Photo taken at the Singapore Zoo [Personal]

In order to counter human-elephant conflict, the key is to be more tolerant to human conservation of elephants. (Yasak, Tyson, Gumal, Campos-Arceiz & Hedges, n.d.). However, merely being tolerant does not do the job of keeping away elephants. Therefore, the Southeast Asia (SEA) countries can learn a trick or two from their Asia counterparts.

In Sri Lanka, authorities have built Palmyra fence to keep elephants away from raiding crops. These Palmyra fence is stated to be sustainable as the cost of planting it is low, it has zero maintenance cost and it can last for more than 100 years. Moreover, these fences are more environmentally friendly as compared to electrified fence as it contributes to the vegetation, which eventually generates income for communities (Parameswaran, 2014).

In India, the Kaziranga–Karbi Anglong elephant corridor connects approximately 2,000 elephants from Kaziranga National Park and South Karbi Anglong Wildlife Sanctuary. However, as a result of the construction of this corridor, it has led to backlash from the landowners (“Creating safe passages for Indian elephants”, n.d.).

Lastly, from 1999 – 2003, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) conducted a 5 years project in Pu’er regarding the use of micro-credit lending to help the local people build an alternative income, alleviate their reliance on elephant habitat and reduce the elephant damage’s impact on communities. From 2003 to 2008, this project has been extended to Xishuangbanna area to benefit more people. Lastly, scientific research has been conducted on this project to help build an elephant corridor that allows the increase in elephant habitat (“Big Elephants, Small Loans Equals A Win-Win Solution”, n.d.).

Ergo, SEA countries can learn from the myriad of human-elephant conflict solutions present in Asia.