BENEFITING: BODHI TREE FOUNDATION
The NW area of Namibia is home to a small population of 600 desert-adapted elephants. In the 1980s the population of desert-adapted elephants in the Southern Kunene Region of Damaraland was nearly wiped out through years of poaching and hunting. After decades of hiding in the far northwest due to over-hunting, these unique elephants have returned to habitats they have not lived in for decades.
Many farmers have lived without the desert elephants and have no knowledge of how to keep safe and secure. Due to fear and misunderstanding, elephants are being harassed, injured or even killed when visiting farmsteads in the area seeking water, and their numbers are again decreasing.
EHRA's PEACE education project is a six-year-old community-based project to decrease human-elephant conflict between the people and the extraordinary desert-adapted elephants of Namibia. The project aims to protect these desert-dwelling elephants by conquering people’s fears about elephants, shifting attitudes, and gaining empathy so the elephants and people can live amicably together.
Help us support EHRA’s PEACE Project with much needed resources to expand its mission to reach as many people in the region as possible. Funds go towards fuel, salaries, and participant materials. EHRA’s goal is to hold approximately 24 field seminars throughout the region for up to 20 people each, including a field trip for participants to observe elephants to positively change their attitudes toward elephants