WEDNESDAY,
23 AUGUST 2006: Thirteen of the world’s leading
elephant scientists reached agreement yesterday
on a series of guidelines that they suggest could
inform Government policy for elephant management
in South Africa.
The Science Round Table met
for a second time at the invitation of the Minister
of Environmental Affairs & Tourism, Marthinus
van Schalkwyk.
At the first Science Round Table
held in January, the scientists agreed that there
was no compelling evidence to suggest the need
for immediate, large-scale reduction of elephant
numbers in the Kruger National Park. However,
elephant density, distribution and population
structure might need to be managed in some protected
areas, including the Kruger National Park, to
meet biodiversity and other objectives.
Yesterday, they told the Minister that:
1.African elephants are an important
component of South Africa’s biological diversity,
both as a species in their own right, and as agents
of change in the ecosystem.
2.Elephants in confined populations can, in the
absence of interventions, cause changes to the
composition, structure and functioning of ecosystems
in which they occur.
3.Excluding extinctions, elephant-induced
changes to the ecosystem are potentially reversible.
4.The management of elephant
influence on ecosystems takes place within the
context of human society and its objectives.
5.Decisions on managing elephants
are dependent on stated land use objectives, the
techniques by which this can be practically achieved
being situation-specific.
6.Elephants have a high level
of social organisation and consciousness.
7.The state of knowledge regarding
some important aspects of elephant management
requires further research.
While recognising that the Minister
has to make policy decisions based on the best
available scientific knowledge at the time, the
scientists proposed the establishment of a multi-disciplinary,
multi-stakeholder research advisory platform to
oversee a 20 year research programme.
The programme would use the
“adaptive management approach” (learning by doing)
to ensure that the consequences of all management
interventions are carefully monitored. This would
ensure that the short, medium and long term consequence
of each are properly understood.
The Minister told the scientists
that the concept of adaptive management would
form a key pillar of the Draft Norms & Standards
that would be published for public comment in
the next few months.
“This will be a broad philosophical
framework that provides guidance on the implementation
of the National Environmental Management Act and
the Biodiversity Act as they apply to elephants.
It will spell out a range of options for managing
population densities where this is necessary.
Every proposed intervention
will have to be motivated by the local managers
in a Management Plan that is subjected to a process
of local public consultation.”
Adaptive management techniques allowed for bold
initiatives to test various management options
and gain valuable insights into the most appropriate
long term implications taking into account values,
ecology, economic, technical and broader policy
considerations.
Minister Van Schalkwyk invited
the scientists to develop a comprehensive research
proposal and suggested that the initiative should
be driven by the South African National Biodiversity
Institute (SANBI).
The members of the panel agreed that the “research
platform” should consist of six programmes:
1.Assessment of all current
data.
2.Experimentation to establish
the likely trajectory of elephant numbers, the
relationship between elephant density and a range
of ecological consequences in various ecosystems,
and the consequences of various management options.
3.Predictive modelling that
would help predict the outcome of given actions.
4.Social, political and economic
research to explore stakeholder perceptions and
attitudes, costs and benefits of various options
and international considerations.
5.Capacity building, including
human and technical resources.
6.Adaptive management or orchestration
of a close interface between the practical day
to day management of elephants in parks and the
scientific research programmes.
SANBI Director, Professor Brian
Huntely, who facilitated the round table discussion,
said the panel would prepare a draft proposal
for circulation within two to three months to
the “elephant fraternity”, including scientists,
managers of parks, institutions and non governmental
bodies.
NOTE 1 TO EDITORS
The Full Statement of Scientific Consensus read
as follows:
Second Scientific Roundtable
on Elephants and their Impacts in South Africa
22nd August 2006
Statement of Scientific Consensus
1.African elephants are an important
component of South Africa’s biological diversity,
both as a species in their own right, and as agents
of change in the ecosystem. Due to this role,
the absence of elephants from ecosystems that
evolved under their influence is potentially deleterious,
as is their overabundance. Elephant impacts need
to be managed as components of the ecosystem.
2.The management of elephant
influence on ecosystems takes place within the
context of human society and its objectives. Social,
environmental, economic and political values,
must be brought to bear on decision making.
3.Decisions on managing elephants
are dependent on stated land use objectives, the
techniques by which this can be practically achieved
being situation-specific. Influencing factors
are the size of the area involved; conservation
value of the elephant population; biodiversity,
social and economic values of the area. A single,
uniform set of rules for elephant management is
not desirable, but a differentiated and evolving
best practice guideline for various circumstances
is achievable.
4.Elephants in confined populations
can, in the absence of interventions, cause changes
to the composition, structure and functioning
of ecosystems in which they occur. These changes
may be unacceptable. It is possible that sustained
high elephant impact will cause the local extinction
of sensitive species in the affected areas, and
if those constitute the major populations for
the species, could lead to their endangerment
or extinction.
5.Excluding extinctions, elephant-induced
changes to the ecosystem are potentially reversible.
The time period for which elephant influences
are apparent may exceed a human generation (30
years), for example if it requires the regrowth
of large trees or the regeneration of lost soil.
6.Elephants have a high level
of social organisation and consciousness. Behavioural
consequences or objectives of management intervention
should be well considered. Their management therefore
requires particularly high ethical standards.
Science can contribute an understanding of behaviour
and measures of stress to the formulation of these
standards.
7.The state of knowledge regarding
some important aspects of elephant management
requires further research. In particular, the
likely trajectory of elephant numbers, the relationship
between elephant density and a range of ecological
consequences in various ecosystems, and the viability
under various circumstances of elephant density
control using contraception and habitat manipulation
need further research. An active adaptive management
approach, including a targeted research programme,
is indicated as a strategy for combining timely
action with learning.
NOTE 2 TO EDITORS
Participants in SRT2 were:
1.DR BRIAN HUNTLEY (FACILITATOR)
- Director, South African National Biodiversity
Institute.
2.PROFESSOR NORMAN OWEN-SMITH
- Research Professor in African Ecology at the
University of the Witwatersrand.
3.PROFESSOR RUDI VAN AARDE -
Professor of Zoology and Director of the Conservation
Research Unit in the Faculty of Natural &
Agricultural Science, University of Pretoria.
4.PROFESSOR GRAHAM KERLEY -
Director, Terrestrial Ecology Research Unit, Department
of Zoology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
5.DR HECTOR MAGOME -Head of
Research, South African National Parks
6.DR IAN WHYTE - Research Manager:
Large Herbivores, South African National Parks.
7.DR. DAVID CUMMING - Tropical
Resource Ecology Programme, University of Zimbabwe.
8.BRUCE PAGE - Lecturer in Ecology
in the School of Conservation and Biological Sciences,
University of KwaZulu-Natal.
9.PROFESSOR ROB SLOTOW - Professor,
School of Conservation and Biological Sciences,
University of KwaZulu-Natal.
10.DR BOB SCHOLES - Systems
Ecologist, Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research.
11.DR HOLLY DUBLIN - Chair,
Species Survival Commission, IUCN - The World
Conservation Union.
12.DR IAIN DOUGLAS HAMILTON
- Chief Executive of Save the Elephants
13.PROFESSOR KEVIN ROGERS -
Professor of Ecology in the School of Animal Plant
and Environmental Science at the University of
the Witwatersrand.
Mava Scott (Director: External Communications)
