A dozen West African countries have signed a wide-ranging accord to conserve dwindling elephant populations devastated by poaching, conflict and habitat loss, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
The 12 nations, now home to fewer than 13 000 elephants due to the combined effect of those dangers, inked the pact at a conference at the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme (Unep), it said.
”Urgent, wide-ranging action is needed because of the perilous state of many of the region’s elephant populations,” Unep said in a statement released at the meeting of parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).
Under the agreement, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo agreed to enact numerous cooperative measures to protect elephants, it said.
The steps include improving natural habitats, creating cross-border migratory paths, banning unsustainable logging and reducing farming, mining and hunting in national parks and other reserves, Unep said.
Like their better-known counterparts in East and Southern Africa, West African elephants have been decimated by poaching and the ivory trade for centuries and their habitats engulfed by urbanisation, deforestation and war.
Scientists estimate the current West African elephant population of between 5 000 and 13 000 is a mere 7% of what it was in 1900.
Although most of West Africa’s remaining elephants live in protected areas, wildlife staff in much of the region are ill-trained, poorly paid and lack the means to enforce conservation laws already in place, it said.
The agreement aims to improve training, including provisions for university degrees in wildlife management, and acquire better field equipment in schemes kick-started with an initial $60 000 Unep grant, it said.
It builds on efforts begun in 1998 by the IUCN (the World Conservation Union) to promote the protection of elephants and encourage environmentally friendly development projects that benefit largely impoverished human populations.
”This is not just a conservation agreement for elephants,” said IUCN director general Achim Steiner. ”By improving their habitats and conserving the region’s ecosystems, this agreement can boost the fortunes and prospects for local people who rely on nature for their livelihoods.”
Experts hope the agreement will raise the profile of elephants in West Africa, which are overshadowed by bigger and better-promoted populations in East and Southern Africa, and improve tourism in the region.
”This will give local and poor people a real economic incentive to conserve [elephants] for current and future generations,” said Lamine Sebogo, of the IUCN. — Sapa-AFP