Any sustainable solution must combine responsible land management with the involvement of local communities.

1. Human-elephant conflict mitigation. Sumatra, Indonesia.
In the last 5 years in Indonesia:

• 200 elephants involved in conflict situations have been captured from the wild and held at Elephant Conservation Centres (ECCs).
• 23 elephants were poisoned by local communities following conflict incidents.
• 16 human deaths were reported from human-elephant conflict
  

Years of conflict have eroded the local community's support for the elephant. With tolerance at an all-time low, the elephant is more than ever at risk of being killed or captured.

Our aims in this project are 
i. to strengthen community participation in efforts to address human-elephant conflict.
ii. to demonstrate to government that there are more suitable solutions to human-elephant conflict than the indiscriminate capture of wild elephants.
iii. to develop models for conflict mitigation that can be replicated elsewhere in Sumatra.

We are currently working with the FFI Conservation Response Unit to evaluate wild elephant movement assess habitat areas and identify alternative land management solutions, such as corridors.

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2. Elephant Conservation Unit
Following years of scientific research, the Borneo elephant was confirmed to be a sub-species of the Asian elephant in 2003.   

But the Borneo elephant is severely endangered. It is suspected that the large-scale agriculture projects in the area during the 1980s and early 1990s caused the sharp fall in elephant numbers at that time. Current estimates suggest a remaining population of around 1,200 - 1,500 Borneo elephants. With 150-170 individuals inhabiting the Kinabatangan, this area of Sabah in Borneo has become the priority for conservation.

elephant family has joined forces with an efficient team made up of: a small not for profit organization, the Sabah wildlife Department and local people. They are implementing practical measures to reduce the human-elephant conflict and also carrying out important research in to this significant sub species.

The project has 4 main areas of work:
i. patrols - a round-the-clock patrol unit assists farmers in human-elephant conflict incidents. They use non-violent methods to repel the elephants away from crops and back into the forest.
ii. crop protection - training farmers to manage their crops in ways that avoid attracting elephants.
iii. scientific research - into this little-known subspecies.
iv. awareness raising - the Borneo elephant is considered a pest by local farmers. Raising awareness among the local community is a crucial part of this project.

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3. Train fatality prevention, Assam, India.
In India, railways now cut through most prime elephant habitat land. Since the year 2000, trains have caused the death of 45 elephants.

In 2002, a pioneering project in Utteranchal spearheaded by the Wildlife Trust of India successfully stopped elephant deaths in that area. Simple but extremely effective solutions included: the introduction of "go-slow" zones and clearing shrubbery around blind spots.

elephant family is now working with the Wildlife Trust of India to replicate this initiative in Assam.

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