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Towards tolerable human–elephant coexistence in tropical Asia

As the human footprint expands in rapidly developing tropical Asia, frontier landscapes are converted into agriculture and settlements, escalating human–wildlife conflicts. In this piece we respond to the solid and constructive commentaries by Fernando & Pastorini (2021), Terada (2021) and Tiller & Williams (2021) to our paper, ‘There will be conflict – agricultural landscapes are prime, rather than marginal, habitats for Asian elephants’, published in this issue of Animal Conservation (de la Torre et al. 2021). Our study identified a high spatial overlap between Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) preferred habitats and the human-dominated landscapes where human–elephant conflicts (HEC) occur. Asian elephant preference for semi-disturbed habitats means that HEC is to be expected whenever we share landscapes. Strategies to mitigate HEC should, therefore, not be based on the removal of elephants from human-dominated landscapes, which, at best, is unlikely to be effective and, at worst, can have detrimental consequences for both elephants and people (Fernando et al. 2012). We need, therefore, holistic approaches that integrate ecological and human dimensions to promote tolerable human–elephant coexistence in tropical Asia. Since we generally agree with the contents of the three commentaries, including some fair criticism, here we take the opportunity to address issues brought up by our paper and points in the commentaries that we consider deserve more attention. We argue that the transition from unsustainable conflict to tolerable human–elephant coexistence in tropical Asia requires: (1) people’s willingness to coexist with elephants, (2) defining responsibilities for HEC mitigation, (3) understanding the diverse characteristics of the affected communities and (4) focusing on long-term and future-looking strategies, among others. This list is not intended to be comprehensive nor to constitute a whole framework.