Published in Global Ecology and Conservation

In “Human-elephant coexistence through aligning conservation with societal aspirations,” Global Field Program graduate Antoinette van de Water et al. focus on community-based conservation initiatives and equitable policies for elephant conservation.

“Elephants are iconic, and ecologically, culturally, and socio-economically important, but are also competing and in conflict with people who still benefit little from elephant conservation. We demonstrate how this framework can be used to address challenges over elephant conservation and management, and help achieve human-elephant coexistence, by (i) balancing integrity of nature with social cohesion and human wellbeing, and (ii) moderating the use of nature through widely accepted values, aspirations, and rights. The framework provides mechanisms for policymakers and managers to improve existing community-based conservation initiatives, promotes equitable policies for elephant conservation, and can be applied to the conservation of other iconic species that pose management challenges.”

This is the first PhD chapter for van de Water who is in the homestretch of her doctorate journey.