Despite elephant poaching in Africa reportedly declining for the fifth year in a row, an average of 55 elephants are still being killed every single day. A recent report from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) stated that 40 tonnes of trafficked ivory has been recovered.
According to reports, 111,000 African elephants have been killed by poachers in the last 10 years, although poaching levels have started to decrease in recent years. The Cites report stated that last year there was a record number of seizures of large ivory items, which the organisation claims could be down to better awareness and law enforcement. The organisation’s Secretary-General John Scanlon said, “The global collective effort that is underway is starting to reap positive results, but we are certainly not there yet.”
There have also been reports stating that there has been an increase in jewellery made from ivory being exported from Africa to Asia, which is a way of making it harder to intercept.
Scanlon stated, “There has been a steady decline in poaching levels since its peak in 2011, and the analysis from 2016 concludes that overall poaching trends have now dropped to pre-2008 levels”, and there have also been “dramatic losses of elephant populations” over the last decade in central Africa, with “levels of illegal killing remaining very high.” Scanlon then concluded that it is now crucial for conservationists “to drive home the advantage we have while the political momentum is with us”.