Recent population assessments suggest that illegal killing pressure on African forest elephants has declined in some regions, contributing to early signs of population stabilization after decades of steep losses. While this shift reflects measurable progress, forest elephants remain highly vulnerable due to ongoing habitat loss, fragmentation, and persistent illegal activity.
African forest elephant populations declined sharply over the past several decades. In the early 2000s, estimates suggested numbers had fallen from well over 200,000 individuals to fewer than 100,000, driven largely by illegal killing for ivory and expanding access into forested areas. In some parts of Central Africa, losses exceeded 60 percent within a single decade, indicating how quickly populations can collapse under sustained pressure.
More recent assessments, using long-term field surveys and improved monitoring methods such as dung counts and DNA-based analysis, estimate the current forest elephant population at approximately 130,000 to 140,000 individuals across their remaining range. Researchers emphasize that this figure does not represent full recovery, but rather stabilization following years of decline, supported by reduced illegal killing in certain protected landscapes.
In conservation terms, poaching refers specifically to illegal killing, not regulated or permitted wildlife use. For forest elephants, poaching has primarily involved killing animals inside protected areas, using prohibited firearms or wire snares, and supplying illegal ivory markets. Tusks are trafficked across borders through concealed shipments, forged permits, and transit routes shared with other illicit goods. Even relatively low levels of illegal killing can have outsized effects on forest elephant populations because of their slow reproductive rates.
Targeted anti-poaching efforts have played a role in reducing these pressures. Increased patrols, intelligence-led enforcement, and focused protection in high-risk areas have limited access for illegal hunters in some regions. International restrictions on ivory trade have also reduced market flow in certain corridors. Where enforcement has been sustained, population decline has slowed, and local trends have begun to level out.
However, reduced illegal killing alone does not secure long-term persistence. Habitat loss remains the dominant threat facing forest elephants. Expanding road networks, logging operations, mining activity, and agricultural development continue to fragment forests. As roads penetrate previously intact areas, they increase access not only for legal development but also for illegal activity, making elephants easier to locate and kill even where overall poaching pressure appears lower.
Forest elephants influence forest structure through their movement and feeding behavior. As large-bodied seed dispersers, they move seeds across long distances and affect patterns of regeneration. Changes in elephant abundance can alter forest composition over time, with implications for ecosystem structure and resilience. These effects occur regardless of whether population change is driven by illegal killing or habitat fragmentation.
Current conservation strategies increasingly focus on landscape-scale management, combining enforcement with land-use planning. Maintaining large, connected forest blocks limits access points for illegal activity and supports viable population structure. Where corridors are lost, populations become isolated, increasing vulnerability to both environmental change and renewed illegal pressure.
Community involvement remains part of implementation, particularly where enforcement, employment, or shared governance are linked to forest management. Where economic pressures intensify and alternative livelihoods decline, illegal activity often resurges, undermining conservation gains.
The current assessments underscore a recurring reality in wildlife management: progress is incremental and fragile. A reduction in illegal killing can slow decline, but it does not reverse decades of pressure on its own.
Conservation Takeaway
The stabilization of African forest elephant populations reflects reduced illegal killing in some regions, not recovery. Numbers remain far below historical levels, and long-term persistence will depend on limiting illegal activity, maintaining large connected forests, and managing land-use change at scale. Without those foundations, short-term gains are unlikely to hold.