What is the 2007 Assessment of South African Elephant Management?

The appropriate management South Africa's elephant populations is the focus of a national debate. In terms of the Biodiversity Act of 2005 and the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, the ultimate responsibility for establishing national policy in this regard is the Minister of Environment Affairs and Tourism. The Minister convened a Scientific Roundtable (SRT) in January 2006 to advise him on policies regarding elephant management. The SRT concluded that in key aspects, the available scientific information was insufficient for a fully-informed decision (Statements from SRT 1 and 2, summarised in Owen-Smith et al. 2006).

The Minister mandated the SRT to propose a research programme that would reduce the uncertainty regarding the consequences of various elephant management strategies. The first activity initiated by the research programme is a scientific assessment of the state of knowledge regarding elephant-ecosystem-society interactions. The aims of the assessment are: 1) immediately mine the extensive existing information that has not yet contributed to policy; 2) establish an information baseline against which to judge the success of the programme, and 3) identify the critical research gaps that the programme must address.

The Assessment of South African Elephant Management aims to evaluate the large amount of information regarding South African elephants and provide a clear, scientific picture of the state of our current knowledge at multiple scales: small- medium- and large conservation areas. This assessment will also identify and evaluate the policy and management options while including economic agendas, and socio-cultural aspirations.

The management of South Africa's elephants is a lightning-rod for a whole range of associated values-based policy issues, and this assessment may pave a way to better resolution of this type of issue. It is essential to remember that an assessment is not an advocacy piece; that different views must be incorporated. Note also that assessments don't prejudge the outcome or make the hard decisions: they just provide the information, as it exists, on which decisions can be made by appropriately-mandated bodies.

The Assessment of South African Elephant Management is currently comprised of twelve chapters:

  • Chapter 1: Elephants in South Africa: history and distribution 
    • Lead Author: Professor Jane Carruthers (UNISA)
  • Chapter 2: Elephant population biology and ecology
    • Lead Author: Professor Rudi van Aarde (UP)
  • Chapter 3: Effects of elephants on ecosystems and biodiversity
    • Lead Author: Professor Graham Kerley (NMMU)
  • Chapter 4: Interactions between elephants and people
    • Lead Author: Wayne Twine (Wits)
  • Chapter 5: Elephant translocation
    • Lead Author: Dr Douw Grobler (Catchco Africa)
  • Chapter 6: Reproductive control of elephants  
    • Lead Author: Professor Henk Bertschinger (UP)
  • Chapter 7: Controlling the distribution of elephants 
    • Lead Author: Dr Rina Grant (SANParks)
  • Chapter 8: Lethal management of elephants
    • Lead Author: Professor Rob Slotow (UKZN)
  • Chapter 9: Ethical considerations in elephant management
    • Lead Author: Professor Hennie Lötter (UJ)
  • Chapter 10: The economic value of elephants
    • Lead Author: Professor James Blignaut (UP)
  • Chapter 11: International and national law
    • Lead Author: Lisa Hopkinson (SANParks)
  • Chapter 12: Towards integrated decision-making for elephants 
    • Lead Author: Dr Harry Biggs (SANParks)

There will be a Summary for Decision Makers that will summarize and integrate the findings of all sections.

The Assessment of South African Elephant Management is not a research project. All information it uses has already been collected, and is either in the public domain (preferably as peer-reviewed scientific papers) or it is placed into the public domain by depositing it in a library.

The Assessment will build on the data collations and reviews already created by the 'Luiperdskloof' process, as well as the comprehensive database on elephant-related literature created by the African Elephant Specialist Group of the IUCN.