Africa’s elephants endangered due to poaching and loss of habitat

Increasing threats of poaching and loss of habitat have made Africa’s elephant populations more endangered, according to a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The African forest elephant is critically endangered, and the African savanna elephant is endangered. The two species had previously been grouped together as a single species and were classified as vulnerable by the IUCN.

The number of African forest elephants has fallen by more than 86pc over a 31-year period, while the population of savanna elephants dropped by more than 60pc over a 50-year period, according to the IUCN.

Africa has 415,000 elephants, counting the forest and savanna elephants together.

The savanna elephants prefer more open plains and are found in various habitats across sub-Saharan Africa, with Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe having high concentrations. The African forest elephants – smaller in size – mostly occupy the tropical forests of West and Central Africa, with the largest remaining populations found in Gabon and Republic of Congo.

In Gabon, the fight against elephant poaching “is more than just fighting for nature. It’s fighting for the stability of our country,” said Lee White, Gabon’s minister of water and forests.

“We have seen countries like Central African Republic, where poachers became bandits and rebels, and destabilised the whole country,” Mr White said, attributing the bulk of poaching and ivory trafficking to international cross-border syndicates.

“Eighty to 90pc of our ivory goes to Nigeria and ends up funding (jihadist rebels) Boko Haram. So it’s very much a cross-border fight against organised crime and even against terrorism,” he said.

The battle to protect Gabon’s forest elephants is a war, he added. “We have transformed biologists into warriors,” Mr White said. “We have transformed people who signed up to watch elephants and work with nature and the national parks into soldiers who have gone to war for the survival of the elephants.”

Criminal networks working with corrupt officials are a significant problem in central and western Africa, said Rudi van Aarde of the University of Pretoria.

“Most of the ivory that leaves this continent for Asia is from central and western Africa. The population is suffering more because of the illegal trade in ivory instead of environmental issues like deforestation,” said Mr van Aarde.

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