Elephant populations remain stable in the KAZA Transfrontier Area

(Harare, Zimbabwe – 31 August, 2023) IFAW welcomes the results of the 2023 KAZA Elephant Survey Report, which suggests that elephant populations are stable across the five Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) countries of southern Africa, as reported at the presentation of the first-ever synchronised and comprehensive elephant survey undertaken in the landscape.

The estimated elephant population for the KAZA region stands at 227,900 (+/-16743).

Current populations show Angola with 5,983, Botswana 131,909, Namibia 21,090, Zambia 3,840 and Zimbabwe 65,028. Only Zambia has presented a declining trend. 

The results are critical in enhancing IFAW and collaborating partners’ work in the region as they help inform our interventions in areas such as land use and planning, human-wildlife conflict management, community engagement and disrupting poaching and trafficking networks operating in the region. 

“In celebrating this important milestone, we applaud the KAZA Secretariat, partner states and their partners for the collective effort to maintain stable elephant populations despite the threats from climate change, habitat loss, and poaching,” says Philip Kuvawoga, Program Director for Landscape Conservation at IFAW.

“This rigorous survey provides an important baseline for assessing the effectiveness of our combined efforts to secure a viable future for the region’s elephants and the human populations that live alongside them. While this news is positive, we must continue to address growing challenges related to habitat connectivity and human-elephant coexistence and ensure that conservation actions support those who bear the costs as well as the opportunities of living with the wildlife of this globally important area”.

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