Human activity is increasingly impeding the largest annual elephant migration in Africa by degrading the habitat, and incidences of conflict are escalating. The area also suffers from severe political insecurity and overstretched law enforcement, making the elephants especially vulnerable to poaching. Yet the local people understand that they are embedded in the web of life – like elephants and all species – and dependent upon its integrity. For them, the loss of elephants would be a sign that the environment was much reduced in its capacity to support life, including themselves.

The Mali Elephant Project brings the diverse local communities together to establish natural resource management systems that protect the elephant migration route and improve natural resources, creating additional value and income for local people. The project has worked with the central government and the military to establish Mali’s first anti-poaching unit, improving security in the area and helping to safeguard the ecosystem.

Species Protected: African Elephant