In an area of northern Botswana roughly the size of Yellowstone National Park, 15,000 elephants compete with 15,000 people for access to water, food, and land. These elephants are not neatly contained in parks - they roam freely, often in areas where people are planting fields, herding livestock, and walking their children home from school. As more land is converted to arable farming and as the elephants' range expands, encounters between people and elephants are becoming more frequent as are incidents of devastating human-elephant conflict. Ecoexist seeks to reduce conflict and foster coexistence between elephants and people. The team finds and facilitates solutions that work for both species. Our approach connects science with practice. In the short term, we empower farmers with practical, affordable, and effective tools to reduce conflicts with elephants. In the long-term, we collaborate with local, national and international stakeholders to develop political and economic strategies for addressing the root causes of conflict. We endeavor to address human-elephant conflict in ways that may be modeled throughout Botswana and beyond.

Visit ecoexistproject.org for more information.