Recently, the northward migrating Asian elephants have rested in Yuxi, which relieved people around. To solve the problem of human-elephant conflict and elephant habitat, we need the participation of all sectors of society and absorbing collective wisdom. On June 18, National Geographic magazine interviewed Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, vice president and Secretary-General of CBCGDF. During the interview, they talk about the current short-term treatments and long-term management objectives for elephants. The main contents of the interview are as follows.

Dr. Zhou Jinfeng said in the interview that the protection of elephants must ensure an appropriate living space for elephants in the wild, while minimizing conflicts between humans and elephants(HEC). In this regard, he proposed measures and suggestions for establishing Yunnan Elephant National Park and explained the primary construction objectives and ideas.

First, it is necessary to find new habitats for the 15 elephants in this incident. The habitat area of the elephants in the past was not enough to meet its living needs now, which led to the "escape" of the elephant for this time. We need to find new habitats where the elephants are currently roaming, especially in the nearest place to their current location, and build temporary and permanent habitats for them, rather than driving them back.

The second measure is to build an ecological corridor between the four existing habitats and the newly found one to meet the migration habits of elephants and expand their living space.

Thirdly, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng proposed a concept of "Biodiversity Conservation in Our Neighborhood (BCON)," aiming at the problems of elephants’ survival. BCON can be interpreted as that people should provide living space and conditions for wild life where they live. Due to the excessive pursuit of economic benefits, farmers around traditional habitats of elephants usually tend to plant many rubber trees, herbal medicine, and tea, which will reduce the space for elephant activity. While in the view of BCON, the surrounding planting activities should be paid attention to leave some living space for elephants. For example, the use of herbicides around rubber trees can be appropriately reduced to provide food for elephants to eat.

Translator/Holly

Original Chinese article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/fCrecepcplzezaPp2pEvJQ

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