African Elephant Action Plan and African Elephant Fund

CONCERNED that African elephants face numerous, serious and ongoing threats on an unprecedented scale, including illegal ivory trade, human-elephant conflict and habitat loss;

AWARE that these threats are having a serious and detrimental impact on African elephants across their range;

DETERMINED to take urgent, effective and timely action to reduce the illegal killing of elephants;

RECOGNIZING that, at its 14th meeting (The Hague, 2007), the Conference of the Parties directed the African Elephant Range States to create an African Elephant Action Plan;

AWARE that the African Elephant Action Plan was finalized and approved as a consensus document by all 37 African Elephant range States in the margins of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (Doha, 2010);

AWARE that the African Elephant Action Plan contains related and prioritized Objectives designed to reduce the level of threat facing African elephants and ensure their continued survival across their range;

RECOGNIZING the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) processes as a participative framework for implementation of biodiversity-related conventions;

RECOGNIZING also that an African Elephant Fund has been established as a multi-donor technical trust fund under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to attract funding and direct resources for effective implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan;

RECOGNIZING and APPRECIATING the support provided by the CITES Secretariat in developing the African Elephant Action Plan and the IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group, and in establishing and promoting the African Elephant Fund;

APPRECIATING the decision by the Executive Director of UNEP to serve as the secretariat for the African Elephant Fund Steering Committee;

RECOGNIZING also the urgent need to raise funds to enable the effective implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan;

COMMENDING all donors that have so far contributed to the African Elephant Fund;

AWARE that disbursement of funds for implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan has commenced;

THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION

ENCOURAGES the African elephant range States to prioritize support to the African Elephant Fund within their national or regional funding strategies, for example through their NBSAPs;

INVITES biodiversity-related multilateral environmental agreements, in particular the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, to support the implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan through effective partnerships with African elephant range States;

INVITES all Parties, donors, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders, as a matter of urgency, to support the implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan and to provide financial contributions to the African Elephant Fund;

URGES all Parties, donors, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations, as a matter of urgency, to provide in-kind support, including translation, to the African Elephant Fund Steering Committee and the African elephant range States;

REQUESTS the CITES Secretariat and UNEP to promote fundraising for the implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan as part of their overall fundraising initiatives;

FURTHER REQUESTS the Executive Director of UNEP to explore opportunities for partnerships with ongoing UNEP projects and programmes to support the African elephant range States in the implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan; and

URGES UNEP to ensure that it provides the necessary support to the African Elephant Fund Steering Committee, including serving as Secretariat to the fund through appropriate modalities to be agreed by UNEP and the Steering Committee.