in search of water.
As these shared natural resources grow scarcer, the conflict between humans and elephants intensifies, with deadly results for both species. For example, a single episode of elephant crop-raiding can destroy the crop of an entire family of subsistence farmers, depriving local people of a resource important to their already tenuous existence, and intensifying peoples’ resentment toward efforts aimed at protecting what is locally regarded as a pest species. In order to reduce such conflict between humans and elephants, we must address issues related to the unmet livelihood needs of people living in these communities, and create direct benefits to local people of protecting elephants.
By facing these challenges in a thoughtful way, we facilitate the development of alternative livelihood strategies for local people that depend upon the persistence of elephants, rather than on their extermination.
Mission
Our mission is to simultaneously improve human livelihoods and promote the conservation of natural resources, particularly of elephants.
We do this by:
- Ensuring people are aware of the benefits their communities currently receive from protecting elephants.
- Creating additional benefits to local people of protecting elephants.
- Improving human livelihoods in ways that are linked to elephant conservation.
- Reduce elephant crop-raiding behavior.
Vision
We envision humans and elephants sustainably coexisting together in a culture that is supportive of conservation. Achieving this mission means including components of:
- Research (biological, ecological, and social)
- Conservation
- Education
- Economic development
The above components are inextricably linked. If our passion is to protect elephants, we must consider the drivers of human elephant conflict. These drivers are linked to poverty, which results from poor education and lack of economic opportunities. We aim to simultaneously address all of these related challenges.
