Target amount Thailand: € 40.000 Raised: [text-blocks id=”donation-destination-balance” destination=CHALLENGE_TH plain=”1″]
Will you take part in this unique challenge to increase the survival chances of Asian elephants? You can participate by donating to one of the existing Challenge campaigns or by organizing your own Challenge campaign. By joining the Challenge, you contribute to a world in which people and elephants can coexist in harmony! Here you can read more about the mission of the Bring the Elephant Home Challenge in Thailand.
What is going on?
The Tenasserim area in Thailand (adjacent to Myanmar) is home to one of the largest populations of Asian elephants in the world. This makes the area of great importance for the survival of the Asian elephant. The Kuiburi National Park (969 km², established in 1999) is part of the Tenasserim area and hosts around 300 elephants. The unfenced park directly borders large-scale pineapple plantations which are frequently raided by elephants, causing many conflicts between humans and elephants in the area. Numerous mitigation strategies have been employed to stop the elephants from entering the plantations, including bottle fences, fireworks, spotlights, electric fencing, burning tires, and chasing elephants. However, these strategies have not been sufficiently effective in the long-term and are not animal friendly.
There are sustainable solutions!
Three villages in the area have decided to do things differently. Community members in these villages have introduced ecotourism, including homestays and elephant observation, as a solution that can compensate for the costs resulting from human-elephant conflicts. Moreover, they have expressed the desire to commit to more sustainable strategies. With the Bring the Elephant Home Challenge, we can help them realize this. Bring the Elephant Home has developed an integrated approach of community engagement, practical conservation action, and knowledge creation to promote sustainable human-elephant coexistence. By creating and protecting suitable elephant habitat, we make sure that elephants stay within their protected area. This decreases the likelihood of human-elephant conflicts. Through educational programs, we enhance local communities’ understanding of elephants and their habitat needs, and empower them to initiate community-based conservation projects. By providing communities with the knowledge, tools, and means to live in harmony with wild elephants, they now experience benefits from elephants, instead of the nuisance that they experienced in the past. They can generate income from participating in our project, for instance by taking care of the logistics and catering of the projects, organizing homestays, growing and nursing trees, selling honey, construction jobs, selling local projects and everything needed to execute the projects. Only through the active involvement of local communities, we can improve the relationship between humans and elephants.
What can we accomplish with the Challenge in Thailand?
With the Challenge, we can create buffer zones, increased biodiversity, and more food for elephants. This way, elephants will raid crops less frequently. We can implement sustainable solutions to reduce human-elephant conflicts, such as beehive fences, chili screens, and alternative crops. Local communities benefit from these solutions, among other things through income from pro-elephant activities. Through workshops and presentations, we raise awareness about the importance of elephant protection and ecosystems in general. We can continue our research on integrated strategies for the conservation of elephants and share our knowledge through scientific publications and workshops. Together, these activities help realize mutually beneficial human-elephant coexistence.
There are four Challenge Goals in Thailand. You can contribute with a donation to (one of) the existing campaigns for these goals or by organizing your own Challenge campaign. Thank you for your help!
Challenge goal: Planting and nursing of 5,000 trees
Target amount: € 7.500
What can we accomplish together with this amount: Elephant habitats will be more connected and resilient, with increased biodiversity. Restored habitat will be a safe haven for elephants, with more food available and reduced crop-raiding. ⇒ Start your campaign for this goal now
Challenge goal: Initiation of Community Coexistence Center and supporting homestay program “Living with elephants”
Target amount: € 22.500
What can we accomplish together with this amount: Through the Center, resources and knowledge will be provided that effectively contribute to human-elephant coexistence. The local community will benefit from elephants in a way that promotes the wellbeing of elephants. Host families can share their knowledge about elephants with their guests. We will set up a program for students and positions will be created for trainees and volunteers. The culture of ecosystem conservation will become stronger. There will be more support within the community to help the elephants. ⇒ Start your campaign for this goal now
Challenge goal: Giving workshops on reforestation, beehive and chili fences, agroforestry, guide training, marketing
Target amount: € 3.000
What can we accomplish together with this amount: By giving workshops in the Community Coexistence Center, understanding and awareness of the value of elephants and sustainable solutions will increase. Communities will have the tools and knowledge to deal effectively with human-elephant conflicts, and to realize peaceful human-elephant coexistence through innovative, pro-elephant and income-generating solutions. ⇒ Start your campaign for this goal now
Challenge goal: Construction of beehive fences (40 hives) to keep elephants away from farmers’ crops
Target amount: € 7.000 euro
What can we accomplish together with this amount: Beehive fences reduce human-elephant conflicts because they keep elephants away from farmers’ plantations. Through the sale of honey, the local community experiences additional from living with elephants. This will increase the appreciation for elephants and healthy ecosystems. ⇒ Start your campaign for this goal now
About Bring the Elephant Home (BTEH)
We focus on protecting the Asian and African elephant. The diverse activities that we have organized in the past years have resulted in an integrated approach to elephant conservation: creating positive change by combining the participation of local communities with information, research, capacity-building, and practical action. BTEH believes in an holistic approach, and in the involvement of local communities, students, scientists, governments, rangers, and everyone who values nature conservation.
Bring the Elephant Home has over 10 years of experience in community-based nature conservation. With integrated solutions, we can improve the habitat of elephants and the well-being of both elephants and people within the Tenasserim area. Will you help realize the Challenge?