July 4, 1997
In the article "Can Elephants and Humans Coexist in Africa?" [front page, June 19], Lynne Duke reports that "the collective elephant population of about 150,000 is stable." If the elephant population is stable, then why the growing conflict between the needs of people and the needs of elephants? The Post ought to have noted that the human population of these countries is growing at an astounding rate. The population of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Tanzania has more than doubled in the past 25 years.
As population pressures grow, farmers are being pushed farther into traditional elephant habitat to find land to farm and a place to live. If the human population continues to grow at the current rate, all of the treaties in the world won't be able to save the elephant (or lion or tiger or rhino). Humanity has the technology to simply overwhelm and displace all other species.
Those who would save wildlife, forests, wetlands, oceans and the rest of the natural world need to be spending some of their energies working to help stabilize human population growth. A variety of proven programs, training and services -- empowerment of women, education, reproductive health care, infant immunization and family planning, to name a few -- allow people to reduce the size of their families voluntarily and improve their quality of life.
If the population in central and southern Africa continues to double
every 25 years, the elephant "problem" will be solved, because all of the
elephants will be gone.
