Tree Huts, Tree Huts, Everywhere Tree Huts!
It may seem like a romantic notion , to have a tree hut off the edge of a national park or in the middle of a deep green rice field, but in Human Elephant Conflict areas, tree hut look-outs signify the complex relationship between conflict and coexistence. Firecrackers go off around me almost every night (an often used practice of scaring potential crop-raiding elephants away from farms as human population increases and animal habitat decreases), and it is going to take creative, consistent, collaborative efforts to create a future for both rural families and wild elephants.
Families of people and families of elephants want the same thing—to have enough food and space to feed their children, and to live in peace and safety. Local and international organizations alike are working to change this growing conflict into one of coexistence, but there are no easy answers, and every year lives are lost, both human and elephant. From electric fencing to beehive fences to planting alternative crops, there is no clear path to conserving what is too precious to be lost.
One thing for sure is that new, updated education of all kinds is paramount to changing the outcome for the elephants and for the people who live among them. We’re devoted to developing and sharing appropriate and productive educational offerings, so that options and choices are available for those who have few. At the Heart of the matter is inspiring and enabling a peaceful future for the people, for the elephants, and for the mountainous forests they all call home.
