title: Estimating economic losses to tourism in Africa from the illegal killing of elephants.
abstract: Recent surveys suggest tens of thousands of elephants are being poached annually across Africa, putting the two species at risk across much of their range. Although the financial motivations for ivory poaching are clear, the economic benefits of elephant conservation are poorly understood. We use Bayesian statistical modelling of tourist visits to protected areas, to quantify the lost economic benefits that poached elephants would have delivered to African countries via tourism. Our results show these figures are substantial (∼USD $25 million annually), and that the lost benefits exceed the anti-poaching costs necessary to stop elephant declines across the continent's savannah areas, although not currently in the forests of central Africa. Furthermore, elephant conservation in savannah protected areas has net positive economic returns comparable to investments in sectors such as education and infrastructure. Even from a tourism perspective alone, increased elephant conservation is therefore a wise investment by governments in these regions.
authors: World Wildlife Fund US, 1250 24th Street, Washington, District of Columbia 20037, USA.|Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, AERL Building, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4.
authors: Robin
authors: R
authors: Naidoo
authors: Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA.
authors: Brendan
authors: B
authors: Fisher
authors: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
authors: Andrea
authors: 0000-0003-1895-450X
authors: A
authors: Manica
authors: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Balmford
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003415:Crime; D017753:Ecosystem; D004606:Elephants; D006801:Humans; D014195:Travel / Q000191:economics*