African Elephant Conservation Fund

the establishment of the African Elephant Conservation Fund to provide financial assistance to support projects that will enhance sustainable conservation programs to ensure effective, long-term conservation of African elephants. Recently, the African elephant was re-classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG) as two separate species[1], with the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) now listed as “Critically Endangered” and the savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) listed as “Endangered” under the IUCN’s 2020 African elephant Red List Assessment [2-3]. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) works closely with national governments, U.S. agencies, and a range of other partners to ensure a strategic, results-based approach to conservation of both elephant species across Africa’s 37 elephant range countries. This funding opportunity aligns with the Service mission.