China's wild elephants seek room to roam as habitats shrink

Record ID: 1627680

  • Title: China's wild elephants seek room to roam as habitats shrink
  • Date: 20th July 2021
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (RECENT - JULY 16, 2021) (REUTERS) ZHOU JINFENG, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE CHINA BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND GREEN DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (CBCGDF), WORKING AT HIS DESK ARTICLE AND PHOTO OF MIGRATING ELEPHANTS ON ZHOU'S LAPTOP (SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) ZHOU JINFENG, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE CHINA BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND GREEN DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (CBCGDF), SAYING: "In their current habitat, due to plantation of rubber trees, more attention being given to trees than grass and scrubs that are part of elephants' natural habitats, construction, such as dams, and also native residents who recently switched to growing rubber trees from crops thanks to the increasing prices of rubber, all these factors changed the elephants' habitat. There is not enough space or food in their habitat, that is the main reason those elephants migrated."
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2021 02:21
  • Keywords: China Elephants Environment Yunnan conservation wildlife
  • Location: JINGHONG CITY, XISHUANGBANNA, YUNNAN PROVINCE/BEIJING, CHINA
  • City: JINGHONG CITY, XISHUANGBANNA, YUNNAN PROVINCE/BEIJING, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Environment,Nature/Wildlife
  • Reuters ID: LVA003EMN7UBR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Under a footbridge in southwest China's Yunnan province, a lone female elephant made a rare appearance at a clearing on the edge of thick forest, ignoring the heavy rain and the gathering crowds to graze and bathe in the chocolate-coloured water.
    Usually, visitors hoping to spot the animals should wait until February or March, when the females are seeking mates, said Qin Ganglin, a protection officer at the Wild Elephant Valley in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna region, on the border with Laos and Myanmar.
    "They don't come out very often right now, and only sporadically," he said.
    Human interactions with the typically elusive elephants have come under fresh scrutiny after a herd of 15 Asian elephants left Xishuangbanna last year and migrated 500 km (311 miles) north to the outskirts of Yunnan's capital, Kunming, turning them into a media sensation.
    How Xishuangbanna protects its elephants and natural ecosystems will also set the tone for China's overall efforts to change its relationship with nature, especially after the emergence of COVID-19 exposed the health risks that arise from habitat destruction.
    Xishuangbanna's elephants have more than doubled to about 300 in the past 20 years, a sign of success in rehabilitating herds, and the migrating group was likely seeking more space, especially as the amount of land suitable for them has dwindled by 40% over those two decades.
    China's National Forestry and Grassland Commission, which is responsible for habitat protection, did not respond to requests for comment, but state news agency Xinhua said last week that "preparatory work" has already begun to establish a national park in Yunnan to improve conditions for the elephants.
    Experts say the move is long overdue.
    "We need to build a bigger habitat, taking into consideration their ecological corridor and space of migration, and human activities to achieve peaceful coexistence of humans and elephants, and harmonious coexistence of humans and nature," said Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), a non-government environmental group.
    A biodiversity hot spot, Xishuangbanna has drawn up "red lines" to separate humans from vulnerable ecosystems. But the expansion of monoculture farming, where fields are dedicated to single crops like tea and rubber, as well as the construction of giant transportation projects in the region, have disrupted the elephants' grazing and roaming routes.
    Zhou said any new national park would have to connect all the existing, fragmented elephant habitats and give elephants the room to roam and the food to forage.
    "When we say the reserves are protected well, what are the criteria? We should judge not from our perspective, but from the perspective of the elephants," he said.
    (Production: Aly Song, Xihao Jiang, Wang Shubing, Phyllis Xu)
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