As the world fights around to bring in innovations battling climate change, The Real Elephant Collective is doing its bit by bringing club art with impact by combating harmful lantana weeds in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Not only are they helping clear these invasive plants, but they are also making a significant impact on elephant conservation and the livelihoods of tribal communities in partnership with Rang De.

This partnership is truly remarkable as it brings together environmental conservation, art, and empowerment. TREC collaborates with artisans to create life-sized elephant structures, each representing a real wild elephant from the Nilgiri reserve. The unique part is that these structures are made entirely from harmful lantana weeds. By creating these structures, TREC not only helps clear the invasive plants but also provides gainful employment to around 100 tribal artisans from the Soliga, Paniya, Bettakurumba, and Kattunayakan communities.

“In the initial stages, we organised major exhibitions in collaboration with an NGO partner with grant funding. However, presently, our social enterprise now works to almost 150 individuals across three states, all hailing from particularly vulnerable tribal communities within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, and with this expansion the need for credit became apparent.
We now organise large exhibitions for the sale of the elephants. It was during this pursuit of financial support, we collaborated with Rang De. This partnership has allowed us to secure funds and access credit without relying on mainstream banks. Also the opportunity to work with a partner who understands the social sector was a plus. The partnership has been a great success thus far, and we eagerly anticipate its continued growth,” says Tarsh Thekaekara, Co- founder, The Real Elephant Collective.

Read the full story that first appeared in Fair Planet here: