Reducing dependency on agriculture both removes elephants as a direct threat to people’s livelihoods, and may reduce the pressure to convert elephant habitat into agriculture (Parker et al. 2007).  Such land conversion is common in our system, where large swaths of forests are routinely cut and burned to accommodate a growing human population with few livelihood options apart from subsistence farming.  In addition to these immediate benefits, creating alternative livelihood incomes reduces the likelihood that local people will be easily recruited to poach elephants for ivory.  

 

Indeed, of 171 self-identified poachers who were recently interviewed in villages surrounding Ruaha National Park, 90% stated they would cease poaching if alternative livelihood opportunities were available (Knapp et al. 2017).  In 2016, Wildlife Connection began offering alternative livelihood programs in villages where we know human-elephant conflict and poaching rates to be highest.  The program is enormously successful, limited only by our capacity to serve all those who wish to participate.  Participants routinely volunteer to us that poaching is decreasing in their communities because people can easily and legally procure meat through these programs.