The Human Elephant Coexistence Toolbox
As the human population continues to grow, humans and animals live closer and closer and human-wildlife conflicts are increasing. Lucy King (Award winner 2013) and her colleagues at Save the Elephants have been studying and implementing human-elephant conflict mitigation for many years. In the summer of 2022 they published the fruits of their labour, the first edition of the Human-Elephant Coexistence Toolbox!
It’s the first ever comprehensive manual of over 80 elephant deterrent methods designed to help rural communities in Africa live peacefully with elephants at a time when human elephant conflict across the continent is escalating. The toolbox is designed for trainers, project officers and community leaders to identify the source of conflict with elephants and then guide people on how best to protect their property with the resources available.
The toolbox is split into seven chapters, with all materials, ingredients, and technical details beautifully illustrated by Kenyan artist Nicola Heath. Some of the methods included are the chili and beehive fences described in on of FFN’s earlier updates (read it here). Each method has a budget point, a difficulty range, a risk factor, and be prepared that nothing is 100% effective. It is recommended to combine or rotate the various mitigation tools to help prevent elephants from getting used to any one technique. Additionally some tools can actively help boost crop yields and income generation through elephant-friendly enterprise ventures.
The human elephant co-existence toolbox is now available in English, French and Kiswahili! Check out the website to learn more and get access to the different tools and knowledge:
When the toolbox was first introduced to the public, Lucy shared this message:
https://www.facebook.com/savetheelephants.kenya/videos/778893123149261/
