Kenya’s Elephant Conservation Efforts

In great news for elephant conservation, Kenya’s elephant population has more than doubled from 1989 to today. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) announced this development at an event at Amboseli National Park to mark World Elephant Day 2020, which is heartwarming, as Africa currently has only 500,000 elephants, compared to 1.3 million in the 1970s.

Growth in Population

KWS revealed that while there were only 16,000 elephants in Kenya in 1989, the number grew to 34,800 by the end of 2019. According to tourism minister, Najib Balala, the situation has improved due to effective management and stronger penalties for poaching. Consequently, only seven elephants were poached in Kenya in 2020, compared to 34 in 2019 and 80 in 2018.

Creating Awareness on Elephant Conservation

According to KWS director general John Waweru, World Elephant Day presents a valuable platform for raising awareness about the various threats faced by African and Asian elephants. These threats include habitat loss, land use pressure, illegal killings for meat and ivory, as well as human-elephant conflicts. Waweru emphasized, “It is fortunate that Kenya has a conservation and management strategy for elephants in place, which has guided recovery efforts and led to significant growth in the population.”

Initiatives for the Future

Kenya is also launching the Magical Kenya elephant naming campaign, an annual festival dedicated to raising funds to support rangers in their efforts to deter poachers. More information about the elephants can be found on the KWS website here.

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