The EMA Conservation Committee (EMA-CC) is charged with helping EMA achieve its elephant conservation goals. We accomplish our mission by applying our ex-situ conservation expertise, informed by our deep understanding of in-situ conservation issues, to provide our members with current information and best practices, provide content for materials to educate the public, and provide impactful support to established range country projects.

Committee Goals

1) Promote elephant conservation successes, initiatives, and activities of EMA members and EMA-sponsored range country projects. Share with the EMA membership via EMA publications, social media, website, and EMA-CC informal communications.

• Publish elephant conservation articles in every issue of JEMA and Gray Matters.
• Publish elephant conservation articles in the professional journals of other organizations, such as AAZK and AZAD. EMA-CC Board Liaison must approve articles and be kept in the loop on organization(s) identified for publishing in their journals.
• Establish and maintain a central repository for EMA-CC-approved conservation information to enable easy access by EMA members. This "repository" will reside in the EMA Digital Library.
• Encourage EMA members to volunteer their time and effort in support of EMA-CC. Help the EMA attract new members through EMA-CC articles, initiatives, and opportunities to participate in elephant conservation activities. Provide a document template and editing feedback for authors.

2) Become the elephant conservation "go-to" resource that EMA members contact for information

• Engage in two-way information exchanges with EMA stakeholders to catalog ex-situ and in-situ elephant conservation successes, activities, and current events.
• Provide elephant conservation content to EMA committees to support their goals and activities.
• Highlight range country conservation successes, initiatives, and current events of interest to EMA members.
• Connect EMA members to range country elephant conservation organizations and individuals engaged in work of interest to EMA members.
• Coach interested EMA members on elephant conservation.

3) Influence elephant conservation by continuing to communicate with range country professionals and organizations that are approved by the EMA Board and report opportunities for direct participation to EMA members as they occur.

• Communicate frequently with conservation partners to understand and help highlight their challenges, successes, and activities. Provide membership with feedback on the progress resulting from the EMA's support.
• Identify additional (non-financial) ways to help support their missions, to include EMA members' virtual support for conservation activities, such as analyzing camera trap photos and information sharing.
• Build on the successes of EMA-supported projects to identify additional candidates for support (i.e., apply our limited resources to established, proven projects that will benefit from our unique expertise, modest funding capabilities, and partial support to their missions).

Disclaimer: The EMA Conservation Committee does not create, endorse, or offer opinions on policy-related matters; policy is the exclusive purview of the EMA Board of Directors.