PRESS RELEASE
CONSERVATION CHARITYELEPHANTS FOR AFRICACELEBRATES WORLD ELEPHANT DAY
Elephants for Africa, the conservation charity based in Botswana, is standing alongside World Elephant Day on 12 August with their continued mission to build on their conservation work which is being developed through research and education with the local communities in Botswana.
Elephants for Africa, which is an associate of World Elephant Day, develops their research from their study site in the Makgadikgadi & Pans National Park in Botswana and is run by Dr Kate Evans.
Kate explains: ‘On 12 August every year World Elephant Day asks people to help conserve and protect elephants from the numerous threats they face. On August 12, 2012, the inaugural World Elephant Day was launched to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants. We are dedicated to sharing this message to enable the elephant to thrive in its habitat.
‘Much of our current work focuses on the coexistence humans and elephants who live side by side.One of the biggest threats to elephants is conflict with man. Being large herbivores, crops provide the perfect feeding ground, however elephants can also come into conflict with man in other ways, destroying fences keeping livestock in, disrupting village life and the ability for people to go about their daily chores such as to fetch water or walk to school. As human population increases throughout Africa, competition for land escalates and so elephants and humans are increasingly coming into contact.
‘Our teams provide a programme of theoretical and practical support for local farmers who suffer one of the highest rates of human-elephant conflict in Botswana at this interface. Our Community Coexistence Project delivers a range of educational and practical information to farmers and local school children, which aims to increase ecological understanding, empower local people with knowledge of how to reduce crop-raiding, trial existing conflict mitigation measures that have been used elsewhere, provide materials to enable farmers to implement these measures and to increase the use of conservation agricultural methods to improve overall yields.
‘We also have a dedicated Community Officer who is able to advise and disseminate information to farmers, and as a farmer himself can actively demonstrate these techniques to others. In the local primary school our involvement with Environmental Club members means we will be able to target the next generation of farmers, conservationists and researchers. We are working with them to deliver a program that engages them in conservation-themed educational activities that focus on increasing human-wildlife coexistence.'
Elephants for Africa was founded in 2007 by Dr Evans who started the charity having had a lifelong passion for elephants. Kate is a research associate of theUniversity of Bristol, and a member of theIUCN African Elephant Specialist Group, the Elephant Specialist Advisory Group , theSouth African Wildlife Management Association and the Zoological Society of Southern Africa.
She says: ‘The Elephants for Africa team works so hard to make a case for these magnificent beasts and those in camp have a real commitment to their research and fieldwork. We're delighted to be able to support World Elephant Day with the support of our charity. I hope this day will alert more people to the conservation, research and educational work that takes place in both Africa and Asia.