Human-elephant conflict causes significant harm to both elephants and people across Africa and Asia. Coexistence strategies reduce suffering on both sides of this growing conflict.
Human-elephant conflict causes welfare suffering on multiple levels: individual elephants are killed, injured, or poisoned in retaliation for crop raiding; communities suffer food insecurity and fear; and conflict escalation threatens entire elephant populations. Coexistence approaches that protect both human livelihoods and elephant welfare include non-lethal deterrents, early warning systems, compensation schemes for crop losses, and habitat connectivity that reduces overlap between elephant movement and agriculture. Conservation programs that include community benefits create incentives for human tolerance of elephants rather than persecution.