Successful conservation operation has doubled the elephant population in southwestern China but it also forces people to navigate through elephant-human conflict
Ma Mingliang rarely encountered wild elephants while growing up in southwestern China, after centuries of hunting and deforestation nearly eradicated them. Today, the 42-year-old village chief barricades his community to keep them out.
"Things used to be harmonious before. But there is conflict now," Ma said. Ironically, successful conservation is partly to blame. Weighing up to four tons, they consume as much as 200 kilogrammes of food daily. Increasingly, filling up means a raid on a local farm.The devoured crops and damaged homes in Xishuangbanna are the prefecture's biggest source of insurance claims, said Zhang Li, an ecology professor at Beijing Normal University involved in elephant conservation policy.
But Chinese scientists say growing habitat loss is part of the problem. Authorities have been forced to address safety risks. Throughout Xishuangbanna, statues and other imagery celebrate its leading residents, while stressing giving them a wide berth.
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