Gaborone, Botswana —
Botswana is hosting representatives from 33 African elephant range countries for talks on the live elephant trade, seeking common ground as elephant populations grow in some parts of the continent while declining in others.
Botswana’s Minister of Environment and Tourism, Nnaniki Makwinja, said Africa must speak with one voice, despite each region facing unique challenges.
“We recognise that the challenges we face are diverse and there is no silver bullet to solve these challenges,” Makwinja said on Monday while opening the four-day conference. “We urge these countries to consult with us before adopting any measures that may undermine our efforts to protect our wildlife heritage and the Sustainable Development Goals.”
In 2022, African delegations attended a meeting in Panama on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), where they were divided over elephant management.
Southern African countries want CITES restrictions on the elephant trade relaxed, but parts of the continent, particularly in the east and west, are calling for stricter regulations.
Dan Challender, a wildlife trade conservation scientist based at Oxford University, said this week’s meeting in Botswana may not address all concerns, given the uneven distribution of animals across the continent.
“This conference is an opportunity for African countries to come together to discuss trade in African elephants, recognising that elephant situations and policy environments differ across the continent, and we hope to find common ground on some, but not all, issues,” Challender said.
The meeting is open to government officials, but nonprofit environmental groups are not invited.
Isaac Theophilus, a local conservationist with the Botswana Wildlife Producers Association, said representatives of countries opposed to the elephant trade should be given the opportunity to see the effects of human-wildlife conflict.
“It brings the two opposing groups together to sit around the same table to consider issues related to elephant management,” Theophilus said. “My hope and desire is that the participating states will have the opportunity to interact with people in the (wildlife) areas and get first-hand information on the issues that come with growing elephant populations.”
Dr Eric Verein, a veterinarian and wildlife management expert, said trading live elephants posed logistical challenges.
“Transporting elephants from one country to another comes with several challenges. Most of these challenges are logistical,” Verein said. “Elephants are large animals and therefore very expensive to transport. In the case of females and calves, family groups need to be transported together. There are limitations to the capacity to transport large numbers of elephants.”
The African elephant population is estimated at 415,000, more than half of which live in South Africa.
