Photo: 23 June, 2016- Libreville, Gabon-Members of the African Elephant Steering Commitee at the 7th AEFSC meeting held at the Akouango Village.Top row from left: Abednico Macheme, Barbara Matu, Jean Claude Dengui, Frank Barsch, Benoit Doamba, Julian Blanc, Marcel Van Nijnatten, Solomon Kyalo, Bottom row from left: Lee White, Nana Kofi Adu Nsiah, Dawud Mume, Miet Van Looy, Aurelie Flore Koumba Pambo, Patrick Omondi, Thea Carroll, Cyril Taolo, Mamadou Kane.

The 7th meeting of the African Elephant Fund Steering Committee (AEFSC) was held in Libreville, Gabon from the 22-23 June 2016 and hosted by Gabon's National Agency for National Parks (Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux, ANPN).

The meeting was presided by its Chair, Kenya and all members of the Steering Committee (SC) representing the regions of range states in Central, East, South and West African: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and the donor representatives from Netherlands, Belgium and Germany as well as ex-officio members represented by CITES/MIKE were present.

Members of the SC met to review the implementation of current projects, evaluate the ten (10) newly submitted proposal from Range States, discuss visibility strategies for 2016, deliberate on ehanced engagement of UNEP on its implementation of the AEAP, strategize on possible events for the upcoming 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP17) in Johannesburg, South Africa taking place from 24 September to 5 October 2016, as well as the hosting arragements for 8th SC meeting.

Of the ten (10) projects submitted from Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (2), Gabon, Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia (2), only three (3) which were from Gabon, Ghana and Zambia were approved for funding. The total amount of funds approved were $368,686. These funds will be appropriated to projects that meet all of the objectives of the African Elephant Action Plan (1) Reduce illegal killing of elephants and illegal trade in elephant products (2) Maintained Elephant Habitats and Restored Connectivity (3) Reduced Human-Elephant Conflict (4) Increased Awareness on Elephant Conservation and Management of Key Stakeholders that include Policy Makers, Local Communities among other Interest Groups (5) Strengthened Range States Knowledge on African Elephant Management (6) Strengthened Cooperation and Understanding among Range States (7) Improved Local Communities’ Cooperation and Collaboration on African Elephant Conservation (8) African Elephant Action Plan is Effectively Implemented.

In addition to review and selection of projects, the steering committee welcomed pledges from current donor countries Germany and Netherlands of €500,000 and €120,000 respectively.

The next steering committee meeting is intended to be held during the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP17) in Johannesburg, South Africa, 24 September to 5 October 2016.

1. Central Africa:
2. Gabon- Military Training for Gabon’s Park Rangers - $108,700.00
3. Western Africa:
4. Ghana- Reducing HEC Through Improved Monitoring, Stakeholder Engagement and Law Enforcement - $156,786.00
5. Southern Africa:
6. Zambia- Enhancing Effectiveness of Law Enforcement Monitoring and Analysis systems in Zambia’s Elephant Range Areas - $60,00.00

Pictures and video from the event can be found ere.