World Elephant Day is a day to come together and assess the progress we’ve made and the challenges we must continue working towards. While elephant conservation has come a long way with the help of ongoing research, fieldwork, and policy, elephants across Asia and Africa still face issues that must be continuously assessed. While some threats are region specific, all elephants are fighting an uphill battle.

This article will cover the main challenges in elephant conservation, and be sure to read until the end for a way you can help support the rescue of two elephants this World Elephant Day!

Four Main Threats to Elephants

Asian and African elephants face different challenges based on environment and global demand. Today, elephants globally are decreasing in population, with Asian and African Savanna elephants listed as endangered and African Forest elephants listed as critically endangered.

Poaching and the Black Market Trade

The black market trade of wildlife parts is an ongoing issue plaguing many wild species. Elephants have been at the forefront of this trade for thousands of years, with exports from Africa to Asia noted as early as the 14th century BCE. Today, savanna and forest elephants are victims of snares set by hunters and brutal killings, all for their precious ivory. This leaves baby elephants orphaned and unable to fend for themselves while stimulating the trade around Asia, Europe, and the United States.

While no continent is truly innocent regarding the demand for ivory, although many countries have strict import-export laws, illegal trading is still very prevalent. Some top consumers are China (with around 70% of ivory ending up there), Vietnam, the Philippines, the United States, Thailand, and Canada. Thailand is a hub for wildlife parts because many shipments stop over in Thailand before being sent to other places globally. As long as ivory is still in high demand, tusked elephants will never be completely safe.

Tourism and Entertainment

The tourism industry sprouted from the use of elephants in warfare, urban development, transportation, and religious ceremonies throughout Asia. As many elephants were captured from the wild to serve communities in various ways, this created a captive population and a tradition of capturing wild elephants for human use. As time has passed and we have not needed to utilize elephants for the same laborious purposes, their title changed, and they became the poster child of adventure tourism and exotic travel.

However, this is not only an issue that plagues Asian elephants, as savanna elephants have also been used to give rides, pose for photos with tourists, and engage in other highly controlling and exploitative activities. Today, one in three elephants live in captivity; unfortunately, most are not in the highest welfare environments. And while we cannot simply burn elephant tourism to the ground overnight because of the local communities that rely so heavily on the income— and the elephants that are fed through that income— we as consumers can make more ethical decisions when it comes to viewing captive elephants.

By opting for more hands-off encounters where the elephant can regain some autonomy, you’re helping to heal the potential trauma and chronic stress that the elephant has endured in the tourism industry. We can change the tourism industry for the better because the consumer vote is the one that genuinely shapes the game.

Habitat Destruction and Fragmentation

Many regions of the world that once had thriving elephant populations now have no space left for the pachyderms because of urban development, habitat fragmentation, and destruction. And unfortunately, this is not unique to elephants. Unsustainable land development, roadways, and the extraction of resources from natural spaces have and will continue to be detrimental to wild populations.

Not only are wild elephants running out of resources and space, but without proper range habitat, it makes it virtually impossible to rehabilitate and release elephants in some areas of the world. This continues to be a hurdle for conservation projects that serve both wild and captive populations.

Human-Elephant Conflict

While human-elephant conflict goes hand-in-hand with habitat destruction, it’s critical to note that not all conflict comes from habitat loss. In many regions of the world, communities have been sharing space with wildlife for centuries. While the wildlife habitat may be respected, there will be overlap whenever humans and wildlife live in close proximity. However, having lived in communities bordering national parks with large megafauna like elephants, I see human-wildlife conflict from a different lens than I once did.

Without lived experience, it’s easy to sit back and blame the humans for infringing on the animals and to argue that at some point, humans settled too closely to elephant habitat. And while there is truth in that, human-wildlife conflict goes much deeper. Unlike certain more developed countries, many people living in and around elephant habitat don’t always have the resources to pick up and move further away from elephants. In addition, the encroachment goes both ways.

Many communities bordering national parks and protected spaces experience elephants wandering into town and destroying homes, killing locals, and eating through crop fields. This kind of conflict is not due to human OR elephant error, but simply the proximity causing a struggle for resources. That is the definition of human-elephant conflict and a much better way of looking at the problem to develop solutions. Whenever we look at conflict from the perspective that one specific group is to blame, the solution will favor the other party. And while most conservationists are prone to favoring elephants, the very same people would agree that solutions that do not also protect, benefit, and look out for local people, will never truly be effective.

Peaceful coexistence with megafauna is challenging in many regions of the world; however, with continued elephant tracking technology and government support in place to protect and reimburse losses from local communities, a middle ground can be found.

If you learned something new about elephants in this world elephant day post, give it a share! The more we inform others about elephants' challenges, the more support conservation efforts will receive. And with that said, let me provide you with a way you can give back to elephants this world elephant day.