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WWF to promote human-elephant conflict mitigation
A proposal on how to achieve peaceful coexistence between humans and wildlife, titled "Living in Harmony: Mitigating Human-Wildlife Conflict", is set to be presented by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia at the second Paris Peace Forum from Nov
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span>A proposal on how to achieve peaceful coexistence between humans and wildlife, titled "Living in Harmony: Mitigating Human-Wildlife Conflict", is set to be presented by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia at the second Paris Peace Forum from Nov. 11 to 13.
The forum will be held in France, with 30 world leaders scheduled to attend the Nov. 12 ceremony. The first Paris Peace Forum held in commemoration of the centennial of the 1918 Versailles Treaty, which ended World War I.
At the forum, WWF Indonesia will highlight an initiative in Aceh that focuses on helping humans live in harmony with wild elephants.
For the project, WWF Indonesia has partnered with local community patrol team Flora and Fauna Defenders Team (TPFF) in Peusangan district, Central Aceh regency.
The team, founded in 2017 by locals, works at raising awareness among the youth of Karang Ampar and Bergang villages in Peusangan about the importance of coexisting with elephants. It was founded after locals killed a male elephant for its tusks.
The NGO also partners with Teman Gajah (Friends of Elephants), a movement initiated by Indonesian singer-songwriter Tulus, to raise awareness about the alarming decline of Indonesia’s elephant population.
Along with Program Peduli (Caring Program) initiated by another NGO the Partnership for Governance Reform (Kemitraan) that aims to improve social inclusion in marginalized communities, the two projects from Indonesia are among the 114 initiatives selected from 716 applications from over 50 countries that will be showcased at the global forum.
Aceh is home to the largest population of Sumatran elephants, with more than 500 individuals.
However, continued loss of forests to plantations and residential developments has lead to human-elephant conflicts.
Driven from their natural habitat, elephants have been known to damage crops and human settlements, with conflicts resulting in loss of life on both sides.
The Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) recorded up to 170 conflicts between humans and elephants from 2012 to 2017, which resulted in the deaths of 54 elephants and left 19 people injured.
With human-wildlife conflicts widespread worldwide, taking the Aceh initiative to a global forum is a way to attract international attention to the issue, WWF Indonesia chairman Alexander Rusli told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
“There is no need to dichotomize between ecological preservation and economic interests when both can go hand-in-hand. We promote a shared space concept arranged in such a way that humans and elephants do not interfere with one another,” he said.
The project sees WWF Indonesia and its partners work to strengthen local communities, conduct elephant monitoring, develop conflict mitigation models and improve the elephants’ habitat and food supply.
Through the project, local patrol team members are given training on how to monitor the elephants’ movements, use navigation tools and record illegal forestry activities.
The monitoring activities include involving local communities in mapping the elephants' movements. The results serve as the geographical basis for understanding how to share living space with the giant mammals.
Speaking on the same occasion, patrol team leader Muslim, a former elephant hunter turned animal welfare activist, emphasized the urgency of the project in Aceh.
Residents of Karang Ampar and Bergang villages have limited access to formal education and have become accustomed to conflicts with elephants, as they think of the animals as pests, Muslim said.
He recalled that some locals, including himself, first learned that Sumatran elephants were a protected species from WWF Indonesia and the BKSDA.
Going forward, Alexander said, they planned to develop the project into an ecotourism venture that could economically benefit locals.
“We want to offer people the chance to see Sumatran elephants in the wild while proving that we can live harmoniously,” he said.
Elephants tend to pass along the same corridors even if the land use has changed. As part of the ecotourism plans, locals could supply food at several “pit stops” on the elephants' path to encourage the mammals to remain there longer.
When the elephants stop by, people will be able to admire and learn about the endangered species from a safe distance, Muslim explained.
“There is no other way but to live in harmony. If humans and elephants remain in conflict, it is the mammals that will lose,” he said.
