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A New Way to Count African Forest Elephants: DNA From Dung

by Alice Laguardia and Gaspard Abitsi - The Revelator An important new survey — the first nationwide test of new technology — also reveals critical conservation priorities. In 2013 our colleagues Fiona Maisels and Samantha Strindberg, working with several other conservation partners, documented a devastating decline in forest elephants in Central Africa. Their work revealed that approximately 65% of all remaining African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) had perished between 2002 and 2013 — in large part to feed the burgeoning global trade in elephant ivory. Their work resulted in...

Twenty Years Since a Massive Ivory Seizure, What Lessons Were Learned?

By Julian Newman - Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) In late June 2002, the container ship MOL Independence docked at Singapore port after a voyage of almost a month from Durban in South Africa. On board was a consignment which had been on a far longer journey. Beginning in an industrial area on the outskirts of Lilongwe, the capital of land-locked Malawi in southern Africa, the container was taken by road to the port of Beira in neighbouring Mozambique and loaded onto a feeder vessel to Durban. According to the Bill of Lading, its contents were stone sculptures. Acting on a tip-off...

The myth of too many elephants in Kruger Park, and why culling is redundant

By Don Pinnock - Daily Maverick Because of their size and visible effects on vegetation, Kruger Park’s elephants are a highly emotive subject, fuelling acrimonious debates, cries of ‘too many elephants’ and ‘Kruger has an elephant problem’ – followed by demands for ‘unavoidable culling’. The reality is far more complex. The story of elephant management in Kruger National Park has something in common with the tale of porridge in the paws of three bears: too few, too many and just right. But let’s get one thing straight right up front: there’s no authoritative or scientifically...

Botswana’s wildlife management fails communities — report

By Don Pinnock – Daily Maverick Investigation shows that trophy hunting in Botswana continues to impoverish local communities, causes the decline in species and heightens human-elephant conflict situations. A forensic study into Botswana’s Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) conservation system has found it to be failing the people and wildlife it was designed to support. The latest report, by researcher Dr Adam Cruise, confirms and builds on a 2016 review that found most CBNRMs were either not functioning at all or were on the verge of collapse due to...

Commentary

A New Way to Count African Forest Elephants: DNA From Dung

Twenty Years Since a Massive Ivory Seizure, What Lessons Were Learned?

The myth of too many elephants in Kruger Park, and why culling is redundant

Botswana’s wildlife management fails communities — report

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