The Elephant Project Collaborates With Government Of Myanmar To Save Endangered Elephants Throughout The Nation

The Elephant Project recently announced that it has entered into an unprecedented agreement with the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to relocate elephants from high human-elephant conflict areas to safe zones around the country.

“Helping to end human-elephant conflicts in Myanmar is the first step in our long-term commitment to Myanmar’s elephants,” The Elephant Project Founder and President Dane Waters said in a statement. “We are extremely optimistic that The Elephant Project, working together with the Government of Myanmar, will help ensure that the nation’s elephants will survive, and that our joint efforts will serve as a strong testament to what public-private partnerships can accomplish.”

U Win Naing Thaw, Director of the Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division, Forest Department Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation of The Republic of the Union of Myanmar also believes that by working with The Elephant Project, they will find a long-term solution to protecting Myanmar’s critically threatened elephant population.

As per the agreement, the Forest Department and The Elephant Project will identify the animals that need relocation to mutually agreed upon areas while ensuring the health and safety of the elephants.

The collaboration, noted U Win Aung, The Elephant Project’s Myanmar based Advisory Board member, “will save countless elephants in Myanmar which are on the run for survival due to deforestation and poaching.”

In addition to the relocation efforts in Myanmar, The Elephant Project is also funding the building of electric fences in the country that will help keep elephants out of the crops of local villagers. This preventive measure reduces the chance that villagers, whose livelihoods are threatened by elephants searching for food, will either kill the elephants themselves or call in poachers to do it for them.

As part of The Elephant Project’s long-term commitment to the country, the organization plans to establish an elephant sanctuary or sanctuaries in Myanmar dedicated to domestic elephant protection and long-term care.

To underwrite the costs of operating the sanctuary in perpetuity, The Elephant Project will develop significant residential and commercial real estate investment opportunities in the country. This development will be located adjacent to the sanctuary and permit non-intrusive viewing of elephants for “ecotourism” and “voluntourism”.

This unprecedented effort will inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the Myanmar economy, creating a perpetual and powerful funding source for the sanctuary established to protect the country’s elephant population. It is a win for the government, donors, the Burmese people, and most importantly the elephants.

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