Asian Elephant Support is participating in a significant endeavor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This innovative effort, the “Aceh Conservation, Environment, Humanity” (ACEH) program, is working to engage legislators in Aceh Province, Indonesia.
Conservation biologists alone have not been able to slow down the rapid decline in numbers of wildlife species and their wild habitats around the world. Human-elephant conflict (HEC) has been identified as a major threat to elephant conservation by all Asian elephant range country governments. The greatest danger HEC poses to elephants is the antagonism it generates among local communities toward wildlife.
The specific goals of ACEH are:
- Strengthen the concept of “sustainable development”, which has been mandated by the Indonesian Constitution.
- Support the formation and operation of the Aceh Sustainable Development Caucus.
- Facilitate the flow of information about sustainable development to legislators in order to enhance the development of public policies that incorporate sustainability principles.
- Provide technical consultation to Aceh’s Parliament on a variety of issues such as land-use planning.
In January and February of this year, the ACEH team devoted significant time to conducting presentations and meetings with 13 of the 15 political parties in Aceh during the lead up to the local elections in April. ACEH is building a network of civil society organizations to contribute to this effort. At present ACEH is planning the agenda and structure for the Caucus, which is expected to begin in October 2014 when newly elected legislators start their terms.
We want to share with you the ACEH brochure, in English, that summarizes this project. We appreciate our supporters who, in turn, enable us to be a small part of this major effort for wildlife in Aceh and throughout Asia.