STE has been involved in Mali since 2000 in collaboration with The Wild Foundation, The Environment and Development Group, and the Direction Nationale De La Conservation De La Nature (DNCN Mali).

In February 2007, our team of Mr. El Mehdi Doumbia, Mike Deutsch, and Jake Wall traveled to the Gourma region of Mali on a National Geographic Expedition to map the “human footprint” in the range of the remaining Sahelian elephants. The expedition lasted 6 weeks and over 200 new village locations were recorded in areas vital to the elephants’ survival. The aim was to record information on the influence and presence of humans in these areas and to understand the evolving inter-relationship of elephants and nomadic pastoralists. Data collection was made on the ground with GPS technology as well as satellite imagery. A new experimental technique using differential space-borne radar was used to map cattle trails and settlement positions around one of the most important water sources in order to test the viability of mapping the “human footprint” remotely from space.

Results of this expedition were extremely worrying and the team witnessed the encroachment of the human settlement around the waterholes necessary for the elephants’ survival. Changes in climate and the drying up of the Sahara have pushed many nomadic people down in the Sahel and, coupled with natural increases in populations, has led to high human densities in areas vital to the elephants’ survival. Further research is needed into this problem - without intervention on the ground and a formalized system for protecting the elephant habitat it is estimated that the elephants will disappear from Mali within the next 15 years!