The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s mission is to work with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

The International Affairs Program delivers on this mission through its financial assistance

credit: Wikimedia Commons

programs by supporting strategic projects that deliver measurable conservation results for priority species and their habitats around the world.

In 1988, the U. S. Congress passed the African Elephant Conservation Act in response to the alarming decline of African elephant populations.

The Act provides for 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.