header: African Elephant
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line Loxodonta africana (Blumenbach, 1797)

THREATS

There are three major factors in the decline of the African Elephant: the demand for ivory, increasing land conversion, and desertification. Changes in land-use are now thought to be the greatest threat.

The ivory trade has been largely responsible for reducing the population to its current levels. It is estimated that over 80% of all the raw ivory traded has come from poached elephants.19 The history of the ivory trade goes back centuries. At the end of the 19th century, legislation introduced over much of the continent brought the situation under some control.2

These measures were helped by a fall in the price of ivory and a drop in demand following the First World War.2 A result of these factors was a substantial recovery of elephant populations over much of central, eastern and southern Africa, to the extent that culling programmes had to be introduced to some areas to prevent habitat damage and human-elephant conflicts.2 This trend changed suddenly during the early 1970s, when demand for ivory soared and the amount of ivory leaving Africa rose to pre-1914 levels. The legal ivory trade became insufficient to supply the renewed demand for ivory, especially in eastern Asia. Most of the ivory leaving the continent was taken illegally and the main profits derived from it did not accrue to the countries of origin.2 Poaching is generally well-organized and made more difficult to control by availability of automatic weapons and civil conflicts.22 It has been argued that a legal and controlled trade could bring substantial economic benefits to Africa without jeopardizing the conservation of the species.2

A report by WWF suggests that since the ivory ban poaching pressure has declined to sustainable levels wherever elephant protection is adequately maintained.10 However, poaching still occurs supplying markets in the Far East, albeit at a diminished level.6,7,9,10 Considerable debate surrounds the conservation of elephants, largely due to the varying status of elephant populations in different range countries. Some advocate the resumption of controlled trade and utilization of ivory stockpiles to finance protection efforts, whilst others are against it because of possibly insurmountable difficulties in controlling trade.10 One of the most active proponents for the resumption of trade in ivory is the Southern African Centre for Ivory Marketing (SACIM). Set up by Botswana, Malawi, Namibia and Zambia (who withdrew from SACIM in 1992), this organization works towards the resumption of legal trade in ivory through a strictly controlled trading system.10

Human-elephant conflicts appear to have been of minor significance through most of history. However the rapid growth of human populations in Africa means that large areas of the continent are now permanently unsuitable for elephants.2 It is now predicted that as the growth of the human population continues throughout the elephant's range, habitat loss and degradation through activities such as logging and agriculture will become the major threats to its survival.8,1 Desertification affects the small remaining populations in the Sahel countries, where remaining animals are largely confined to national parks or reserves.2


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