Elephant poaching costs African economies US $25 million per year in lost tourism revenue

The first continent-wide assessment of the economic losses caused by elephant poaching in Africa shows the practice costs countries around US $25 million annually in lost tourism revenue.

“While there have always been strong moral and ethical reasons for conserving elephants, not everyone shares this viewpoint.  Our research now shows that investing in elephant conservation is actually smart economic policy for many African countries,” said Dr. Robin Naidoo, UBC adjunct professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability, World Wildlife Fund Senior Conservation Scientist and lead author on the study published this week in Nature Communications.

Poachers kill between 20,000-30,000 African elephants each year for the illegal ivory trade. In just the past ten years, Africa’s elephants have declined by more than 20 percent.

The research shows that tourism revenue lost to the current poaching crisis exceeds the anti-poaching costs necessary to stop the decline of elephants in east, southern, and west Africa. Rates of return on elephant conservation in these regions are positive, signaling strong economic incentive for countries to protect elephant populations.

However, for countries in central Africa, the study finds that elephant-based tourism cannot currently be expected to contribute substantially to elephant conservation. In these remote, forested areas where tourism levels are lower and elephants are typically more difficult to see, different mechanisms will be necessary to halt elephant declines.