IFAW: Asian elephant press release

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> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

> Contact:

> Aster Zhang (IFAW, China Program Officer) - Tel: +86 (10) 6464 3599;

> Email: azhang

> Wendy Guan (IFAW, China Public Affairs Coordinator) - Tel: +86 (10) 6464

> 3599; Email: wguan

>

> Editors: For more information visit www.ifaw.org

>

> Asian Elephant Conservation in China Boosted

>

> (Beijing, 27 September 2001) - The Asian elephant conservation project,

> initiated by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW-www.ifaw.org)

> in Simao, China's Yunnan Province, is one step closer to alleviating human

> wildlife conflict through support from government agencies in both the

> United States and China. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently

> granted US$48,000 to the project. The grant coincides with a new-five year

> hunting ban issued by the Simao Prefecture government.

>

> Asian elephants enjoy first-class protection in the Wildlife Protection

> Law of China. The Simao area, located southwest of Yunnan province has

> historically been an Asian elephant habitat. Since 1992, though, due to

> the depletion of natural habitat caused by human activities, wild

> elephants have frequented villages in Simao where they have destroyed

> crops, houses and injured people. The escalating conflict threatened the

> lives of between five to 20 of the only 250 elephants in the country.

>

> To address the human-elephant conflict in the Simao area, in July 2000

> IFAW initiated the Asian Elephant Project (AEP), the first wildlife

> protection project implemented by an international non-governmental

> organization (NGO) in the local area. Instead of the conventional

> compensation mechanism, which passively addresses the demand of local

> villagers, IFAW funded the local government to develop community economic

> programs in order to ease the pressure on farmers caused by elephant

> activities. By providing micro-credit loan assistance to the area's rural

> communities, the project encourages local farmers to actively seek

> alternative farming and to reduce agricultural activities in the forest.

>

> During a recent project evaluation, IFAW and its partner in the project

> implementation, the Simao Forestry Bureau, found the rate of return plus

> interest for the micro-credit loans has been 100%. Many families have

> successfully shifted to alternative farming to ease the land pressure in

> the forest. The farmers' attitudes towards wildlife habitat conservation

> have also changed from on the verge of " hate killing " to contending to

> coexist with elephants.

>

> " We are very grateful to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for joining us

> in this worthy project, " said Grace Gabriel, IFAW China Country Director.

> " We also congratulate the decision by the Simao government to extend the

> hunting ban. This will allow the wildlife in the area to recover as our

> project expands to build elephant migration corridors that connect

> isolated eco-regions. "

>

> The education component of the project, which is being conducted in four

> villages, includes farming techniques, human safety awareness, wildlife

> protection and habitat conservation. Scientific research in the area has

> identified elephant food patterns, and resulted in the construction of

> salt licks in the forest to attract elephants away from the crops. IFAW's

> total commitment to the three-year project will be approximately

> US$175,000 (RMB1.5 million).

>

> End