WWF African Elephant Programme

Launched in 2000, the WWF African Elephant Programme provides strategic field interventions to help guarantee a future for this magnificent species across Africa.

Working through WWF's field programmes in Central, Eastern, Southern and West Africa and with numerous partners, the programme supports projects that:

• improve elephant protection and management
• build capacity within range states
• mitigate human-elephant conflict
• reduce illegal trade.

Objectives

1. Protection and management

To reduce the illegal killing of elephants through improved protection and management, WWF will support activities such as:

• equipping and training law enforcement teams so they can conduct regular and effective anti-poaching patrols
   
• establishing new protected areas within elephant ranges and improving management effectiveness within existing protected areas
   
• developing new community-based wildlife management schemes that contribute to elephant conservation whilst providing benefits to local people
   
• determining the population status of elephants in sites across Africa.
   

2. Capacity building

To increase capacity within range states to conserve and manage elephants, WWF will support activities such as:

• helping range state governments produce and adopt sub-regional elephant conservation strategies and national elephant conservation strategies
   
• developing capacity to survey, census and monitor elephant populations and to implement the CITES system for Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE)
   
• providing training in elephant conservation and management technique
   
• updating and enforcing range states’ legislation to protect elephants.
   

3. Conflict mitigation

To increase public support for elephant conservation by reducing conflict, WWF will support activities such as:

• training wildlife managers and local communities to use modern methods and tools to mitigate human-elephant conflict
   
• analysing human-elephant conflict projects to draw lessons and refine methodologies.
   

4. Trade controls

To reduce the illegal trade in elephant products, WWF will support activities such as:

• monitoring and assessing trends in the illegal trade in elephant products (such as implementing the CITES Elephant Trade Information System)
   
• conducting surveys to provide information on domestic ivory markets.