Berlin, 30 May 2007. Ghana’s Ambassador to Germany, H.E. Grant Ohemeng Kesse (photo: right), signed the Memorandum of Understanding concerning Conservation Measures for the West African Populations of the African Elephant on 30 May in Berlin. CMS Agreements Officer Lyle Glowka (photo: left) met the Ambassador to collect his signature and discuss the significance of Ghana’s membership in the MoU. Conservation efforts in the region are guided in part by IUCN’s Strategy for the Conservation of West African Elephants which is appended to the MoU. CMS and the IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group work together to coordinate activities under the MoU.

Ghana is the thirteenth and final Range State to sign the agreement which was opened for signature in November 2005 during the Eighth Meeting of the CMS Conference of the Parties. Ghana’s membership fills the last gap in the MoU’s coverage.

Elephants have an important ecological role in the region’s savannah and forest ecosystems. But demographic pressure and the development of human activities have significantly reduced the African Elephant’s habitat there. This has caused extreme fragmentation of the remaining habitats and an ever-increasing number of conflicts between elephants and people.

During the 20th century approximately ninety percent of the original range of the African elephant within the thirteen West African range states was lost. This, along with poaching and the ivory trade, is believed to have compromised the long-term viability of most of West Africa’s elephant populations. All of these populations were included on Appendix I of CITES in 1989.

African elephants were one a group of species listed on Appendix II when CMS was first adopted in 1979. Subsequent work by the Secretariat, Scientific Council and the Conference of the Parties with the range states focused CMS’s attention on the West and Central African populations and ultimately led to the development of the MoU.

Small in total area, Ghana is a key country in the race to save the West Africa’s elephant populations. It shares borders with Togo to the west, Burkina Faso to the north and Cote d’Ivoire to the east. It includes savannah and forest zones where regionally significant numbers of elephants live.

Ghana hosts three elephant populations in its forest zones. One population is the region’s second largest having an estimated 658 individuals. This population is shared with Côte d’Ivoire.

More significantly in the savannah zone Ghana has five populations. Of these three are shared with other countries. The largest with an estimated 771 individuals is shared between Burkina Faso, Ghana and Togo. It is the region’s second largest elephant population.

In his meeting with Ambassador Kesse, Mr Glowka, said the MoU and its Strategy, will reinforce Ghana’s elephant conservation work not only at home. “These instruments will also provide a strong international cooperative framework through which Ghana can work with its neighbours Togo, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, who have also signed the MoU, to conserve and manage the elephant populations that are shared. We look forward to working with the four countries, the IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group and others to secure the elephant’s future in the region.”

For more information please contact:

CMS Secretariat (click here)

or visit the CMS West African Elephant MoU webpages (click here)