Have the bans on ivory trade helped reduce poaching?
Prior to the CITES trade ban in 1989, poaching represented a greater threat to African elephants than to their Asian cousins. In Asia, the greatest threat to elephants has been ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation due to rapid human population growth and expanding commercial activity such as logging. As a result, today, human and elephant conflict is a leading issue of contention in almost every Asian country where elephants are found. In Africa, the illegal killing of elephants for their ivory was a very serious problem in the 1970s and resulted in the decline of many populations throughout the continent. This increase in poaching was the result of many factors, including the widespread availability of automatic weapons in parts of Africa, which increased poaching efficiency; unstable economies; and political corruption. Today, like the situation in Asia, increasing human and elephant conflict is the single most pressing conservation issue facing the long – term viability of elephan
