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Name: Martha Shangeelao Haukongo
Studentnumber: 213017679
Impacts of the PEACE (People and Elephants Amicably Co-
Existing)projecton the rural communities of the southern Kunene
and northernErongo regions, Namibia.
Course: Bachelorof Natural Resourcesand Management (Nature
Conservation).
Work IntegratedLearning
Date: 07 March 2015
https://www.saf aribookings.com

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Abstract
Human-elephant conflict is one of the most challenging conflict situations. Humans and
desert-dwelling elephants in the north western parts of Namibia inhabit the same
environments and due to an increase in the populations of both humans and elephants,
competition for natural resources such as water, food and space is high. Elephants are not
easy to live with and they can cause high conflict when it comes to sharing resources. In the
early 1990s, the desert-dwelling elephant populations in Kunene region decreased to fewer
than 300 due to the conflict with humans and over-hunting but fortunately, Nature
conservation organisations like the Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA) with the help of
the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) began to protect the elephants by putting in
place great conservation techniques like building elephant-proof walls around human water
supplies and infrastructures so that the elephants stop destroying the community’s water
access. EHRA also has an educational PEACE (People and Elephants Amicably Co-
Existing) project that focuses on educating people about elephants and their behaviour. The
PEACE project aims at changing the community’s perspectives about elephants and at
reducing human-elephant conflict. A study will be conducted, with the use of a questionnaire
to gather information from the local farmers about their perspectives in order to analyse the
relationship between humans and desert-dwelling elephants in southern Kunene and
northern Erongo regions.
Key words: African elephants, human-elephant interaction, human- elephant conflict, rural
communities.
Introduction
The African elephant (Loxodonta Africana) is the largest land mammal on earth. It has small
eyes and big ears which it uses to cool down and to chase insects off its body by flipping
them. Its skin is rough, naked, grey and wrinkled. Elephants have four column-like legs, with
four blunt toes on their forefeet and three on their hind legs (Bethune, Roberts & Theron
2013). They have two tusks, one on each side of their long, flexible nose called a trunk. They
use the trunk to lift water and food to their mouth. The elephant’s tail is thin with hair-like
features commonly known as whisk on its tip. Male elephants are larger than females.
Females have two mammae between their forelegs. The gestation period of elephants is
about 22 months and one calf can be born at any time of the year. The African elephant
belongs to the order Proboscidea and it is the only species of the family Elephantidae. In
Africa, desert elephants can only be found in Namibia and in Mali. In Namibia, elephants are
found in the former Damaraland, Kaokoland, Kavango region, Zambezi region, Etosha
National Park, and in Kaudum National Park (Bethune, Roberts & Theron 2013). Elephants
found in the former Damaraland and Kaokoland are adapted to the hot and dry desert
environment of the Kunene and Erongo regions, occupying about 115 154 km² of mostly
sandy desert, rocky mountains and arid gravel plains, thus why they are called Desert
dwelling elephants.
Elephants communicate with each other by rumbles, some of which are inaudible to
humans, and also by trumpeting. Their sense of smell and hearing are incredibly sharp while
their eyesight is only moderate. Females form breeding herds, the members of which are
ranked according to seniority. The matriarch sets the rate of movement, direction and activity
whereas bulls form bachelor herds or choose to be solitary. Elephants inhabit open
woodlands, tree savannahs, grasslands, ephemeral and perennial river valleys.

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According to C. Pitot (personal communication, January 18, 2015), Desert-dwelling
elephants are not much different from other Savannah elephants. The only difference is,
they have a smaller body mass with longer legs and larger feet than other elephants which
make them adapt much better to their dry, semi-desert environment. Their physical
characteristics allow them to cross miles of dunes to reach water. Desert dwelling elephants
are able to survive because they feed on moisture rich vegetation that grows in ephemeral
riverbeds.
Humans, with their livestock and these elephants stay together and compete for natural
resources such as food, water and space. According to J. Haasbroek (personal
communication, January 20, 2015), humans and elephants used to live together side by side
in a peaceful coexistence but the relationship is now being threatened due to increasing
human populations resulting in loss of elephant habitats. Elephants and humans are being
forced to share and compete for resources, a problem that has been defined as human-
elephant conflict. The desert-dwelling elephants lived in most of Western Namibia years ago
but their population was decreased to fewer than 300 animals in the early 1990s due to over-
hunting. But since then, they have been protected under Namibia’s law and conservation
organisations and the population has improved. Many people for instance, the Herero and
Damara people who are now living in southern Kunene/northern Erongo regions, are not
originally from there. They just moved there a few years ago and most of them are unfamiliar
with elephants & their behaviour, and thus often live in fear of these desert-dwelling
elephants which sometimes visit their homesteads in search for water and food. People are
often frightened and angry when elephants come to drink at water points near their
homesteads. Conflicts between elephants and humans are now widespread across Africa
and Asia and represent main threats to the survival of mainly elephants (Williams et al.,
2001).
Elephants destroy farmers’ water points and their gardens, leaving local farmers with no food
and water. They damage water installations, pull out pipes, trample windmills or even break
engines and pumps that the farmers use to pump water from underground. Elephants can
also cause damage to homesteads. On a few occasions, elephants have killed people
because a lot of people do not know how to live with elephants or how to react towards their
behaviour hence they often provoke dangerous situations. The desert-dwelling elephants of
the Kunene Region are of high conservation priority, both nationally and internationally. They
are one of Namibia’s major tourist attractions that generates millions of dollars for the
country, therefore it is very important that the people living with the elephants help to protect
them and their environment for the mutual benefit of all.
Human-elephant conflict has recently become a topic of major concern in elephant
conservation worldwide because it has immediate negative effects on both people and
elephants (Kangwana, 1993, 1995; Dublin 1994). It is not only a problem in Africa, but also
in Asia. Studies on conflict between elephants and humans in Asia and Africa have identified
crop riding as the main form of conflict. When humans and elephants interact, there is
conflict from crop riding, injuries and deaths to humans by elephants, and elephants being
killed by humans for reasons other than ivory and habitat degradation. In India, more than
one person is killed every day by elephants and in turn about 100 elephants are seriously
injured every year by people (Jadhav & Barua, 2012). Human-elephant interactions have
always had serious consequences on their populations, but recently it has generally led to
the exclusion of elephants (Hoare & Du Toit, 1999).
Namibia’s natural places and wildlife are a big part of the country’s revenue, thus peace
between farmers and elephants is a must. This challenge was set by the Elephant-Human

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Relations Aid (EHRA) and its community-based educational “People and Elephants
Amicably Co-Existing” (PEACE) project. EHRA is a non-profitable organisation that
conserves desert-dwelling elephants in Southern Kunene and Northern Erongo regions by
promoting a mutually beneficial relationship between the human population in communal
areas and desert-dwelling elephants, with alleviation of human-elephant conflict through
monitoring, education and development. EHRA runs a volunteer programme, whereby
volunteers from different countries come to help EHRA to build protection walls around water
points both in Kunene and Erongo communal conservancies. The programme became a full-
time in 2004 and these volunteers have built more than 110 protection walls around Kunene
and Erongo regions. With the help of volunteers, EHRA also conducts twice monthly patrols
from January-November every year to study elephant’s dynamics, observe spatial and social
behaviour of elephants and map their movements using GPS positions and share this
information with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, conservancies and other NGOs.
EHRA’s community-based educational project the “PEACE” project aims to improve the
knowledge of the community members (including school kids) living in the Southern Kunene
and Northern Erongo regions about elephants, their behaviour and how to live among
elephants with respect, proper protection and with less fear.
This research project is going to focus on finding whether there is a difference in the farmer’s
perspectives about the desert-dwelling elephants between the ones who have attended the
PEACE project seminars and the ones who did not. Data will be collected using a
questionnaire in order to gather information and analyse the impacts that EHRA’s PEACE
project that educates the community about elephants has on the community.
Goal
 The goal of this research project is to understand the Peace Projects’ impacts on the
communities of Southern Kunene.
Aims
The aims of this project are:
 Understand the relationship between human communities and desert-dwelling
elephants in southern Kunene and northern Erongo regions.
 Learn how EHRA can improve its PEACE project.
In order to accomplish the above-mentioned aims, the following objectives have to be
achieved:
1. Study the relationship between humans and desert-dwelling elephants in Southern
Kunene and Northern Erongo regions.
2. Gather information about elephant’s movement, problems caused by them and
people’s concerns.
3. Study the impacts the PEACE project has on the community living in the Southern
Kunene and Northern Erongo regions.
4. Make suggestions on how EHRA can enhance the outcome of the PEACE project.

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Study area
The study will be conducted in the former Damaraland which is found in the northwest of
Namibia. It lies to the south of Kaokoland and it is dominated by mopane trees
(Colophospermum mopane). Other trees that are also found in the area are: Anna trees
(Faidherbia albida), Camelthorn (Acacia erioloba, Terminalia prunioides, Euphorbia
damarana, Comiphora wildi, Boscia foetida, Catophractes alexandrii, Combretum imberbe
Maerua schinzii, Dacrostachys cineria and a lot of acacia species. The vegetation is affected
by the aridity, as plants have adopted to survive with little water. The area receives about
100mm rainfall per year. During summer, the temperature rises over 40ºC and in winter falls
below freezing point. The area is very mountainous and has a great variety of rock
formations with gravel plains that run into sandy gravel plains and then run into sandy,
vegetated river beds. Although these rivers do not flow all year long, they are the arteries of
life for most of the desert-dwelling animals during rainy seasons (Loutit, 1988). The study
area is part of the former Damaraland, close to the Brandberg Mountain which is the highest
mountain in Namibia on the South bank of the Ugab River and south of the Huab River. My
zone of operation will stretch from west the White Lady Lodge and east to the Omungambu
village, on the road to Omatjette. The core of the study will be done in the area of the
Onvevag settlement, where conflict between people and elephants is very high. This area
received many PEACE projects and a lot of effort has been made to ease the situation in the
area of high co-existence. The arrows on the picture bellow (fig 1) indicate the study areas.
https://www.saf aribookings.com
Fig 1 Map of former Damaraland
show ing the study area.

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Methods
The former Damaraland consists of many small villages. Out of these villages, at least 5
villages will be selected based on whether the PEACE project has held a seminar in those
villages. People who are going to be interviewed will mainly be farmers who have been
affected by the conflict and have or have not attended the PEACE project seminars and
compare the difference in their perspectives on elephant’s behaviour. The farmers will be
between the ages of 20-80 years. School kids from the A. Gariseb primary school in the
Anixab community, where the PEACE project has held a seminar will also be interviewed in
order to see if kids have better understanding than adults depending on the education that
the kids have access to and have not experienced much of the conflict than the adults. The
farmers will be selected randomly and the completion of the questionnaire will be simplified
through personal interviews. The questionnaire will include both open and closed-ended
questions related to perceptions of the farmers towards elephants. Data will then be
analysed using a Chi-square goodness fit test, to test whether the observed proportions
differ from the hypothesized proportions.
We will interview about 20 farmers from each village, 10 of which have attended the PEACE
project seminar and 10 who have not attended. The following questionnaire will be used:
General Information:
1. Name:
2. Age:
3. Gender: Female Male
4. Contact details:
5. Name of village:
6. How long you have lived in this village:
7. Village’sinhabitant:
8. Village’schairperson:
9. Size of the village:
Information about EHRA:
1. Do you know about EHRA? YES NO
2. If yes, what do you know about EHRA?
3 Do you know about EHRA’S PEACE project?
4 Would you want to work together with EHRA to conserve desert-elephants?

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5 Please rank EHRA’s performance in elephant conservation
6 Please rank EHRA’s community outreach
HIGH LOW MIDDLE
Elephants Conservation:
1. Do you know about the region’s Desert elephants?
YES NO NOT REALLY
2. What is your attitude towards elephants?
3. When elephants come near your house, what do you do?
4. Would the world be a better place without elephants? YES NO
YES
5. Have the conservancies in your village helped you with elephant’srelated incidents?
YES NO
6. Does elephant’s conservation benefit you? YES NO
7. If yes, please explain how
8. What do you think of the conservation of elephants for future generations of your
village/ community?
PEACE PROJECT:
1. Have you participated in the PEACE project: YES NO
2. If yes, after participating, do you find it easier to live with elephants?
3. Did the PEACE project change your understanding about elephants?

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Expected impacts
The expected results of the project would be a change in the local farmer’s perceptions
towards the desert-dwelling elephants. Another excepted outcome is that the kids might
have better understanding than adults because they are exposed to new information about
elephants and they have not experience much of the conflict with elephants. In the areas
covered by the PEACE project there is a high tolerance towards elephants and humans co-
existence. By studying the parts of the PEACE projects that have the most impact on the
locals, it will help EHRA to enhance the seminars that they use now to make them more
effective on teaching farmers in the area and reduce the conflict between people and
elephants. This will allow a situation where people will take action for conservation and get
benefits from wildlife.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Johannes Haasbroek (EHRA’s founder), Rachel Harris (EHRA’s
administrator), Dr. Betsy Fox (PEACE project’s leader and research consultant), and
Christophe Pitot (the volunteer’s project manager), for the useful information about EHRA
and the PEACE project. I would also like to thank Ms Barbra Curtis for helping me with my
project proposal.

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References
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