African elephants face extinction amid poaching, habitat loss

Number of forest elephants found mostly in Central Africa has fallen by 86 percent over the last 30 years, prompting the latest warning.

African elephants living in forests and savannas are increasingly threatened with extinction, according to the latest Red List of the world’s most threatened species, with conservationists stepping up calls for an urgent end to poaching and the destruction of the elephants’ habitat. The new assessments by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published on Thursday underscore the persistent pressures faced by the two species of African elephants, which are now listed as either “critically endangered” or “endangered”. “We must urgently put an end to poaching and ensure that sufficient suitable habitat for both forest and savannah elephants is conserved,” said Bruno Oberle, the IUCN director- general.