YSD Governing Council Member Caroline Christine Russell said that as of September 2016, the MEME project has recorded significant findings that illuminate the behaviour and ecology of the Asian elephant in forested areas of Malaysia, as well as their interactions with people.

“The findings of the MEME project include the revelation that elephants have lost nearly 70% of their roaming territory in human-dominated landscapes in Malaysia over the past 35 years; an alarming rate.

“Unfortunately, we still do not know well their distribution in non-human dominated landscapes, such as forest reserves and protected areas.

“We need urgent solutions and initiatives to stop the decrease of wildlife populations in Malaysia, including elephants, before it is too late. We also need better baseline data to monitor the status of their population in the long term,” she said.

Dr Campos-Arceiz said the extended sponsorship will assist MEME to fund their research team, field equipment as well as field operations.

“Since 2011, MEME is generating a large amount of novel information on the ecology and conservation of elephants in Peninsular Malaysia, including information on the distribution of elephants in human-dominated landscapes, elephant diet and movements in fragmented landscapes, their ecological importance for the maintenance of forest ecosystems, and the effectiveness of different strategies for the mitigation of human-elephant conflicts.

“This extended sponsorship is very important for MEME because it will allow us to complete our ongoing research as well as use this newly generated information to advise policy-makers and create public awareness for the conservation of these magnificent animals in Malaysia,” he said.

Professor Claire O’Malley, UNMC’s Vice-Provost for Research, said “The University of Nottingham is proud of MEME, one of our most visible and potentially impactful research projects.”