Questions raised over elephant census

QUESTIONS have been raised on how the ongoing elephant census in the country is being conducted, with allegations that funders of the exercise could manipulate figures in a bid to influence a continued ivory ban at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES COP19) slated for this year in Panama.

The survey is funded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Paul G Allen Family Foundation, the German Federal Economic Co-operation and Development ministry through KfW, and the Dutch Postcode Lottery through the Dreamfund Project.

Other partners in the project are USAid’s Combating Wildlife Crime in Namibia, the Kavango-Zambezi Area Project, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, the Environment and Protected Areas Authority of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

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