Max Graham

"Originally from Dorset in England, Dr Max Graham has been involved in studying and conserving elephants in Africa for the last 20 years. He was awarded his PhD and rugby blue from Cambridge University in 2007, after which he carried on working with Cambridge, leading a multi-disciplinary team to develop a tool kit for managing human-elephant conflict. This contributed to the virtual elimination of crop-raiding by elephants in parts of Kenya by 2010. In 2011, in response to poachers killing several elephants he was studying, Max founded Space for Giants and immediately lead local conservationists to step up front-line protection in a key elephant landscape, bringing about a nearly 90% reduction in elephant poaching in just two years. In 2013, Max led the acquisition and protection of a critical, 56,000 acre elephant corridor, Loisaba, helping convert this into a sustainable hub for conservation and community support in north Kenya. In 2015, with a view to scaling up the conservation tools developed in Kenya to the continental level, Max founded the Giants Club, combining political, social and financial muscle with the goal of protecting at least half of Africa's elephants and the landscapes they depend on. Today the Heads of State of Botswana, Gabon, Kenya and Uganda are the Presidents of the Giants Club and its members are among the most influential people on earth. The Giants Club Summit, an annual event, led by Max and his team at Space for Giants, are pioneering conservation forums, held in the heart of elephant landscapes, attended by sector leaders, resulting in concrete action and new financial commitments amounting to millions of dollars, with associated media reaching hundreds of millions of people globally. Max lives on a wildlife conservancy in the foothills of Mt Kenya with his wife, Lauren, also an elephant conservationist, and their two children, Robin and Sylvan." [1]

Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch

• Graham, M. (2007). Coexistence in a land use mosaic? Land use, risk and elephant ecology in Laikipia District, Kenya. PhD thesis. University of Cambridge, UK. [2] (Save the Elephants)