Yunnan village prospers, naturally
Gradually the organization staff realized it was meaningless to continue to try to popularize the laws and educate people on the value of the elephants who intruded on their living space if there was no solution provided.
Since 2009, in order to alleviate the conflict, Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture has been trying to induce commercial insurance companies to offer more support for claims of damage caused by Asian elephants. In 2010, wildlife accident public liability insurance was introduced to Yunnan province, mainly for covering the damage caused by wild Asian elephants.
According to Cao, the direct economic loss caused by wild Asian elephants in Xishuangbanna and Pu'er alone has exceeded 20 million yuan ($2.9 million) per year.
In June 2020, IFAW, the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve and the Xishuangbanna Tropical Rain Forest Conservation Foundation jointly launched the Community Livelihood Development program that aims to reorient village economies in the area to guard them against elephant damage.
