The African elephant is still in danger: from around five million specimens a century ago it has risen to around 500,000 today. The decline in poaching due to the international ban on the ivory trade has failed to lift the sword of Damocles that hangs over the two known species, from the forest and the savannah. Two other emerging threats, resulting from strong population growth in Africa, add to poaching and worry experts: clashes between animals and humans and the disappearance of their natural habitat. The Elephant Crisis Fund (ECF), a fund of the NGO Save the Elephants that finances local projects that address these challenges, receives this Thursday in Madrid the World Prize for Biodiversity Conservation awarded by the BBVA Foundation.
Chebera-Churchura National Park in southwestern Ethiopia is home to around 500 elephants, the largest concentration in the country. However, living with humans is not easy. “Every year around 15 people died due to attacks by elephants, who were harassed when they entered crops or got too close to villages and, being strong and dominant animals, they reacted with violence,” explains Frank Pope, CEO of Save the Elephants. For every person killed, an elephant was killed. To put an end to this spiral, the ECF has funded the construction of three seven-meter-high metal watchtowers that allow villagers to be warned in advance if a pachyderm is approaching, as well as the distribution of 81 high-powered flashlights to scare them away from their crops. “The first year these techniques were used, no one died, only one person was injured,” Pope adds.
Just 40 years ago, Tanzania’s Kilombero Valley was covered in forest and elephants passed through it on their seasonal journeys. Today, however, hundreds of farms and farms occupy this space and force animals to pass through populated areas, generating clashes with humans. ECF financed the construction of a 150 meter wide corridor that runs for 12 kilometers to allow the passage of elephants. To delimit it, wildlife-friendly fences have been installed and even the first underpass for elephants on a road in Tanzania. “We have negotiated with hundreds of farmers, who have been financially compensated, to give up some of their land,” Pope adds.
The continent where the human population is growing the most
These are just two examples of the projects that the ECF funds in 34 African countries, small community initiatives that, if successful, could be exported to other places. “Africa is home to the last great pockets of biodiversity on the planet and, at the same time, it is the continent where the human population is growing the fastest,” says Pope. Elephants and humans are increasingly closer in many corners of the continent and these animals, like corn or sorghum, crops that constitute the population’s main means of living. Conflicts have intensified. “It is essential to work with communities, so that they understand that it is possible,” he adds. There are, for example, places where cereals are replaced by sunflowers, sesame or cotton, which are not part of the elephant’s diet and which, when sold, are even more profitable than corn or sorghum. In others, beekeeping is promoted along with crops, because elephants are bothered by bees. Simple and sustainable ideas adapted to the local environment.
Elephants are a vital part of Africa’s wildlife. They help disperse seeds and create spaces for new plants to grow, as well as being a symbol of the continent and an axis of its tourism industry, yet to be developed in many countries. However, their numbers have plummeted. A century ago there were still between three and five million copies, a figure that dropped to 1.2 million in the 1970s. Currently, according to Save the Elephant, there are around 500,000 left. The main reason for its disappearance was hunting which fueled the ivory trade. The international ban on the sale of elephants in 1989, which China, the main importer, joined in 2017, has given elephants some respite, but poaching remains: hunters kill around 20,000 specimens for their tusks every year, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The ECF was founded in 1993 precisely to combat this illegal activity and continues to be one of its main axes. “It is relatively easy to capture the hunters, but the challenge is to capture those behind them, those pulling the strings, who often have powerful political connections that prevent their persecution in Africa,” Pope says. A recent police investigation promoted by the ECF and conducted between the American National Intelligence Agency and the African police allowed the fall of the Kromah mafia network. Five ivory and rhino horn traffickers from Kenya, Guinea and Liberia have been arrested and tried in the United States. “With this case we send a clear message that the wildlife trade is no longer a low-risk activity,” adds the CEO of Save the Elephants.
Poaching tends to survive where there is more poverty and conflict and, therefore, fewer resources to control it, such as in the Congo River basin. But if fighting this illicit activity involves strengthening police investigations and law enforcement, among other measures, facilitating coexistence between elephants and people involves enormous work with the local population. “Communities are essential. We continually travel to the countries we work with, listening to ideas from some to share with others to share the best knowledge,” says Pope. The projects funded by the ECF are not of great financial scale, but serve as field tests to develop more ambitious initiatives.
The money comes mainly from private partners and donors and goes directly to where the problems arise. Pope estimates that a total of 35 million euros have been invested in the last ten years. Currently, the fund actively participates in spatial planning and mitigation of climate change damage, challenges that are already present. In the Chinko reserve, in the east of the Central African Republic, of the 40,000 elephants that once existed, 50 remained in 2014 due to massive hunting. The ECF has supported the management of African parks and today their population has not only tripled, but exceeds the limits of the protected area. To continue to protect them, they have supported efforts to expand the reserve, with strong involvement of local communities.
Elephants are very different from humans and, at the same time, they are similar to us, explains Pope. They live in complex social units, almost as long as humans, care for their young, feed them and provide them with security, have close family ties, and mourn their dead. With their imposing dimensions, they are the sculptors of the African landscape and, at the same time, they are a symbol of strength, but also of tenderness. “Without elephants, the planet’s biodiversity will be poorer. We need it,” concludes Pope.
