The Greatest, Unaddressed Threat To Elephant Survival

     The population of Africa continues to explode. Projections that world population growth will stabilize and level off simply do not hold true for most of Africa and some other parts of the world. A simple graph shows that corresponding to the rapid rise in Africa's human population has been a rapid decline in Africa's wildlife, especially that of large mammals.
      Any serious, long term plan to protect elephants and other wildlife must include family planning.
      This is one of the times in which what is good for wildlife is also good for humans. When women have access to safe family planning, poverty decreases. Abortions and sexually transmitted diseases also decrease.
      An overcrowded world has little place for wildlife. Other problems are made worse by large human populations, including environmental degradation and proper disposal of garbage (much of which now ends up in the oceans).
      By 2100, if nothing changes, billions of Africans will live in desperate poverty, beset by war and politically instability. Africa will be deforested and severely degraded. Elephants will be gone from the wild.