Habitat fragmentation is when large swaths of wild spaces get separated into smaller tracts of land. This means that plants and animals have a harder time dispersing. This is especially dangerous in our rapidly changing climate, as plants and animals will need to move to different areas in order to adapt to climate change.

When crops are vulnerable to price gauging and crop raiding, people are put into an adversarial relationship with wildlife. It doesn't need to be this way. We work with our local partners and collaborate with other organizations to promote human-wildlife-coexistence. However, coexistence is not an easy task. It takes a great deal of research, ingenuity, grit, and determination to see win-win solutions flourish. Resiliency is hard won, which is why we are there every step of the way.

Often, farmland is created close to protected areas, because the forest and jungles provide rich nutrients to the soil. Traditionally monocropped agriculture depletes the soil, and farmers are left to find new land. In Thailand, where we do a significant amount of our work, dominant crops are sugarcane, corn, and casava. These cash crops are not only detrimental to the soil, but they create vulnerability as large-scale buyers can dictate the price at harvest. Additionally, elephants love tasty crops like sugarcane, corn, and pineapple! So the farmers also have to worry about wild animals coming and raiding the crops.

In the face of grand challenges, we need to have collaborative and integrated solutions. Right now, we are seeing solutions being tested in a vaccuum, but the world doesn't work that way. We are here to act as a convening organization to span the boundaries of fields and biases in order to bring changemakers together for the sake of human wellbeing and biodiversity protection.