AFWE Terms of Reference
The prime objective of A Future With Elephants is to save the Asian elephant from extinction in this century.
The total population is estimated to be around 30,000.
There are two main reasons for the current decline in their population: habitat destruction by the ever-increasing human populations throughout SE Asia, and increasing human-elephant conflict as a result of crop raiding. All forms of agriculture are incompatible with the presence of elephants.
Global warming may pose an even greater threat in the future, if the increased melting of the Himalayan glaciers ultimately reduces the flows of the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Salween, Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, on which elephants are ultimately dependant for their livelihood.
Solutions of these problems are not easily achievable. They must include:
• Preserving and restoring the elephant’s natural habitat of forests, marshes, lakes and rivers.
• Developing deterrents to keep elephants from crop raiding.
• Improving the reproductive success of all captive elephants, so that we no longer have to keep depleting the wild population.
• Documenting the existing knowledge gathered over the centuries by traditional elephant handlers.
• Understanding the language of wild elephants, and using it as environmental enrichment for captive elephants.
• Educating the general public, and particularly young people, about the plight of the Asian elephant
• Developing a new sense of respect for Ganesha, the Hindu God of Wisdom