On March 25, 2021, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released alarming news: African elephants are now also classified as critically endangered, meaning they are on the Red List of endangered species. Both the small forest elephant and its close relative, the savanna elephant, face imminent extinction, albeit to varying degrees.
The concerns raised echo the alarms of conservation experts who have been warning of poaching and habitat destruction for decades. Although there has been some recent improvement in East Africa, the problem is growing steadily throughout Africa.
COVID-19 played a significant role in this. Tough crackdown and punishment of poachers is a powerful signal that Tanzanian authorities are serious about eradicating poaching in the country. However, since tourism in these nature reserves has all but ceased over the past year, poachers can operate undisturbed because of the reduced presence of visitors.
The crisis in the tourism industry, when something happens, sometimes forces many involved parties to turn a blind eye…. Previously, increased controls and tougher penalties were considered major milestones in regional cooperation for conservation organizations working to pursue prosecutions in the areas of illegal wildlife trade, elephant ivory and plant ivory, and tackling corruption. However, recently enforcing this legislation is proving very challenging.
In Tanzania, crimes related to ivory trade not only fall under conservation laws, but are also treated as “economic crimes,” due to adjustments in the country’s economic and organized crime and control laws.
By law, such crimes are punishable by 20 to 30 years in prison. But with too few controls, and as long as other countries also have significantly more lenient penalties, poachers are shifting their purview.
Everywhere you look, you can see that African elephant populations and their habitats are shrinking in all African countries.
The main reasons for this decline are ongoing poaching and the constant invasion of wilderness areas by human activities.
Buying ivory and the resulting slaughter of thousands of elephants is driving these vulnerable animals toward extinction. In addition, disruptions to their migration routes and the seizure of their habitats by farmers, settlers, road builders and herders are increasingly limiting elephants’ chances of survival.
The elephant population is said to have melted to about 415,000 animals today.
While it may not sound immediately alarming, it is shocking to realize that it is estimated that in 1970 there were still more than 2 million African elephants. In just 10 years, the total African population has declined by as much as 60% because of the illegal ivory trade. Every hour 5 elephants disappear in Africa and at this rate there will be no African elephants left in the wild within 10 years.
A single tusk already sells for as little as 6,000 euros. On the black market, mainly in China and other Asian countries, the price per kilogram of ivory is even higher than that of gold.
Therefore, it is vital that tourists worldwide consciously choose to go on safari in Africa. In this way, they can contribute to the conservation of people and nature in various ways.
That way we can see these beautiful African elephants not only in zoos. Where they often live behind bars and in spaces that are far too small, or in circuses.
