IUCN Red List Assessment of the African savanna elephant

Africa’s savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) are a keystone species and their functional presence supports the persistence of myriads of plants, animals and ecosystem processes, yet they are impacted by numerous direct threats across their range, including poaching; retaliatory killing in response to human-elephant conflict; habitat degradation, fragmentation and loss; as well as climate impacts. As such, and because they also have significant cultural and national value to many countries across the globe, there is a strong interest in conserving elephants and their essential habitat through targeted action that is science-led and data driven, and decision-making that is holistic and sensitive to community needs. This project will assess the African savanna elephant’s extinction risk via the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and assess their recovery status for the first time via the IUCN Green Status Assessment of Species. These assessments are commonly consulted by local, national and international stakeholders to inform their actions and funding decisions. The Red List assessments affect how species are treated in national legislation and heavily inform the biological criteria of the UN Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for listing in its appendices. The work is expected to have a direct outcome of providing more timely, enhanced data sharing and inference on elephant status and trends to the international conservation community. ($20,000)