World Elephant Day is observed every year on 12 August to raise global awareness about the urgent need to protect both Asian and African elephants. Since its launch in 2012, this special day has highlighted the challenges elephants face and promoted efforts to safeguard their future.
One alarming consequence of rampant poaching is a change in elephant genetics. In many wild populations, elephants are increasingly born with smaller tusks or even no tusks at all. This happens because poachers tend to target those with larger tusks, removing them from the breeding population. Hence, this year’s World Elephant Day focuses on promoting sustainable coexistence between humans and elephants by reducing human-wildlife conflicts and restoring vital elephant migration corridors.
Elephants are facing the threat of extinction, with poaching and habitat loss being the two most significant problems. Ivory demand remains extremely high, where ivory prices can exceed those of gold. This makes elephants highly vulnerable targets. The economic realities also worsen the situation: in many impoverished regions of Africa, the sale of ivory from a single elephant can earn a person a month’s wages or more, incentivizing illegal hunting.
Habitat loss further endangers elephants by shrinking the natural spaces they need to find the vast amounts of food — hundreds of pounds daily — to survive and reproduce. It also makes elephants easier for poachers to locate. Experts believe that habitat destruction is now the main reason for the dramatic decline in wild elephant numbers. About a century ago, over 12 million elephants roamed freely; today, that number may have dropped to as low as 400,000, with around 20,000 killed annually by poachers.
In Myanmar, elephants have played an important role in the timber industry. Thousands of elephants have been used to extract logs from forest areas without access roads, helping supply both domestic and international timber markets. The Myanma Timber Enterprise, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, continues to use elephants as “living heavy machinery” in some forest blocks.
Recognizing the need for conservation, elephant protection camps have been established nationwide to care for ageing elephants retired from logging work. As the government reduces timber extraction to conserve forests and plantations, the workload on these elephants decreases. Moreover, new laws have been introduced to protect wildlife habitats and wild elephants, aiming to increase elephant populations and prevent their extinction in Myanmar. Through global awareness, stronger laws, community involvement, and sustainable coexistence efforts, World Elephant Day encourages all to protect these majestic creatures and ensure they thrive for generations to come.
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