By Salik Ansar | Project Manager
As we move through the heart of the year, July offers us a moment to reflect on the steady progress we've made and the path ahead. Thanks to your support, our mission remains clear: to support the people who share landscapes with wildlife, empowering them as stewards of nature, and finding ways to strengthen our conservation efforts. Conservation isn't just about protecting species—it's about uplifting communities, strengthening livelihoods, and building resilience in the face of environmental change.
Thanks to your incredible generosity, we've smashed our $10,000 target and are now working toward $12,000 to reach even more families! Your support is literally changing lives—and saving elephants—one farm at a time. This month, we’re proud to share some exciting updates from the field, highlighting the continued work being done to promote coexistence between people and Asian elephants. None of this would be possible without your steadfast support. Your generosity continues to fuel grassroots action and long-term impact. Together, we’re not just protecting elephants—we’re shaping a future where people and wildlife thrive side by side.
Alternative Crop Project: Over 8400 saplings planted!
With your help, our alternative crop distribution program reached new milestones this quarter, building on the foundation set with our initial 40 participating farmers. Following distribution of 3,610 saplings in December 2024 to the first distribution of 3,610 saplings to the first 20 farmers, we expanded in June 2025 to reach 37 more farmers, distributing approximately 625 local orange, 2,740 lemon, and 1,500 moringa plants. That's enough saplings to transform 57 family farms and cover nearly 30 acres of farmland!
This program, part of our broader study, involves half the farmers planting alternative crops (moringa, local orange, lime) while the others serve as a control group. Challenges included crop flooding from heavy rainfall in December 2024, which destroyed 85% of the moringa plants, and shifting farmer preferences during implementation. Despite this, the team prioritized farmers with adequate irrigation and successfully completed distributions to 37 farmers in June.
While we celebrate these wins, the upcoming dry season means we need to be strategic about our next distributions. Thanks to your continued support, we're eager to extend the program to more farmers, but July and August present limitations. The dry conditions create higher risks for sapling survival, so we're carefully evaluating and prioritizing farms with irrigation during this period, to ensure your investment in these communities has the greatest impact. Our team is developing a plan for optimal distribution schedule that will give the remaining farmers the best chance of success --because every sapling you help us plant represents hope for both families and elephants.
Behavioral Study: Phase 2 done!
Over the past three months, we analyzed data from 40 monitoring sites gathered during Phase 1 and 2 of our behavioral study, including camera trap footage, audio recordings, and new drone imagery. These same sites have now received alternative crops and will continue to be monitored. With Sateesh’s return to Sri Lanka, data collection is complete, marking another milestone you helped us achieve. The field team is now fully prepared to begin Phase 3.
In other updates: Donation to Kekulu Pre-school
With the generous support of Garry from Orangutan Odysseys, our team was able to improve conditions at Kekulu Preschool in Udawalawe, benefiting children from the local village community.
The donation funded the purchase and installation of two ceiling fans. You can imagine how difficult it was for 3–5-year-olds to learn in stifling heat - now thanks to donors like you, these children have a comfortable place to grow and learn—until now, the classroom had no fans, making it unbearably hot during warmer days, with temperatures ranging from 20–31C year-round. Years ago, we helped the school get electricity through our preschool program (with help of GlobalGiving donations!), and this latest support builds on that foundation.
Like many preschools in Sri Lanka, Kekulu has metal grilles instead of glass windows to keep out monkeys and other animals, but without wind, airflow is limited. These new fans have created a much more comfortable and conducive learning environment for the children.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
