Community-Based Wildlife & Wetland Conservation

Friends of Wildlife is a Yangon-registered NGO working with local communities, government and universities to protect Myanmar's wildlife and habitats, including Asian elephants, gaur, Eld's deer and star tortoises. It has established fish conservation zones at Indawgyi Lake Wildlife Sanctuary to support sustainable, low-impact fishing, and runs Biodiversity Heroes training and environmental education reaching thousands of villagers. Its work with communities around the Rakhine Yoma elephant range, alongside distribution of fuel-efficient cookstoves to reduce forest pressure, has helped cut reported elephant poaching in the area despite the country's ongoing instability.