MORINGA AND ELEPHANTS UNITED FOR THE FUTURE 1 May 2017 – Posted in: Tanzania – Tags: , ,

The elephants are going to disappear if we do not act. But what can we do? EFFECTIVE, LONG-TERM actions are starting to appear.

The JSFoundation works in a dozen communities in the heart of Africa’s zones of interest for the dynamics of elephant populations.

The numbers published by the Great Elephant Census between 2014 and 2016 are terrifying: in less than ten years we have lost a third of the world’s elephant populations. Less than 400 000 elephants remain in Africa today, whereas more than twenty million were present before its colonisation.

Isn’t it sad to imagine saying to your children and grandchildren: “Yes, we knew what was happening, but we didn’t really do anything… and now the result is that there are no more elephants in the wild…”?

A scientific study published in April 2017 (Ashley et al.) showed that despite an increase in human populations – which must obviously be taken into account – the ecosystems have the ability to maintain four times as many elephants as there are currently.

It’s a real joy to see these extraordinary mammals in the wild. It is easy to see how the human populations can generally live alongside these pachyderms without any major difficulties.

The elephants could find their place in a number of different areas. All that is needed is to manage the different regions and, in particular, synergize the existing efforts.

What is certain is that the horrific slaughter of these animals for their ivory must be stopped. But what can be done so that the elephants find a peaceful place to live in the wild? Man needs to be part of the solution, and all parties need to find a healthy way to live.

When I met Karen, I saw in her a woman devoted to helping the human populations of Africa. As a result of her extraordinary investment, her project is gradually taking shape… and thanks to Moringa, the magical plant that can do an enormous amount to help the poorest of people.

Karen was able to humbly put her skills in agronomics, alongside others (she holds a doctorate degree), to use in helping the local populations, with her goal being above all else to understand how to best ensure them a strong and healthy future.

She was completely unaware that she was in a crucial zone for the elephants, and yet she was already doing so much!

These actions that combine an improvement in living conditions for the local populations with increased preservation of the environment are particularly useful in the wider context of climate change. And it is easy to see how everyone needs to commit to this without waiting for decisions to be made by our leaders.

Karen has committed and supports, with her association, the JSFoundation, a dozen or so villages in the north of Tanzania (not far from Gazelle Harambee’s project in Kenya that we also support). Her technical agronomic expertise allows her to be particularly useful in helping develop the Moringa culture, a plant that resists frequent droughts extremely well and that offers crucial nutritional value.

It is a real joy for me to see that, in working together, we can serve a higher common interest even though we have different initial objectives. One magnificent example of this is the NetPositiveImpact.earth initiative.

Moringa oil has extraordinary cosmetic properties, amongst its other benefits. It begs to be asked what would happen if we made products that do us good whilst also supporting conservation projects.

Karen’s exceptional commitment shows how an individual can make crucial changes to the futures of people who have not necessarily had the same chances in life as we have.

Elephas has committed to supporting without fail projects in several countries that work towards the protection of elephants: Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania, and will hopefully inspire as many others as possible to support them via www.NetPositiveImpact.earth 

See: www.elephas.fr