A Recipe for Coexistence

Named after Thailand’s beloved spicy soup, the Tom Yum Project represents an ingenious fusion of culinary tradition and wildlife protection. Local farmers have discovered that their kitchen ingredients can become powerful conservation tools. By cultivating natural elephant deterrents—chili peppers, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, and ginger—they create protective barriers that keep elephants away from crops while simultaneously generating sustainable income streams.

The transformation has been remarkable. Where elephants once destroyed 96.5% of traditional pineapple crops, leaving farmers devastated and wildlife under threat, these aromatic alternatives tell a different story. Elephants damaged only 5.2% of chili peppers and 4.8% of kaffir lime crops, while leaving lemongrass fields completely untouched. This dramatic shift demonstrates how understanding elephant behavior and preferences can turn conflict into coexistence.

Why This Project Matters

The Tom Yum Project succeeds because it places local farmers at the heart of conservation efforts. Rather than imposing external solutions, it empowers communities to drive change using traditional knowledge and familiar crops. This approach ensures long-term sustainability without requiring advanced technology or significant capital investment, making it accessible to farming communities throughout elephant range countries.

Beyond crop protection, the project creates meaningful economic empowerment. Farmers now diversify their income through multiple revenue streams, producing value-added products like lemongrass massage oil, ginger turmeric tea, and artisanal candles. These enterprises protect livelihoods from the unpredictability of crop raids while creating new opportunities for rural entrepreneurship.

The model’s potential for widespread impact is already becoming evident. Success in Ruam Thai village has sparked genuine interest from neighboring communities, creating a ripple effect that could transform human-elephant relationships across the region. This organic expansion demonstrates the project’s scalability and cultural resonance.

Support Elephant Conservation and Research

Your donation to the Elephant Conservation and Research Fund supports capacity building for local communities, research and data collection, human-elephant conflict mitigation implementation, habitat restoration, gender empowerment and equity, elephant collaring and monitoring, and technological infrastructure and training.