The Mali Elephant Project: Protecting Elephants Amidst Conflict and Poverty

Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM): This component of the intervention focused on empowering local communities to manage their natural resources collaboratively. It also aimed to improve local livelihoods, reverse ecosystem degradation, and enhance environmental and social resilience. The intervention involved establishing local CBNRM committees, often composed of community elders and elected by the community, which were responsible for devising plans and regulations for natural resource use, rooted in existing practices and aimed at countering over-exploitation. Specific actions included setting aside significant areas as reserve pasture, designating seasonal water sources for shared use, protecting areas with firebreaks, preventing unsuitable cultivation or settlement in critical habitat, and exploring nature-based solutions like planting chili barriers to protect gardens from elephants. The goal of the approach was to foster social cohesion and peacebuilding. By uniting diverse ethnic groups in dialogue and collective action to manage shared resources, the project helped to reduce conflicts over land, water, and pasture. (Reduce Provocations - reduce frustrations and stress, avoid disputes)

Alternative Livelihoods: This approach recognized that resource conflicts were often driven by economic and social factors, thus focusing on providing tangible livelihood benefits from elephant conservation. Specific efforts included working with women's associations to develop alternative and profitable activities linked to sustainable resource management. They also provided training in financial management, bookkeeping, and technical skills. Examples of these initiatives include sustainable harvesting and marketing of non-timber forest products, (NTFPs) like gum arabic and medicinal plants, restoring useful plant species, and developing livestock-fattening schemes. These activities helped improve household income significantly and empowered women economically and socially. (Reduce Provocations - reduce frustrations and stress)

Community Monitoring and Protection (Eco-Guardians): This approach involved the establishment of teams of young men, elected by their communities, to serve as "eco-guardians" or vigilance networks. Initially numbering 520, and later growing to over 670 individuals, these individuals were incentivized with small payments. Their roles were diverse and crucial, such as patrolling areas, detecting infringements of resource rules, and supporting government foresters. They monitored elephant locations and movements, reported poaching incidents, and conducted resource protection activities, like building firebreaks and preventing illegal tree cutting. Eco-guardians also monitored livestock grazing, assisted with manual labor for community projects, helped set anti-poaching strategies, and dug dedicated waterholes for elephants. This program provided a safer, respected occupation for young people, offering a viable alternative to joining armed groups, especially during times of conflict. Eco-guardians reports were vital for the project's monitoring and response efforts. (Increase the Risks - extend guardianship)

Intelligence-led Anti-Poaching Unit: The MEP supported creating, equipping, and training Mali’s first Anti-Poaching Unit, a joint effort with Malian government forces (DNEF, FAMA) and international partners (MINUSMA, Chengeta Wildlife). This unit was trained to operate according to an "intelligent" and ethical doctrine that heavily utilized local information gleaned from community work. The unit's deployment, guided by intelligence from eco-guardians and community members, led to a significant reduction in poaching incidents. (Increase the Risks - extend guardianship)

The intervention was effective in reducing elephant poaching in Mali. The creation, equipping, and training of Mali's first anti-poaching unit in February 2017 led to preventing elephant poaching. Although there was an increase in incidents during a unit changeover in 2018, the overall poaching rate has been brought under control since 2017. The project provided occupation for over 670 youth as eco-guardians. The CBNRM initiatives resulted in communities having pasture all year round, being able to sell hay and charge for grazing rights, healthier livestock worth more at market, and increased milk production. Livestock-fattening schemes, for example, showed an average increase of over 400% (later reported as 458%) in household cash over a year for participants. Over 600 households are benefitting from women-led activities.

The intervention worked because it targeted the root causes of the conflict and worked directly with the community to address these issues. The CBNRM model successfully improved local livelihoods, reversed ecosystem degradation, and enhanced resilience. By uniting different ethnic groups in dialogue and collective action for resource management, the project helped reduce conflict over shared resources and heal social divisions. The intervention team also provided local communities with solar-powered boreholes to reduce competition for water between humans and elephants that had previously been an instigator for elephant killing. The eco-guardian program provided young people with a safer and respected occupation. Crucially, it offered a "viable livelihood alternative to joining armed groups". The project influenced national policy, leading to a presidential directive urging government action to protect elephants.

While elephant populations were not measured after the intervention, the project tracked elephant poaching incidents, elephant movements (via GPS collaring), and community compliance with resource rules, and patrol data.