Thailand has been honoured for its Elephant conservation practices at Kuiburi National Park, with the World Wide Fund for Nature naming it one of two WWF project sites in Asia carrying out best practices for human-elephant conflict mitigation.
Thais’ love for elephants has also been highlighted via an art project on display at several shopping centres in Bangkok and soon to be seen in Milan.
Research data confirmed that in 2015 there has been zero elephants poached in Kuiburi, of Prachuap Khiri Khan province, and elephant deaths have declined dramatically in recent years. There have been only four deaths from 2006 until now, compared to 11 deaths from 1997 to 2005.
Additionally, human-elephant conflict incidents have declined dramatically from 332 in 2005 to 274 in 2013 to 146 in 2014.
The second project site highlighted by WWF for human-elephant conflict mitigation is Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India, which has had no elephant poaching from 2010 until the present.
The success at Kuiburi National Park has been achieved through the collaborative effort of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, local communities, local partner organisations and WWF Thailand.
Hundreds of joint patrols by national park staff and military and border patrol police, who are trained to use the SMART patrol system, are major reasons for this success. The WWF and park staff encouraged Karen villagers to stop forest encroachment and poaching in the core area of the park while encouraging sustainable land use planning. Habitat for elephants has been improved in key areas and local communities are now engaged as conservation partners.
“Our goal is to reduce the likelihood of human-elephant conflict, end hunting of wild species and at the same time also work to eliminate the killing of elephants for ivory and the smuggling of baby elephants from the wild,” said Wayuphong Jitvijak, manager of the Kuiburi wildlife conservation project for WWF Thailand.
Kuiburi National Park has an area of 969 square kilometres. The WWF, the Department of National Parks, local communities and partner organisations collaboratively work to restore natural resources and maintain a healthy ecosystem for elephants by creating salt licks and filling water holes during the dry season. This ensures that the elephants remain in the forest, thereby reducing the risk of human-elephant conflict incidents such as crop raids.
Today, there are an estimated 20,000-25,000 Asian elephants in the world and Thailand has a population of 2,500-3,200 wild elephants. Their global numbers have shrunk by over 70 per cent in the last 30 years and they are now classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
This year is turning into a game-changing 12 months for elephants in Thailand because of the strong efforts to protect them by the government with the support of the private and public sector. This year over 1.3 million Thais showed their love for elephants by uniting against the illegal ivory trade through a social media campaign called “Chor Chang Can Save Elephants”.
Thailand also passed the Elephant Ivory Act, the first ever piece of legislation to control the domestic ivory market while publicly destroying more than 2 tonnes of ivory to signal zero tolerance for poaching.
“Considerable progress has been made by the government this year but there will be challenges ahead in implementing regulations, clamping down on illegal ivory traders and reducing demand,” said Janpai Ongsiriwittaya, Wildlife Trade Campaign manager for WWF Thailand.
Additionally, Central Pattana Plc this month joined hands with Art Bridge Chiang Rai, a group of artists from northern Thailand led by the country’s leading visual artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, to create 999 papier mache elephants. The artworks were created by 999 individual artists to raise awareness of issues relating to elephant conservation in Thailand. The 999 elephants are on display at Central Bangkok, Central World, Central Chidlom and Central Embassy until next Sunday.
“Now more than ever the public is aware of the fact that 30,000 elephants in Africa are slaughtered each year for ivory and they have called for the slaughter to end,” Janpai said. “Even Thailand’s largest retail developer and the art community have joined hands for elephants … using the power of art to communicate the importance of elephants and elephant conservation to the public.”
The event will also showcases a 4.2-metre tall elephant painted by nine leading artists and set to be sent to Milan to link with the art community there and serve as a symbol of Thais love for elephants.
“WWF’s goal is to reduce human-elephant conflict and wipe out the illegal ivory trade to ensure a future rich in biodiversity and a future with elephants for generations to come,” said Yowalak Thiarachow, WWF Thailand country director.
“Every effort, however small, matters. Say no to ivory products and join us in this fight to save elephants with your support and donations. Together we will make Thailand a leader in elephant conservation.”
