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Poaching typically involves people killing elephants for their tusks, which are sold illegally on an international black market driven mostly by ivory demand in China and other parts of Asia. Agricultural expansion is the top factor in habitat loss.
The forest elephant population is estimated to be about a third that of savanna elephants. Poaching has affected forest elephants disproportionately and has ravaged populations of both species in northern and eastern Africa.
“We have lost a number of elephant populations across many countries, but the northern Sahel region of Africa — for example in Mali, Chad and Nigeria — has been particularly hard-hit. High pressure and limited protection have culminated in populations being extirpated,” Wittemyer said.
However, in Southern Africa, elephant populations rose at 42% of the surveyed sites.
“We have seen real success in a number of places across Africa, but particularly in Southern Africa, with strong growth in populations in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia. For populations showing positive trends, we have had active stewardship and management by governments or outside groups that have taken on a management role,” Wittemyer said.
The study did not track a continent-wide population tally because the surveys employed different methodologies over different time frames to estimate local elephant population density, making a unified headcount impossible. Instead, it assessed population trends at each of the surveyed sites.