November 30, 2012, by Lindsay Brooke

Creating a blueprint to save Malaysia’s endangered elephants

Experts from The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) are attending the first meeting of its kind to create a blueprint for saving Malaysia’s endangered wild elephants.

Dr Ahimsa Camps-Arceiz, who is leading a five year research project into the management and ecology of Malaysian elephants (MEME), said: “This is a significant development into safeguarding the future of Malaysian elephants. Many stakeholders, from government agencies to NGOs and plantation companies are participating in the workshop. We are looking forward to the development of a good action plan for the conservation of Malaysian elephants.”

The workshop, at the Institute for Biodiversity in Krau Wildlife Reserve in Malaysia, aims to create a managed elephant range through the central forest spine of Peninsular Malaysia to allow wild elephants to move unhindered through the country’s native forest core; provide nearby communities with the tools needed for reducing human-elephant conflicts; and increase awareness and tolerance for Malaysia’s elephants.

The team from UNMC are participating in the National Elephant Conservation Action Plan (NECAP) lead by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Peninsular Malaysia together with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Malaysia programme.

Go to MEME’s facebook page to keep up with developments: http://www.facebook.com/MEME.project?ref=hl

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Google+
• Share on LinkedIn