Bangkok, 11 March 2024 – World Wide Fund For Nature Thailand (WWF-Thailand), a non-profit nature conservation organization, has launched the ‘We’re Ele-Friends: Allies for a Safer Future for Wild Elephants’ campaign on the special occasion of Thai Elephant Day on 13 March 2024. This initiative seeks to unite Thai people as ‘Elly Allies,’ dedicated to conserving wild Asian elephants as a symbol of Thailand around the world. ‘Elly Allies’, a regional initiative under WWF, aims to reverse the decline of elephant populations in Southeast Asia and China and ensure their thriving future by safeguarding and restoring habitats and moving towards sustainable coexistence. As part of this campaign, WWF-Thailand will address threats to Asian elephants, including human-elephant conflict, by collaborating with government, the private sector, and local communities to improve conditions for elephants and people, implementing on conservation works that they are already doing in and around Kuiburi National Park.
Ms. Pimpavadee Phaholyothin, Chief Executive Officer of WWF-Thailand, stated “WWF-Thailand has played a pivotal role in facilitating a balanced relationship between humans and elephants within Kuiburi National Park over the past two decades. Through the deployment of advanced tools like the Patrol system, camera traps, and the Early Warning system, we have been able to significantly decrease instances of poaching, boundary transgressions, and crop damage. This is one part of our larger conservation program which also works on tiger recovery, reducing the illegal wildlife trade, and improving monitoring of endangered species in the Western Forest Complex. Currently, we are proud to introduce the ‘We’re Ele-Friends: Allies for a Safer Future for Wild Elephants’ campaign, as an integral part of the WWF Regional ‘Elly Allies’ Initiative. This campaign does not merely target local communities but aims to inspire urban residents to recognize the significance of co-existing with wild elephants in addition to their captive counterparts. Our objective is to foster a profound understanding of the challenges faced by elephants and the communities that reside near them, showcasing how collaborative efforts can effectively address these issues. We aspire for this campaign to serve as a blueprint for future wildlife conservation endeavors, ensuring a more promising future for both wildlife and human civilization.”
Mr. Attapong Pao-On, Chief of Kuiburi National Park, stated “Kuiburi National Park has maintained a strong and enduring partnership with WWF-Thailand in various areas, including combating poaching, conducting educational research, and promoting tourism. These activities help us monitor and better conserve wildlife while also taking into consideration the needs of the local communities that live in proximity to the park. We are constantly aware of the impact that wild elephant crop incursions have on local agriculture and are committed to finding genuine, lasting solutions to these issues. Every day, we strive to improve the conditions of the park for elephants and reduce the instances of them entering human-populated areas. We can only accomplish this in cooperation with various stakeholders, including the communities, private sector partners and WWF Thailand. We sincerely hope that the public will understand the nature and lifestyle of wild elephants, comprehend the true causes of conflicts with people, and join us in successful collaboration to address these issues together.”
The ‘We’re Ele-Friends: Allies for a Safer Future for Wild Elephants’ campaign encompasses a variety of activities, including a trip for Thai media. The press trip, which took place in February within Kuiburi National Park, provided media outlets with the opportunity to witness operations aimed at improving coexistence with elephants and the realities of communities living in close proximity to these intelligent and large animals. The purpose was to help the press understand how the authorities of Kuiburi National Park and locals are working with WWF to address conflicts with wild elephants and other wildlife, and encourage this kind of allyship among the Thai people, both with and for wild elephants. Participants also learned about various mitigation systems, such as the SMART Patrol system for quality wildlife monitoring and the use of camera traps, which are used to alert the rapid response teams and local communities when there’s a risk of elephants leaving the national park. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to experience the Kuiburi Safari tour led by local community members, where they studied the lives of wild elephants and various other wildlife species, including gaurs and sambar deer.
Furthermore, the campaign includes a docu-series that explores the collaborative management of Kuiburi National Park, which has become a successful case study in managing conflicts between humans and elephants. It covers past challenges, current interventions, and systems aimed at fostering coexistence between people and elephants. The series is available for viewing on the WWF-Thailand’s Facebook starting from 13 March 2024 (Thai Elephant Day) onwards.
WWF-Thailand remains steadfast in its dedication to preserving the natural world for both humans and wildlife. With the belief that #TogetherPossible, discover further updates on the We’re Ele-Friends campaign and explore additional conservation initiatives undertaken by WWF-Thailand on WWF-Thailand’s Facebook, WWF-Thailand’s X, and WWF-Thailand’s website www.wwf.or.th.
About WWF in Thailand
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in nearly 100 countries. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. WWF has had a presence in Thailand since 1995. WWF-Thailand works with government, civil society, and private sector partners to address the threats to biodiversity and to move towards a greener nature-based future. Learn more at www.wwf.or.th.
More information:
Facebook: WWF Thailand
Instagram: wwfthailand
Website: www.wwf.or.th
Twitter: @WWFThailand
YouTube: WWF Thailand Channel
LINE Official: @wwffoundation
For Media Inquiries, please contact: Vero on behalf of WWF Thailand
Wimonphan Nampachoke (Gluai)
email wimonphan@vero-asean.com
Tel: +66 (0)96-669-9746
