Loxodonta africana

Central African elephant populations are faced with many threats including illegal killing, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation. Most conservation and management problems pertaining to elephant populations are common to all the countries of the sub-region and many important elephant populations straddle political boundaries of one or more Range States. Therefore, a sub-regional approach is needed to collectively address these problems.

The African elephant, the largest remaining land mammal on the planet, is facing the greatest crisis in decades. Reports of mass elephant killings in the media vividly illustrate the situation across many African elephant range states. This publication provides an overview of the current state of the African elephant alongside recommendations for action to ensure its protection.

The IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group AfESG) has been charged by MIKE with implementing a project to investigate the linkages between the elephant meat trade and larger social and economic dynamics at play, including, but not limited to, ivory trade, logging (legal and illegal), mining, infrastructure development, global economic trends, law enforcement at the national and international level, and community forest governance.

The objective of the study is to enhance knowledge of contemporary elephant bushmeat market dynamics, patterns and trends in north-eastern DRC and determine the impact of elephant meat trade on the Okapi Faunal Reserve (OFR) population.

This pilot study was instigated by the Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and is being implemented by the IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG). It seeks to explore the many causes and motivations driving the illegal killing of elephants, particularly the trade and commerce of elephant meat and ivory.