Vietnam rushes to preserve elephants as wild population drops below 200

By Viet An November 22, 2024 | 03:44 pm PT

An elephant is cared for by a mahout at Yok Don National Park in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak in 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has announced a conservation plan to protect Vietnam's rapidly declining elephant population, now estimated to have fallen below 200 in the wild.

Revealed on Wednesday, the plan includes 33 measures for wild elephants and 21 for captive elephants, aimed at restoring habitats, combating poaching, and promoting coexistence between humans and elephants.

The plan focuses on long-term goals such as expanding protected areas, strengthening anti-poaching efforts, and developing eco-tourism initiatives to support conservation while boosting local economies.

The ministry's Forestry Department said the country's wild Asian elephant population has plummeted from 2,000 in the 1980s to fewer than 200 today, due to habitat loss, poaching, and human-elephant conflicts.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture Nguyen Quoc Tri highlighted the crucial role elephants play in forest ecosystems.

"Conserving elephants is about more than protecting a single species; it's about ensuring biodiversity and fostering harmony between humans and nature," he said.

The conservation plan outlines four main objectives for wild elephants: protecting and restoring populations, reducing threats and improving legal frameworks, preventing habitat encroachment and fragmentation, managing human-elephant conflicts through community engagement and livelihood improvements.

Vietnam has implemented several conservation initiatives over the years, including three government-level plans between 1996 and 2022. However, officials hope the new plan will address growing challenges and reverse the population decline.