Elephants on the Move Again: A Success Story in Community-Led Conservation

In landscapes increasingly divided by roads, fences, and expanding human development, elephants are losing access to ancient migratory routes once essential for survival. Yet in many parts of Africa and Asia, a promising countertrend is emerging: community-led conservation offering the giants new pathways to move more freely and coexist with people.

These efforts reflect a growing understanding that conserving wildlife corridors is not only vital for elephants but also for the people who live alongside them. When migration routes are protected through locally-driven solutions, both biodiversity and human livelihoods stand to benefit.

The Crisis of Fragmented Routes

Today, roads, rail lines, farms, and urban expansion crisscross landscapes that elephants once traversed unimpeded. Fences and infrastructure often block or divert historic corridors, making seasonal migrations dangerous or impossible. The consequences are serious: elephants may be trapped in suboptimal habitats, forced into conflict with humans as they search for water or food, or even perish trying to cross dangerous terrain¹.

Researchers studying elephant movements have documented “elephant highways” - longstanding routes elephants use to reach seasonal resources. However, the fragmentation of habitat undermines these patterns, threatening the health of herds and the ecosystems they support¹. Without access to these corridors, elephants cannot fulfill their ecological role, and their survival is put further at risk.

Community Conservation: Restoring Passageways, Rebuilding Trust

In response to these challenges, various communities, NGOs, and governments are collaborating on conservation approaches that re-open or protect migration corridors - and crucially, are designed with local people’s input. These efforts emphasize coexistence, recognizing that for conservation to succeed, it must align with the needs and aspirations of those who share the land with elephants.

One high-profile example is The Great Elephant Migration, a public art and advocacy campaign. While its “migration” consists of life-sized elephant sculptures traveling across the U.S., the project supports grassroots conservation and Indigenous-led coexistence initiatives in elephant range countries. Each sculpture is “twinned” with a conservation NGO, and proceeds from the art tour help fund field-level work².

In Kenya, community sanctuaries like Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary help bridge habitat between forests and protected parks. Mwaluganje is community-owned, formed in partnership with local landowners and conservation groups to protect a migratory corridor in Kwale County³. These types of locally supported sanctuaries are vital models for corridor preservation.

Key Strategies for Success

Land-Use Planning and Corridor Protection

Identifying critical paths for migration and legally safeguarding them from development or disruptive fencing is foundational. Without formal recognition and protection of these corridors, conservation efforts remain vulnerable to shifting political priorities and land-use changes.

Strategic planning also helps reduce risks of habitat isolation, ensuring that elephants can move between seasonal ranges safely. Mapping elephant pathways using GPS tracking and historical data plays a vital role in guiding land-use decisions.

Local Engagement and Benefit Sharing

For community conservation to succeed, local residents must see tangible benefits. These may include employment opportunities, ecotourism revenue, compensation for crop damage, or shared income from conservation-related enterprises.

When communities are directly involved and benefit from protecting corridors, they are more likely to advocate for conservation and resist pressures to convert land for incompatible uses.

Conflict Mitigation and Early Warning Systems

Where human-elephant conflict is a risk, emerging technologies such as seismic sensors, drones, and acoustic deterrents can help detect elephants approaching farmland and allow for preventive measures⁴. These tools provide communities with real-time alerts to reduce surprise encounters and damage.

Combining traditional knowledge with modern tools enhances the effectiveness of conflict mitigation and supports coexistence in shared landscapes.

Cross-Jurisdictional Cooperation

Migratory routes often cross administrative or national boundaries, requiring coordination across districts, provinces, or nations. Without cooperation among authorities, conservation efforts can falter at jurisdictional borders.

Joint monitoring programs, shared policies, and regional conservation frameworks are increasingly being employed to maintain the continuity of elephant corridors across large landscapes.

Continuous Monitoring and Adaptive Management

Tracking elephant movements through GPS collars, camera traps, and field observations helps inform whether corridor designs are working. This data allows conservationists to make informed decisions and adjust strategies as needed.

Adaptive management ensures that conservation approaches remain effective in the face of environmental changes, land-use shifts, or new threats to elephant movement.

Challenges and Cautionary Lessons

The path to successful corridor conservation isn't always smooth. In Malawi, an elephant translocation project in 2022 resulted in heightened conflict with communities, causing fatalities and damage to crops. The affected villagers have filed legal claims demanding better safeguards and accountability⁵. This episode underscores that conservation must walk hand-in-hand with community well-being and safety.

Additionally, financial and institutional support is often volatile. Sustaining corridors over decades requires reliable funding, political will, and consistent enforcement to prevent poaching or land encroachment. Without long-term backing, initial gains can quickly unravel.

A Hopeful Trajectory

Despite these challenges, the momentum behind community conservation offers hope. When communities are empowered as guardians of wildlife and landscapes, elephants gain safer passage - and human communities gain ecological, economic, and cultural benefits.

Restoring and protecting migration corridors isn’t just for the elephants. It’s an investment in resilient ecosystems, climate adaptation, and a future where wildlife and people share the land, not compete for it. The path forward lies in deep collaboration, flexible strategies, and a shared commitment to coexistence.

References

Academia. (2023). Elemantra: An end-to-end automated framework empowered with AI and IoT for tackling human-elephant conflict in elephant-range countries. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.15012
Academia. (2024). An agent-based model of elephant crop raid dynamics in the Periyar-Agasthyamalai complex, India. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.09024
Academia. (2021). Elephant–human conflict mitigation: An autonomous UAV approach. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.02584
Mongabay News. (2025, October). Migrating elephants get room to roam via community conservation efforts. https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/migrating-elephants-get-room-to-roam-via-community-conservation-efforts/
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. (2025, April 3). The Great Elephant Migration: A journey for coexistence. https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/news/updates/great-elephant-migration