Strategic Conservation Planning Workshop for Asian Elephants

Human–Elephant Conflict Task Force Meeting Planned

Strategic Planning for Species Conservation: A Handbook
The Species Conservation Planning Task Force, Species Survival Commission, IUCN
Caution: Large file: 7.59MB

See Gajah ,the bi-annual journal of the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG) for the latest communications on issues that concern the management and conservation of Asian Elephants both in the wild and in captivity.  Issues 26 and 27 now available online.  Past issues will be available soon.

Strategic Conservation Planning Workshop for Asian Elephants

A Strategic Conservation Planning Workshop for Asian Elephants was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia October 20-24, 2008.

There were two back-to-back Asian Elephant conservation workshops. The first workshop focused on a range-wide status review, attempting to map all Asian Elephant populations and compile data about those populations (e.g. population size and trend, threats to the population). The second workshop aimed to take these “where to save the species” data and use them to draft an outline conservation strategy for Asian Elephants throughout their range (i.e. “how to save the species”). The two workshops were organized by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and WWF AREAS, with funding from WCS, the AsESG, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and WWF AREAS.

Participants also identified land which may act as linkages between known populations, and areas where the species might be restored in future. Preliminary maps were developed before the workshops, and then refined at the workshops.

The draft strategy identified a vision, goals, and objectives together with appropriate actions aimed at mitigating and eliminating threats to elephants. The draft outline strategy is intended to be completed over the November 2008 to January 2009 period through a process of wider consultation, review, and revision than is possible is a workshop setting. A copy of the strategy plan was emailed earlier to members. AsESG's membership is encouraged to participate in the review and revision process.

Follow-up national workshops are recognized and encouraged as a vital part of the process.
 

Human–Elephant Conflict Task Force Meeting Planned

The AsESG’s Human–Elephant Conflict Task Force is compiling a review of human–elephant conflict mitigation measures in Asia. This review will be discussed during a 2-day HEC Mitigation Workshop in Beijing immediately following the Society for Conservation Biology’s Annual Meeting in July 2009.  In holding the workshop, the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group’s Human–Elephant Conflict Task Force will bring together a group of people (including but not restricted to the HECTF’s members) with practical experience of human–elephant conflict mitigation work in Asia to: 

(a)     Review the causes of HEC

a.       Identify processes/actions that can stop (minimize) the creation of new HEC situations

b.       Identify and review processes/actions that can stop the escalation of existing HEC situations and possibly reverse some of the factors that contribute to HEC

(b)     Review and list the types of HEC situations (i.e. dispersal, pocketed populations, etc.) and mitigation measures in place

a.       Compile a list of mitigation methods used across Asia

b.       Review and compile a summary of what has worked and what has not, where, and why (if known);

c.       Develop a document listing best management practices and keep that current on the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group’s website as ‘a living document’.

A widely disseminated central resource documenting effective and ineffective actions to mitigate HEC is intended to enhance improvements and avoid replication of past failures.