Extended action research to mitigate human-elephant conflict (HEC) in Huai Khayeng settlement, Thong Pha Phum district, Kanchanaburi province, Thailand

Abstract

Human elephant conflicts (HECs) have become more severe in many parts of Thailand including Thong Pha Phum, Kanchanaburi Province in Western Thailand. Many organizations from national to local levels have involved in mitigating these endless HECs. At the local level, mitigation actions were determined by ethnic majority but marginalized ethnicity, Karen in this case, who understand the situations well but have limited influences. In this study, action researches were done based on suggestions of marginalized minorities in combination with the extensions of researches accumulated in the area. First, land use and land cover mapping were surveyed with community participations. Finalized maps were given to villagers for further use in HEC mitigation. Then, the assessment of man-dog-elephant relationship was made following the suggestion of marginalized villagers. The result show that dogs were only influenced by para-rubber tree plantations while elephants were not. Dog behavior, based on questionnaires, could be the cause of elephant aggression in crop field indicated from observed dog behavior by dog owners when facing with the elephants in the crop field. Three HEC mitigation techniques, as requested from villagers, were adopted. They were chili bomb, chili fence and early warning system. Villager participation of tool-received villagers were assessed. The results show that only early warning system still be used at the end of 2017 (67.19%) while both chili bomb and chili fence were used only once in 2016. HEC recording spreadsheet results from villagers show that banana was raided most by elephants. Elephant crop-raiding frequency peak between 20:00-21:00 and 02:00-03:00. Elephant occupancy model was assessed in Thong Pha Phum Plantation (TPPP) by using elephant presence-absence data from July 2017 - May 2018. The best model predicted that para-rubber plantation and distance to the nearest wetland had influence on elephant presence in all year round while there were no influencing factors for both harvesting and non-harvesting period. Using HEC incident recorded by villagers and elephant occupancy modeling, it could be interpreted that elephants had used human settlement as their home range while para-rubber plantations and wetlands could act as elephant's shelter and pathways to foraging area. This research is an example in which humanistic or anthropological process can fill up some overlooked gaps in management and it can also apply broader to other types of natural resource or environmental management.