<p>The Lower Kinabatangan in Malaysian Borneo is a tropical mix of&nbsp;lush&nbsp;forests, mangroves and oxbow lakes and home to the Bornean elephant, the world's smallest&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;roundest and cutest elephant,&nbsp;in the opinion of&nbsp;Dr Farina Othman.&nbsp;She&nbsp;and her team are building a protected corridor in partnership with oil palm plantations&nbsp;for&nbsp;the 250 elephants that remain locally. Ninety percent of their original habitat has been converted to oil palm,&nbsp;now the main source of income for local people who feel the&nbsp;elephant&nbsp;“belongs to the scientists, the NGOs, the government…"&nbsp;and not them,&nbsp;she tells Kate and Edward.&nbsp;Her nonprofit&nbsp;Seratu&nbsp;Aatai is&nbsp;helping&nbsp;build&nbsp;the&nbsp;skills&nbsp;to&nbsp;coexist with&nbsp;elephants and to&nbsp;"walk this journey with them,”&nbsp;Farina explains. Her&nbsp;plan&nbsp;is&nbsp;to&nbsp;put&nbsp;Kinabatangan&nbsp;on the map&nbsp;as&nbsp;a&nbsp;conservation&nbsp;model that can be replicated across other landscapes.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><br><p>How to Save It highlights ingenious solutions from the world’s leading conservationists. To learn more about their work and to receive updates, sign up here&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/WFN_Podcast_NewsletterSignup" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/WFN_Podcast_NewsletterSignup</a>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Find out more and watch&nbsp;Farina’s&nbsp;film&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/WFN_Podcast_Othman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/WFN_Podcast_Othman</a>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Follow us on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/whitleyawards/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/whitleyawards/</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/company/whitley-fund-for-nature" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://uk.linkedin.com/company/whitley-fund-for-nature</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>For more on the elephant’s closest relative, the manatee, listen to our episode with Dr Aristide Kamla from Cameroon&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/WFN_Podcast_Kamla" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/WFN_Podcast_Kamla</a>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Executive producer: Sarah Treanor</p><p>Illustrations by Emily Faccini</p><p>Photo credit: Cede Prudente</p><p>&nbsp;</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>