Botswana strengthens monitoring of poached elephants
Strengthening law enforcement capacity
Botswana has strengthened its monitoring of illegal elephant mortalities in the Chobe National Park.
Botswana’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) recently conducted intensive practical training for 74 staff members to enhance and strengthen law enforcement capacity through the use of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)’s Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme tools.The training was organised as a three-day workshop for three cohorts of rangers from the greater Chobe National Park, including its sub-stations.
It was conducted with support from the German Development Bank – KfW, using funds under the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) Phase III Project.
Coming on the heels of the 2022 KAZA-wide elephant survey, in which Botswana accounted for more than 50% of the KAZA elephant population, the training focused on Chobe National Park – the country’s only MIKE site – to improve its law enforcement monitoring capacity.
Trainees were drawn from divisions including human-wildlife conflict, law enforcement, investigations, and research.
Effectively guided by the MIKE programme and its standards, the training aims to support the conservation of Botswana’s elephant population by monitoring trends in the illegal killing of elephants and fostering informed management decisions.
The MIKE programme encompasses a suite of tools designed to monitor elephant management within the framework of mortalities and their various causes.
Emphasis was placed on the ability to accurately determine causes of death, predict population decline or growth trends, and take corrective actions where necessary.
This training increases the number of trained personnel from 13 in 2022 to 87 in 2025. It is envisaged that, through this initiative, DWNP rangers will be better equipped to gather, collate, and analyse elephant mortality data more accurately, thus providing a realistic assessment of the institution’s management and law enforcement capacity.
Similar improvements are expected at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) level, to which data from Botswana will contribute—further enhancing the regional elephant mortality outlook and law enforcement capacity.
KAZA Secretariat’s Executive Director, Dr Nyambe Nyambe, emphasised the need for law enforcement officers to possess a comprehensive toolkit of specialist skills—technical, analytical, and managerial—to fully realise the value of enforcement operations.
He also reiterated the importance of this initiative by Botswana in creating a replicable model for other KAZA Partner States.