On October 11, the first phase of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) was opened in Kunming, Yunnan, China. The short film “Elephants’ Journey in Yunnan” was premiered at the opening ceremony.
“Elephants’ Journey in Yunnan” chronicles the story of 16 wild Asian elephants which left their habitat in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, last spring and finally returned home after a 17-month trek of 1,300 km. Tens of thousands of people have guarded their journey and created mutual trust with the elephant herd.
Starting last year, a herd of wild Asian elephants in Yunnan roamed the roads northward. Netizens joked that the elephants would go to Kunming to participate in the COP15 conference. On September 11, “Elephants’ Journey in Yunnan” was premiered, showing guests Yunnan’s wisdom and Yunnan solutions for harmonious coexistence between people and nature.
The Asian elephant is the largest and most representative terrestrial vertebrate in Asia. This species is mainly found in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Province, Pu’an City, Lincang City, Yunnan Province.
In order to protect them, Yunnan has taken a series of measures, such as establishing a food source base for Asian elephants, increasing monitoring and field patrolling of Asian elephants, and continuously improving the insurance and claim mechanisms for wildlife accidents, to gradually realize both “human-elephant separation” and “human-elephant harmony.”
After more than 30 years of rescue and protection, Yunnan’s wild Asian elephant population has grown from more than 190 in the early 1980s to around 300 today. The population of wild Asian elephants has entered a stage of stable recovery and gradual increase.
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