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Asian elephant conservation needs urgent attention
A top elephant conservationist is urging global authorities to either revive the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group or form a body comprising of representatives of all the Asian states together with those experienced and knowledgeable on the Asian elephant to give Asian elephant conservation a new direction.

It has necessarily to deal with governments if the programmes are to be effective. It has to look at the scientific management and research needs of each country, prioritise them, seek sufficient funding and ensure the proper implementation of each project. A great effort by many from many places is necessary to ensure the continuance of the Asian elephant in the wilds, said Jayantha Jayewardene, Managing Trustee of the Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust, in a statement.

Recently Jayewardene, took a group of Asian elephant conservationists from eight countries on a two-week tour of a number of elephant research stations in Kenya.

Jayewardene, who organized a very successful international symposium in Colombo on Human Elephant Relationships and Conflicts drawing 230 participants from 23 countries, believes the continued existence of the Asian elephant in the wild is threatened not only by the actions of some people but also due to the others not taking any action.

He says one of the major setbacks to the conservation of the Asian elephant is the fact that almost in all cases the governments of countries in the region have to play a proactive role and give leadership to the conservation effort. “This is sometimes tied up with the laws of the country. In the case of some governments the conservation of elephants is not one of their priorities or even a part of their policy,” he said.

Jayewardene said the Asian Elephant Specialist Group has been totally inactive especially in the past two years and now, after the election of the new IUCN office bearers in October last year, has not even got a chairman.

He says donors and researchers have concentrated more on working with the African elephant than its Asian counterpart. This is because there has been a greater focus worldwide on the African elephant and there is a greater western conservation influence in Africa than in Asia. Another reason is also because there has been no collective body pushing the research and conservation needs of the Asian elephant to the donors and funding agencies, he adds.

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