Elephant Conservation Project aims to develop the Wildlife based Strategy for the conservation of Kaeng Krachan National Park as well as reducing human-elephant (HEC) based on crop raiding since 2004 to present.

The WCS/DNP Kaeng Krachan Elephant Project is a multi year endeavor, which has The government “buy in” and local support. WCS has been asked to assist the Kaeng Krachan National Park authorities, the district administrator (Huai Sad Yai, Nongplub, Bueng Nakorn and Padeng) and local farmers to help resolve human-elephant conflict (HEC) issues.

Poaching, habitat degradation and human-elephant conflict are the direct and indirect threats to elephant. The multi-year collaboration between WCS and DNP/KKNP, law enforcement and law enforcement monitoring (LEM) work have been conducted since November 2006 to assess the effectiveness of patrol system and threats reduction.

Elephants are one of the selected landscape species in Kaeng Krachan National Park (the others are Siamese Black Bear, Crocodile, Dusky Langur and Blyth’s Frog). The Landscape Species approach is a wildlife-based strategy for the conservation of large, wild ecosystems that are integrated in wider landscapes of human influence.

Landscape Species: are area-demanding, require habitat heterogeneity, are vulnerable to threats from human activities, perform important ecological functions, and are socio-economically important.

A conceptual model developed which describes the threats and conservation activities for each landscape species. A conceptual model is a visual representation of the factors have an adverse impact on plant and animal communities and how conservation actions can be implemented to address those threats and achieve conservation success (a printed representation of the mental map inside the head of every conservation manager).

Currently the Human-Elephant Conflict Monitoring Center (usually called the Elephant Conservation Center) acts as the center for updating elephant and elephant threats information as well as developing education for local communities.

Most of the villagers and park stuff use it as a meeting center among themselves and with WCS staff as well, exchanging news on the movement of elephants and reporting threats to elephants. WCS has been involved in many activities aiming to build conservation awareness in local communities in order to reduce threats to elephants with local communities and every stakeholder.