Nature & Environment

Protecting Elephants and Their Habitats: Wildlife Works' Role in African Wildlife Conservation

Staff Reporter
First Posted: Nov 08, 2024 01:47 AM EST

Around 10 million elephants roamed the African continent just a hundred years ago. Today, that number is less than 500,000. Human-wildlife conflict has become a top threat to elephants' survival. Wildlife Works is committed to creating wildlife-friendly solutions to this conflict.

Wildlife Works is a community-centered conservation organization taking a holistic approach to protecting the planet's wild environments with solutions that work for people. Its pioneering Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project protects critical habitat for over 10,000 African elephants, including 2,000 permanent residents and over 8,000 more migrating between Tsavo East and West National Parks annually.

The pioneering community-centered conservation organization invests heavily in preventing human-wildlife conflict, directly protecting the most at-risk elephants and community members. For example, its Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project funds specialist rangers focused on elephant conservation using carbon revenue.

It also supports creating artificial watering holes during extreme drought and implements innovative, wildlife-friendly solutions for protecting farmer's crops. Crop damage caused by displaced wildlife is becoming an increasingly common source of human-wildlife conflict across Africa and elsewhere worldwide.

Wildlife Works' Conservation Role

Wildlife Works protects African elephants via numerous pioneering initiatives, including aerial patrols, REDD+ projects, and crucial community engagement. Its aerial patrols help prevent poaching while identifying new human-wildlife conflicts and other illegal activities.

The community-centered conservation organization's Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project in Kenya covers over 500,000 acres. These 500,000 acres are home to as many as 11,000 elephants either migrating through the area or residing there year-round.

Here and elsewhere, Wildlife Works provides Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities with much-needed information and the all-important tools fundamental to successfully preserving invaluable local ecosystems.

African elephants are known as ecosystem engineers for creating unique habitats for other species. Sadly, their numbers continue decreasing, caused in no small part by human-wildlife conflict and poaching—two leading areas of focus for Wildlife Works.

Short Film Healing Giants

Wildlife Works' short film Healing Giants showcases efforts to rescue an elephant injured by human-wildlife conflict. The film follows conservation pilot Keith Herring, who first identified an elephant wounded during a human-wildlife conflict at the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project.

The film highlights growing tension and human-wildlife conflict stemming in no small part from climate change and habitat loss. It also emphasizes the organization's efforts to make conservation work for local communities by using carbon revenue to fund wildlife protection and community development initiatives.

Watch Healing Giants from Wildlife Works on YouTube or visit the organization's blog for further information. Since 1997, the community-centered conservation organization's Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project has partnered with over 100,000 community members to protect African elephants and other endangered species.

Learn more about what the organization does at WildlifeWorks.com.

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