FAO Forestry Department

Definition of FAO Forestry Department

From the elephant glossary Section: organisation

Cover of the book Gone astray: The care and management of the Asian elephant in domesticity, authored by Mr Richard Lair and published in 1997

Cover of the publication Giants on Our Hand: Procession in an elephant show at the Thai ElephantConservation Center, Lampang. Thailand, February 2001. Cover of the book Gone astray: The care and management of the Asian elephant in domesticity, authored by Mr Richard Lair and published in 1997

Relevant Literature about FAO Forestry Department
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases

For the last twenty years, improving the Conservation, management and welfare of the Asian elephant has been a goal of both the FAO Forestry Department in Rome, Italy, and the Forestry Department Group of the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand.

Publications

The book Gone astray: The care and management of the Asian elephant in domesticity, authored by Mr Richard Lair, and coauthored by Thai Veterinarians Dr Preecha Phuangkum, and Dr Taweepoke Angkawanith, and published in 1997, was a landmark publication which drew the attention of the international community to the plight of Asian elephants. In this study, Mr Lair made two recommendations: to organize an international workshop on domesticated Asian elephants and to prepare an elephant care manual for Mahouts and managers.

The first goal was realized in February 2001 and the proceedings, Giants on our hands, were published in 2002. The second goal was pursued through the elephant care manual project, funded by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and carried out by the Forest Industry Organization (FIO) of Thailand. I am pleased to announce its completion by releasing the Elephant care manual for Mahouts and camp managers as a publication of the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. As mentioned in the authors' preface to the English edition, this publication also has a Thai language edition.
He Changchui, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Gone astray: The care and management of the Asian elephant in domesticity

For copies write to:

FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (c/o M. Kashio)
Maliwan Mansion, 39 Phra Atit Road
Bangkok 10200
Thailand
Tel: (662) 281-7844, Fax: (662) 280-0445
E-Mail: FAO-RAP@FIELD.FAO.ORG

Giants on Our Hands: Proceedings of the International Workshop on the Domesticated Asian Elephant

Edited by: Iljas Baker and Masakazu Kashio. ISBN: 974-90757-1-4

The Asian elephant has played an important role in the cultural, economic and social life of Asia for millennia. However, it has been increasingly marginalized in the region and, apart from Myanmar, there is now little demand for the traditional work done by elephants. Transporting goods and people over difficult terrain, for example, is now done by motor vehicles and most of this takes place on paved roads. Elephants in logging have been replaced by heavy machines in most countries, or logging itself has been banned to conserve scarce forest resources. Combined with the dwindling habitat, these changes are threatening the continued existence of elephants.

Recognizing such conditions, FAO and the Japan Wildlife Research Center (JWRC) jointly commissioned a series of studies on domesticated Asian elephants in all 11 domesticated elephant range countries in 2000. On the basis of these studies, FAO and JWRC organized an International Workshop on the Domesticated Asian Elephant, from 5 to 10 February 2001. The Workshop was attended by 101 participants from 21 countries, and produced a number of recommendations. This publication constitutes the proceedings of the Workshop.

One of the recommendations is to improve the age-old existing registration systems or to establish new ones for the domesticated elephants in every range country, for example, by introducing modern methods such as a small memory chip containing the elephant's life history, embedded under the skin of each elephant. Such a registration system would be directly linked to a sophisticated database for better care and management of domesticated elephants. Improving socio-economic conditions for Mahouts and elephants is another recommendation. Unless they are provided with new sources of income, the long-standing traditional techniques and practical knowledge on elephant handling will be largely lost forever. We are pleased to see that, as a result of the Workshop, efforts to establish a database are beginning and a network of concerned persons is in the formative stages.
Taisitiroo Satoo, President Japan Wildlife Research Center. He Changchui, FAO Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific.

For copies write to:
Forest Resources Officer
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Maliwan Mansion
Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200
Thailand
E-mail: Masakazu.Kashio@fao.org

FAO Forestry Department is mentioned on 0 other pages

Reference list Koehl, Dan, (2025). FAO Forestry Department. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 20 September 2021 at https://www.elephant.se/index.php?id=209. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

Gone Astray - The Care and Management of the Asian Elephant in Domesticity, online at https://www.fao.org/3/ac774e/ac774e00.htm
Giants on Our Hands: Proceedings of the International Workshop on the Domesticated Asian Elephant, online at https://www.fao.org/3/ad031e/ad031e00.htm

Selected publications

Lair, Richard; Gone Astray - The Care and Management of the Asian Elephant in Domesticity
Giants on Our Hands: Proceedings of the International Workshop on the Domesticated Asian Elephant

Links about FAO Forestry Department

Selected external links for this article about FAO Forestry Department:

FAO Website online at https://www.fao.org/
Gone Astray - The Care and Management of the Asian Elephant in Domesticity, online at https://www.fao.org/3/ac774e/ac774e00.htm
Giants on Our Hands: Proceedings of the International Workshop on the Domesticated Asian Elephant, online at https://www.fao.org/3/ad031e/ad031e00.htm

External relevant search

Search more on the web for elephant+%22FAO+Forestry+Department%22 (Opens in new window and the word elephant+%22FAO+Forestry+Department%22 is already submitted into the link, just click on the link for relevant results)

Categories glossary | organisation

About this documentWebsite online since 1995. This document was created: 2021-11-17. Latest update: 2021-11-17 11:14:36 included 4702 characters with valid HTML5