Interesting study of how security can often be about incentives (the carrot) as much as the penalties (stick):

A Zambian man has won a prestigious Goldman Prize for helping to curb widespread elephant poaching by setting up economic projects for villagers.

Hammerskjoeld Simwinga wins $125,000 for the award, sometimes called the Nobel prize for the environment.

He helped set up bee-keeping and fish-farming projects for people in the North Luangwa valley, where elephant numbers had shown a dramatic fall.

Falling elephants? But seriously, there are some neat cultural details to the story:

Over 70% of loans are made to women and Mr Simwinga says they are the backbone of the programme.

“We deliberately pushed our resources to the womenfolk in the community because we knew that working with the women was the strongest part of persuasion,” he told Reuters news agency.

Local communities were given a grinding mill to earn money but this was withdrawn if elephants were poached in the area.

Brilliant security solutions customized to local conditions. It gives me hope that someone might be able to save others under threat of attack.