Relegated, seemingly eternally, to the undefinable category of “vulnerable” by the IUCN, and still allowed to be trophy hunted by CITES with permits, and still ignored by major conservation organisations, African and international governments, what future is there for this species?
LionAid, using extensive information and analyses recently published an entirely fact based estimate of African lion populations – no more than 9,600 remaining.
What needs to change to better conserve those few lions on the continent?
1. All African lion range states need to classify lions as a nationally endangered species. The evidence is there. No more complacency or unsubstantiated claims of “legal and sustainable offtake” by foreign trophy hunters.
2. The IUCN needs to re-classify African lions as “endangered” instead of “vulnerable”. What more evidence do they need? Currently, the IUCN only classifies two lion subspecies as endangered – the Asiatic (Indian) lions and the western African lions. Their reluctance to afford all other lions an “endangered” status was based on the evidence that lions in South African fenced reserves were doing well. Brushing aside “real wild” lion population declines across eastern and southern Africa?
3. All conservation organizations, hunting organizations and African lion range states need to condemn South Africa’s captive lion breeding programmes to provide hunters with trophies and bones to Asian “medicine” destinations.
4. African lion range states need to implement and enforce comprehensive lion conservation programmes. No half measures. No false acceptance of the defeated concept that “trophy hunting is a conservation measure”. These range states have seen the declines and must act on them.
5. LionAid has been for some time engaged with the governments of Tanzania and Botswana to conduct crucial lion population counts. For Botswana across the nation, and for Tanzania in the crucial lion “stronghold” of the Selous. Delays have of course been inevitable because of COVID at least, but we have written to both governments to ask them to enable the first stages – identifying stakeholders, identifying participants on the ground, identifying donors, etc. The UK is now in another month (at least) of COVID lockdown so LionAid travel to meet with African wildlife department representatives is almost impossible. But let’s lay down the groundwork and alert the donors!
As said, it is crisis time for African lions. Sure, their conservation is complicated and challenging. But a way forward can and should be found.