African elephant population declining at 8% per year

Elephant populations across Africa’s savannas are plummeting due to poaching for the ivory trade reveals the most comprehensive elephant survey ever conducted.

Backed by philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the two-year Great Elephant Census counted 352,271 elephants in 18 elephant range countries. That tally represented a drop of 144,000 elephants relative to 2007, equivalent to an population decline of eight percent per year. Savanna elephant populations declined by more than 30 percent in 15 of the 18 countries. Elephants were hard hit both inside and outside protected areas.

The data-gathering effort was unprecedented, involving 90 scientists, dozens of NGOs and agencies, and scores of aerial surveys, according to James Deutsch, the conservation director at Vulcan, Paul Allen’s philanthropy.

“This project required a herculean effort on the part of many partners since its launch in December 2013, with 81 airplanes and 286 crew members flying roughly 463,000 kilometers to complete the survey,” said Deutsch.

Allen, who contributed more than $7 million to the program, called the findings “deeply disturbing”.

“This was an extraordinary collaboration across borders, cultures, and jurisdictions. We completed a successful survey of massive scale, and what we learned is deeply disturbing,” he said. “Armed with this knowledge of dramatically declining elephant populations, we share a collective responsibility to take action, and we must all work to ensure the preservation of this iconic species.”

While overall 30 percent drop in savanna elephant population may seem shocking, it may be dwarfed by the reported 60 percent decline in the population of African forest elephants since the early 2000s. Vulcan is now conducting a census of those elephants to better quantify that estimate.

Article published by Rhett Butler

Animals, Conservation, Elephants, Environment, Ivory Trade, Poaching, Wildlife

Africa, Botswana, Chad

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