Govt of Mozambique announces major decline in national elephant population

Dramatic, forty-eight percent decline is due to criminal gangs decimating elephants for their ivory

 Mozambique is under serious threat from illegal wildlife trafficking and environmental crime

Mozambique’s new Minister for Land, Environment and Rural Development says tackling ivory poaching and rhino horn trafficking is a major priority for his new Ministry

Intelligence led enforcement, implementation of the new law, coordination with the new environmental police, partnerships, securing existing ivory stocks are being implemented

Surveys were led by the Government of Mozambique in partnership with WCS, and were funded by Paul G Allen, as part of the Great Elephant Census®, WCS and USAID

MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE (26/05/2015) – A major decline in elephant numbers in Mozambique was announced by the Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development, Minister Celso Correia, at a signing ceremony for trans-boundary conservation cooperation between Mozambique and Tanzania in Maputo last night.

The Tanzanian Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Minister Lazaro Nyalundu, announced that Tanzania will release the results of their national elephant census on June 1 in Arusha.

The Mozambique survey revealed that criminal gangs are decimating elephant populations and forests prompting new government measures to stop the devastation.

The survey showed a dramatic estimated 48 percent decline in elephant numbers in Mozambique in the last five years, from just over 20,000 to the current estimate of 10,300. This decline is due to rampant elephant poaching in the country’s most important elephant populations.

The surveys were led by the Government of Mozambique in partnership with WCS, and were funded by Paul G Allen, as part of the Great Elephant Census®, WCS, and USAID.

Organised criminal gangs are decimating Mozambique’s biodiversity and undermining governance in remote border areas. This is destroying one of the key development options for local communities and regional government in these remote, wild areas where wildlife thrive.

Ninety-five percent of the total loss occurred in northern Mozambique where the elephant population declined from an estimated 15,400 to an estimated 6,100. Niassa National Reserve was hardest hit, and the population has fallen from an estimated 12,000 in 2012 to an estimated 4,440 – 43% of all elephants seen in Niassa Reserve on this survey were dead. In Quirimbas National Park the current elephant population is small, just over 600 animals, but there is significant poaching, with 45% of all elephants seen on the survey dead.

The Tete area, and Limpopo National Park and surrounds – Mozambique’s second and third largest elephant populations – have seen a 20 percent decline in each site. In Tete 1,600 elephants remain; and in Limpopo National Park and the areas to the south, 1,100 elephants remain. But poaching is occurring in both of these populations with 290 carcasses in Tete, and 230 in Limpopo National Park and the area to the south.

In addition, the surveys detected significant illegal logging operations within protected areas – in the eastern part of Niassa National Reserve near the Unity bridge, in Quirimbas National Park, as well as in Tchuma Tchato and surrounding areas in Tete.

In Gorongosa National Park and Marromeu Special Reserve small elephant populations – 535 in Gorongosa and 600 in Marromeu – are increasing slowly in size.

In response to this widespread criminal activity, the Government of Mozambique’s Minister for Land, Environment and Rural Development (Minister Celso Correia) declared that tackling ivory poaching and rhino horn trafficking is a major priority for his new ministry, and, together with other ministries, is taking the following measures to combat this rampant criminal activity:

·         Focusing on implementing the law and bringing poachers and traffickers to justice:

-  On June 20, 2014, then Mozambique President Armando Guebuza signed into existence a new Biodiversity law, which criminalises poaching, imposes deterrent sentences, and allows asset seizure,

-  Mozambique’s Attorney-General’s office is also taking wildlife crime seriously, and the Attorney-General herself recently appointed one of her deputies to focus on improving the prosecution of wildlife crime cases.

·         Deploying the new Mozambican environmental police unit to work with scouts from the National Agency for Conservation Areas (ANAC) to implement the law and stop poaching and illegal logging

·         Developing intelligence-led law enforcement capability, and improving training, equipping and leadership of protected-area scouts, including establishing specialist units that are properly equipped and armed

·         Strengthening partnerships with international organizations, including: WCS in Niassa Reserve, the Peace Parks Foundation in Limpopo National Park, and the Carr Foundation in Gorongosa National Park. In addition, donor partners have responded and are helping including: USAID who recently committed to support Niassa Reserve and Gorongosa National Park; the World Bank supporting the MozBio program to strengthen the national conservation areas network; Germany’s KfW; the French Development Agency, and others

·         Working with CITES to conduct a national inventory of ivory stocks, securing the stocks and implement a transparent audit system

·         Mozambique signed an MoU with Tanzania on 25 May 2015, and with South Africa in 2014, to strengthen cross-border collaboration to tackle poaching and trafficking

Some positive results are already being seen. In the first quarter of 2015, in Niassa Reserve, two elephant poachers were arrested, five illegal firearms collected (two AK47’s and three hunting rifles, with 336 rounds of ammunition), and 18 tusks recovered. In April 2015, a policeman who had been renting his AK47 to a poacher in Niassa Reserve was imprisoned for five years. In April/May 2015, the new environmental police unit arrested six army officers who were poaching elephants between Niassa Reserve and Quirimbas National Park with four AK47’s. In response to illegal logging activities detected during the elephant survey, joint ANAC and WCS teams destroyed three logging camps and impounded 1,200 cubic meters (42,377 cubic feet) of wood in Niassa Reserve.

Cristián Samper, WCS President and CEO said: “These survey results are sobering; criminals have taken a staggering toll on Mozambique’s wildlife and natural resources. But I am hopeful that the Government of Mozambique, working with partners in the NGO and development community, as well as neighboring nations, will bring criminals to justice so elephants can thrive once again here.”

Alastair Nelson, WCS Mozambique Country Director said: “We still have a long way to go to stop rampant elephant poaching, illegal hardwood logging, and rhino horn trafficking. We will continue to partner with the government of Mozambique to work together to stop poaching and wildlife trafficking across the country. In Niassa Reserve we will do whatever we can to bring more outside support to respond to this tragedy. Niassa is one of the few remaining wildernesses on our planet that can, and must, hold tens of thousands of elephant one day again.”

Dr. Carlos Lopes Pereira, ANAC Head of Law Enforcement and WCS Mozambique Technical Director said: “To reverse this situation, we have to act now, in five years it will be too late.”

The British High Commissioner to Mozambique, Joanna Kuenssberg said "This survey shows just how grave the situation is and why further efforts to enforce the law and support the local communities are so urgent to ensure the elephant's survival in Mozambique. Botswana, Gabon and others are showing the way with the Elephant Protection Initiative, which could be part of the solution. Only through effective international collaboration across the board can the alarming trend of destruction be reversed. The UK will continue to support these efforts in Mozambique and across the region."

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WCS Mozambique

MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. In Mozambique WCS partners closely with government to strengthen law enforcement and protected area management across the national protected areas network. WCS co-manages Niassa National Reserve with ANAC, the National Administration of Conservation Areas, and uses lessons learned to strengthen the national system. Visit: www.wcs.org; http://www.facebook.com/niassareserve Follow: @WCSMozambique 

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. VISION: WCS envisions a world where wildlife thrives in healthy lands and seas, valued by societies that embrace and benefit from the diversity and integrity of life on earth. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in more than 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: www.wcs.org; http://www.facebook.com/TheWCS; http://www.youtube.com/user/WCSMedia  Follow: @thewcs.

About the Great Elephant Census: Flying over more than 18 countries and involving more than 50 scientists, covering thousands of transects and more than 600,000 km in 2014 and 2015, the Great Elephant Census is the most comprehensive project of its kind to form an essential baseline for future African elephant conservation efforts.  Because of the remoteness of many wildlife areas in Africa, aerial counts continue to be an important tool for wildlife management and one of the most impactful ways we can drive conservation efforts for species like the elephant. Paul G. Allen has partnered with Elephants Without Borders and other organizations to conduct the Great Elephant Census, an urgently needed and bold undertaking.