Conservation Chat with Dr. Nurzhafarina Othman (Updated)

IEF is joined by Dr. Nurzhafarina Othman (Dr. Farina), an internationally renowned expert in Asian elephants, particularly in Malaysia. For the past decade, she has dedicated herself to shifting the paradigms of stakeholders involved in managing human-wildlife conflict in Malaysia. Dr, Farina has been an active member of the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group since 2018 and in 2021, she joined the Human-Wildlife Conflict Specialist Group. Currently, she is leading a team of local conservationists under the umbrella of Seratu Aatai and is a senior lecturer at the Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. Through her work on the conservation genetics of the Bornean elephant, she has proven that the Bornean elephant is indeed genetically more unique than the other Asian elephants. Now, the Bornean elephant is recognized as a subspecies of Asian elephant, which changes the global approach to their conservation. Data from her work on the movement of female elephants led to the identification of wildlife corridors in Lower Kinabatangan and to successfully stopping a mega infrastructure project that would cut elephant habitats. With support from the Sabah Wildlife Department and collaboration with fellow scientists and conservationists, both national and international, Dr. Farina and her team's mission now is to improve oil palm landscapes to be more friendly to elephants and other wildlife. If you would like to learn more about this work and support elephant conservation, please visit www.elephantconservation.org/donate