Ensuring the survival of elephants in Laos : a matter of economics

Asian elephant populations in Laos, which are under a process of commodification, have dropped by half in the last 30 years. According to researchers¹ from CNRS and the French Beauval Nature association for conservation and research, the dynamics of elephant populations depend heavily on the socio-economic practices of the country and elephant owners. The setting-up of a “maternity-leave” system to compensate owners for their losses of income during breeding period would contribute to the species' long-term survival. The findings of this research are published in Scientific Reports on November 1st 2017. Since the opening of the country to the market economy 20 years ago, the intensification of elephants' workload, notably for the timber industry, has heavily affected their reproduction. The elephant's long gestation period (22 months), followed by 2 years weaning, makes reproduction incompatible with work. In addition, the exportation of Lao elephants to neighboring countries for tourism purposes threatens the population survival.