Investing in Communities to Conserve Elephants

We hope you have not been adversely impacted by the pandemic that has affected as all over the past few months.

As we mentioned in our last update, Trunks & Leaves embarked on a new journey, commencing our next phase of work with the communities. Crop raids are ever more frequent in the Udawalawe region, where we have been operating all this while, especially with the scarcity of food for the elephants. We partnered with HDDeS Pvt. Ltd, the largest exporters of spices, essences and floral extracts, to experimentally try out an novel approach to deterring elephants from crops. Through their research, they had developed a special type of incense stick that were claimed to emit an odor that repels elephants. If successful, this project would be the first step we take to reducing human-elephant conflict.

About 1500 families, mostly farmers, live on a household income of USD 100 – 120 per month. Crop raids create intense hardship and this in return forces both parties to pay a heavy price. Hence, Trunks & Leaves, also wanted to create an alternate source of income, something that guarantees a steady revenue stream for the farmers. Our partnership with HDDes Pvt. Ltd is expected to facilitate this as well. While we tested the incense stick with the communities we have worked and established a relationship with, HDDes Pvt Ltd, would provide feedback on potential plants that the farmers can grow as an alternate crop for extra revenue.

Testing Begins

 After some careful planning, and receiving incense sticks donated by HDDes Pvt. Ltd, it was time to begin! We decided to test these products in 10 of the farms in the Udawalawe corridor region, where we worked with communities on our Pre-school project. We would use camera traps in addition to the farmers’ own observations to document whether the sticks were working, over a one-month period. 

Our field team worked tirelessly, to set up these cameras, taking into account the angles in which we can capture elephants and monitor the effectiveness of the incense sticks. Over the course of we began trials, starting with a two-week "baseline" period where we recorded how active elephants were on each property before testing the sticks. In March we had farmers light their supply of sticks every other day and record whether elephants appeared at all, and whether there was any damage to their fields. March and April were to be the all-important trial months, when farmers would actively be growing crops and harvesting following the rains. Unfortunately, we had a set-back due to the COVID19 global pandemic.

Impact of COVID19

There were two major impacts due to the coronavirus:

1)      Sri Lanka went on complete lockdown, along with other countries in the world. The international airport was shut down, travel within the country and gatherings were disallowed. Curfews were imposed, preventing the field team from leaving their homes for part of March, all of April, and most of May. As a result we had to suspend all fieldwork, including not only the incense trials but also all other camera trap monitoring.

2)      The restrictions on movement also prevented some farmers from cultivating at all. Without farmers cultivating, there is little chance of crop raids and therefore no point in testing the effectiveness of the incense sticks. Even though curfews have been lifted as of June, we've had to shift our timeline for this reason. The next harvest begins roughly around September, so if the situation returns to normal we hope to re-start the experiment prior to that time.

Hopefully, once the world recovers from COVID-19, the Coexistence Project can resume trials and monitoring.

All of us at Trunks & Leaves wish you good health and safety.

Links:

• Learn more about the Coexistence Project, by Trunks & Leaves

From Preschools to Paddyfields - What's New for 2020

The Coexistence Project:  Pre-School Program

As we reported in our last update, Trunks & Leaves were able to support 12 pre-schools around the Udawalawe area by the end of 2019. This brought our pre-school program to a close, for now. Our goal is to gradually encircle protected areas with community-based conservational initiatives and create a conflict free livelihood for the farmers. Building trust with the community through the funding of these pre-schools has been the most important aspect of this program. The funding raised in 2019 was used for:

• Cupboards
• Desks and chairs
• Stationery /Painting materials
• Educational supplies
• Playground equipment
• Medical supplies
• Water supply and filtration systems
• Technological supplies
• Construction of lavatory
• Electricity and fittings
• Gates & fences

The total support provided to the schools was $5985 USD, partially raised through GlobalGiving. A complete impact report will be available shortly on trunksnleaves.org/reports. In the meantime a brief summary is attached to this report.

Next Steps: Can Incense Sticks Help Protect Crops?

This year, 2020, we are excited to commence the next phase of our work with these same communities that directly tackles possible ways to reducing human-elephant conflict. In general, there are complementary approaches:

1)     Protecting farmers crops while they are growing. This is what most conservation initiatives try to do. One of the challenges is that elephants are quite smart, and soon learn their way around different types of barriers and repellents.

2)     Find alternative crops that can supplement farmers' incomes so that people and elephants are not at odds. This is something that has not been extensively tried, but seems to us a critical piece of the puzzle.

We are pleased to partner with HDDeS Pvt Ltd, one of the largest exporters of spices, essences and floral extracts in Sri Lanka. Under their Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, they independently have developed a special type of incense stick that they believe acts as a repellent for elephants. T&L has agreed to experimentally test the incense sticks among the farming communities we have come to know. If successful, this innovation could help farmers reduce the damage from elephants, and lessen the economic burden they face. In return, HDDeS is providing valuable feedback concerning the types of plants that could potentially be grown in the region, with a good market value in their industry. We are excited to see what is discovered on both fronts!

                We hope you will continue to support our efforts to help people and elephants coexist.

• Follow us on Social Media: @trunksnleaves on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
• Find photos, videos and more stories under #CoexistenceProject, #LivingWithElephants and #ElephantOptimism

Links:

• Learn more about the incense experiment on our blog!

• One-page summary of 2019 preschool project (PDF)