A look at recent developments in African elephant conservation | Tunde Folawiyo

April 28, 2014 Editor african elephant conservation, Tunde Folawiyo, tunde folawiyo africa, tunde folawiyo bio, tunde folawiyo london, tunde folawiyo profile

Those who, like Tunde Folawiyo, are concerned with the conservation of wildlife, will probably know that up until the 1930s, the African elephant population stood at about 7-10 million; however, as a result of habitat loss and poaching, this number has dropped to approximately 300,000. As the demand for ivory continues to threaten the survival of this species, governments around the continent, and elsewhere in the world, are now beginning to take action to eliminate illegal wildlife trading and protect these creatures from further attacks.

Just a few weeks ago, the Obama administration declared that it intended to implement a ban on the ivory trade in the US. During the same month, a conference on this issue was held in Britain; those in attendance reached the conclusion that both the poaching and trafficking of wildlife must be classified as ‘serious crimes’, in accordance with the UN’s Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. In addition to this, the World Wide Fund for Nature and Google has entered into a partnership, which will allow them to provide Namibian national parks with drones that will enable rangers to monitor and protect elephants.

Belgium is doing its part as well; Laurette Onkelinx, the Deputy Prime Minster, announced that they will be destroying the enormous collection of illegal ivory which has been seized by customs over the past few years, in a special ceremony which will be held on the 9th of April. Both the Kenyan and the Ugandan governments have also committed to taking a stronger stance on this problem; the anti-trafficking legislation which is now in place in Kenya contains much harsher penalties for those convicted of this crime, and the Ugandan authorities are now encouraging rangers to take a more aggressive approach to the tracking of poachers.

Conservation enthusiasts such as Tunde Folawiyo might be aware that Kenyan officials involved in the protection of wildlife have publically praised the Chinese government, for the way in which it is fought against wildlife poaching in recent times. William Kiprono, who serves as the Kenya Wildlife Services director, explained that Kenya has been engaging with China for quite a while now, in a bid to encourage the Chinese to support anti-poaching and anti-trafficking efforts. As a result of these talks, China has now agreed to improve the surveillance technology used in Kenyan game reserves and national parks, and has been offering assistance in dealing with poachers.

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