5 Draft Norms & Standards for Elephant Management
Press Release DEAT – 28th February 2007 (Edited Extracts)

The Draft Norms and Standards for the Management of Elephants (DN&S) in South Africa will be published in the Government Gazette on Friday 2 March 2007 for 60 days. Stakeholders should submit written comments by 4 May 2007.

Decisions on elephant management are [based] on societal value systems, since they involve trade-offs between different things that are legitimately valued by society. The divergence of views on elephant management arises primarily from different values held by different stakeholders. Scientific information, alone, cannot resolve [this]. We have taken care in the DN&S for Elephant Management to set out Guiding Principles that will inform decision making. These principles are based on respect for elephants, reverence for humans and recognition that we are faced with a degree of scientific uncertainty.

[The] Department will contribute an initial R5 million this year to the research project proposed by the Science Round Table, which consists of 21 scientists. They have proposed a comprehensive research plan that will hopefully reduce the scientific uncertainty concerning elephants.

[The minister is] satisfied that within the African context, sustainable use of natural resources is necessary and appropriate [but] that the management of our natural resources should be conducted ethically, humanely and rationally. The DN&S therefore provide for population control of elephants using one or more of the following options:

1) range manipulation (water supply, enclosure or exclosure, movement corridors; range expansion by acquisition of additional land)

2) removal by translocation;

3) introduction of elephants;

4) contraception; and

5) culling (Culling may be used to reduce the size of an elephant population subject to due consideration of all other population management options.)