African Presidents (but not Botswana's) Set Fire to Massive Piles of Elephant Ivory

African Presidential Summit Ends with Largest Ivory Burn Ever

There are 129,000 elephants in Botswana. That's about one for every 15 people. Unlike some other places in Africa, the size of the elephant herd appears to have stabilized. Nearby Tanzania has lost more than half of its elephants in the past six years. 58,000 animals in Tanzania were poached, their ivory tusks sold illegally overseas.
How do we know this? Well, if you're reading this on a PC or using any Microsoft product, you can consider yourself a small part of the Great Elephant Census, a multi-year effort to measure wild African elephant herds. It's funded by Bill Gates' one-time partner Paul Allen, who has funded 90 researchers to fly 285,000 over 18 African countries for the sole purpose of counting elephants.

You can read about this enormous conservation undertaking in this National Geographic article.

Great African Elephant Census

In the photo above, a soldier guards piles of tusks. These were stacked up in Kenya and later burned at a ceremony attended by many African Presidents. It was a demonstration of the commitment by these nations to stop poaching and protect the elephant herd. The idea was to show the world that they would not allow sale of the ivory, seeing this as a deterrent to further poaching. Botswana's president did not attend the ivory burning.

The politics of conservation can get pretty complicated. I'll try to delve into it and let you know what I find in future posts. Meanwhile I'm just imagining what it will be like to be driving our pickup and stopping to let a 10,000 pound mammal cross the road. They have the right of way.