Late last week 17 African nations signed onto a monumental document announcing their unified dedication to elephant conservation and anti-ivory trading. This extremely significant meeting and agreement formalizes the effort put forth by these nations to protect the remaining elephants, increasingly pushed to the margins by illegal poaching, development and environmental changes due to global warming. The Bamako Elephant Declaration also provides incredibly support for WILD’s continued work on the Mali Elephant Project. {Photo: Mail Elephants by Carlton Ward}
The nations signing onto the declaration are: Mali, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Cameroun, Ivory Coast, Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. Patrick Omondi, Kenya Wildlife Service Head of Species expressed the significance of the declaration: “Not only are we taking a stand against the slaughter of our endangered elephants, but we are joining together to discuss the importance or strong elephant conservation and management strategies, which are essential in maintaining viable elephant populations, and in effect, promoting tourism.”
