Today, Monday the 12th, is the World Elephant Day 2024 and it is an ideal time to remember that the world population of these pachyderms has declined disastrously over the past hundred years. Of the 12 million copies that existed in Asia and Africa, only 400,000 remain.
Today the biggest threat is for elephants Africans are mainly crimes against wild animals poaching intended for the illegal ivory trade, while the main danger to Asian elephants is habitat loss, which also causes conflict between local communities and these animals.
Currently there are three types elephants: two Africans – the forest and savannah elephant – and one Asian, the Indian elephant. All three are protected and included in the IUCN Red List; the first ‘in serious danger of extinction’ and the remaining two ‘in danger’.
The data is really worrying: in just 30 years, 90% of… elephants of the forest, 60% of those in the savannah have disappeared in the past half century and there are now fewer than 40,000 Asian elephants, including the last 1,000 elephants of Borneo, which have been classified as “in danger” as of this year due to the deforestationivory poaching and conflicts with local communities.
A very worrying decline
The decline of the various populations of elephants It is a concern not only for the species, but also for the ecosystems themselves, as these animals act as ‘engineers’, creating paths that act as corridors for other species through the dense forests in which they live.
Their footprints generate microhabitats because tadpoles and other small organisms, when filled with water, find a place to survive. Furthermore, as herbivores and frugivores, they play an essential role in dispersing the seeds of various tree species, which must pass through their digestive tract before they can germinate.
Asian elephants are in serious danger due to the destruction of their habitats
For the elephants For Asians inhabiting the jungles of Southwest Asia, the greatest threat to their conservation is the destruction of their habitat, mainly due to the expansion of agriculture, livestock farming and deforestation of forests, as well as the construction of infrastructure such as roads, canals and fences. that fragment their territory.
These human activities are destroying their habitats and ancient migration routes, leaving them without homes, shelter, or food; factors that make their existence in these areas increasingly difficult and coexistence with local communities difficult.
Conflicts between people and elephants They not only cause negative interactions and loss of income, property and lives, but also reduce community tolerance towards elephant conservation.
Illegal ivory trade, the biggest threat to African elephants
For their part, the elephants Africans are constantly persecuted by poachers, who kill more than 20,000 individuals every year to obtain their tusks, skin and meat, which are then illegally traded on the black market, mainly to Asia, where ivory is a symbol of luxury and power.
In 1989, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) banned the international trade in elephant ivory. The number of poachers fell after the measure, but started to rise again around 2010 due to consumer interest in purchasing ivory from elephantsespecially in Hong Kong, Thailand, the United States and the United Kingdom.
In 2018, China banned the domestic ivory trade and since then, demand from Chinese consumers has declined and ivory prices have fallen significantly.
WWF, 60 years of work in elephant conservation, also from Spain
The organization has been working on the protection and conservation of various species for 60 years elephants through various initiatives that focus on the main issues that affect them.
The work of the organization therefore consists of reducing conflicts between people and elephantsstrengthening anti-poaching initiatives, ending the illegal ivory trade and reducing the demand for elephant ivory. In addition, it carries out projects for the protection of its habitats and also for research and surveillance of key populations in both Africa and Asia.
In Spain they have been working for years to reduce the species trade, because this country is unfortunately the gateway to Europe for the networks that illegally carry out these crimes against wildlife.
For this reason, the organization demands that the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge approve the update of the Plan to Combat Species Trafficking (TIFIES) to align with the new European Action Plan, in order to effectively tackle this serious threat to humanity to combat. biodiversity and so that Spain is no longer the gateway to Europe for this traffic.