Our mission
The survival of elephants remains under immense pressure worldwide. Their habitats are disappearing and becoming increasingly fragmented, mainly due to agricultural expansion, infrastructure development, deforestation, and other human activities. As a result, elephants are increasingly forced to move beyond protected areas in search of food, water, and space, increasing the risk of conflict with people.
Restoring relationships between humans, animals, and ecosystems
When elephants disappear, we lose not only a magnificent species, but also an essential part of living ecosystems. Bring The Elephant Home works towards a future where elephants, people, and nature can thrive together.
For us, nature conservation means more than protecting a species. It is also about restoring relationships between people, animals, and the living world. Encounters with nature can awaken wonder, connection, humility, and care. These experiences can change how we see nature — and how we choose to act.
Lasting positive change
Change is urgently needed. The people living closest to wild elephants often carry the greatest burdens of coexistence, while receiving the fewest benefits. That is not fair. That is why our projects in Africa and Asia are rooted in inclusion, shared decision-making, local ownership, sustainability, equality, pride, and partnership. We believe conservation can only be sustainable when local communities have a meaningful voice, practical support, and the resources to help shape solutions.
When people take ownership of solutions, lasting positive change becomes possible. Our work helps communities move from bearing the costs of living with elephants towards sharing in the benefits that elephant conservation can bring, including safer landscapes, stronger livelihoods, ecological restoration, and nature-based income opportunities.
A holistic approach
Our approach to elephant conservation has developed over more than twenty years and is based on the many values elephants represent: intrinsic, ecological, economic, cultural, social, and spiritual.
Elephants are not only important to ecosystems or to people. They are intelligent, social beings with their own needs, relationships, and well-being. For this reason, we look not only at what is needed to protect elephants, but also at how conservation is done: with respect for elephants, care for the people who live alongside them, and responsibility for the landscapes they share.
A holistic conservation strategy views animals, people, and their habitats as a whole. This strategy yields benefits for both elephants and local communities – and even, we dare say, for the world as a whole!
Living together safely and justly
Bring The Elephant Home is committed to increasing the survival rate of elephants and creating a world where humans and elephants can live together in harmony. We envision a future where elephants and humans can thrive in safe landscapes. Our projects connect animal welfare, human well-being, and nature conservation, strengthening the interconnectedness between them. This fosters harmonious relationships between elephants, humans, and their habitats. In doing so, mutual benefits arise and ecological systems are restored—systems of which elephants and humans are both a part and dependent.
That is what we believe in. That is our mission.
Would you like to help?
We welcome volunteers, donors, and sponsors for our projects in Africa and Asia. Please consider making a donation. Read the personal review of the history of Bring The Elephant Home by founder Antoinette van de Water.
