The nomadic pastoralists who live in this extended area – primarily the Tuareg and Fulani (Puhl) tribes – have coexisted peacefully and in close proximity with these animals for centuries. They graze and herd their cattle and goats in the same areas, and use the same waterholes. More than just tolerated, the elephants have been integral part of the local culture.

But times are changing. Agricultural development policies and subsidies are encouraging nomads to settle permanently near water points, and are generally encouraging the drilling of new wells for crop production. Intensifying land use in an arid system and increasing concentration of previously nomadic human populations around water points is leading to more human/wildlife conflicts. Without careful planning, these conflicts will likely worsen. Now is the time for a successful intervention.

Fortunately, conditions are very favorable for developing a strategy to protect these desert elephants. There is still considerable goodwill towards the elephants amongst local populations, there is strong interest in developing a conservation strategy from the highest levels of the Malian government, and development aid agencies have also indicated a willingness to coordinate agricultural development with conservation measures.

Following initial research conducted by Save the Elephants in 1999 (founded and directed by Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Samburu, Kenya) to radio collar several elephants and map their ranges, The WILD Foundation obtained funding from the U.S. State Department and Agency for International Development for a broader initiative. WILD has now joined forces with Save the Elephants (Kenya), the Environment and Development Group (founded and directed by Dr. Stephen Cobb, Oxford England), the Africa Parks Foundation (Netherlands) and of course Mali’s Direction Nationale de la Conservation de la Nature, to help protect and sustain this amazing herd. Our team of field experts has been hard at work.

Phase I of the project ran from 2004 through 2006, and has been successfully completed. It involved extensive field research to compile more complete information about the elephants, to identify the herd’s composition, and to better map its movements. Field data gathered during this phase will be combined with the development of a GIS database describing the bio-physical and social environment of the migratory route. This data will then be used as a tool to avoid human-elephant conflicts, and to help guide a conservation strategy for the elephants. This work will provide a valuable baseline of information and critical guidance for a larger, $6m World Bank/Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM) project on elephant conservation due to begin possibly in 2005. Read the report from Phase I in English, and a summary of the report in French.

Phase II is now being planned, with continued and more dynamic research using live satellite collars (by Save the Elephants) and Social Marketing/Outreach to disseminate information and guidelines to local communities and to government agencies.