Thais see 'elixir' as solution to human-elephant conflict

However, problems such as habitat loss and degradation due to the increase in the human population and agricultural encroachment have also emerged, a trend also seen in other countries.

In China's Yunnan province, the population of wild Asian elephants has increased from about 150 in the 1980s to more than 300 last year due to protection measures, according to statistics from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, or NFGA.

With the growth in the elephant population, conflicts between humans and elephants have become more frequent. To cope with the growing problem, Yunnan has introduced a commercial insurance model into its compensation mechanism.

Over the past decade, the province has paid out nearly 200 million yuan ($27.44 million) for losses caused by elephants.

"As long as humans and elephants live on the same land, such conflict will inevitably occur," Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz, elephant expert and researcher from the Megafauna Ecology and Conservation Group at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said. "The essence of it is the competition for resources, which has existed since ancient times."

As humans have appropriated more and more natural resources, he said human factors have prevailed. "Human-elephant conflict is directly due to the loss of natural habitat," he said.

In Yunnan, such conflict even resulted in a rare phenomenon. In 2021, 15 wild Asian elephants in the province traveled 500 kilometers from their habitat, becoming a hot topic on the internet and in the media all around the world.

"The fundamental way to alleviate human-elephant conflict is to create more suitable habitats for elephants," Chen Fei, director of the Asian Elephant Research Center under the NFGA, said.

"In addition, ecological corridors can also be built to connect habitats."

He said China is exploring ways to further restore the habitat of Asian elephants by building national parks.

Protecting ecosystems

The parks will prioritize the protection of ecosystems rather than the utilization of natural resources. The strongest protection in the parks will occur within "red line "zones, a key government strategy that places designated areas under mandatory state protection.

Yunnan is currently pooling ideas from experts both at home and abroad to build a more science-based management system for the Asian Elephant National Park before its official launch.

Similar to the management principle of China's national parks, the Bajrasudha Gajanurak Project has adopted a system to meet the needs of three different zones — forest conservation zones, buffer zones and community zones.

Forest conservation zones are mainly for the elephants. Designated water sources are provided to dissuade elephants from venturing out of their natural habitat in search of food.

The project plans to build a total of 60 water sources of different sizes, with a combined capacity of approximately 1.8 million cubic meters. A total of 23 water sources have been established so far.

General Chalermchai Sitthisad, privy councilor and executive chair of the Gajanurak Fund, said reforestation is also an important part of the conservation zones, which helps replenish natural food sources for wild elephants.