Efforts to save the Sumatran elephant have been hamstrung by the Indonesian government’s delay in releasing an updated conservation plan, which includes the latest population estimates.
The last estimate, from 2007, put the population at 2,400-2,800 elephants, but that was based on data from the early 2000s.
Mongabay has obtained a copy of the updated plan, meant to be released in 2019, which gives a population estimate of 924-1,359 — a precipitous decline of 52-62% from the 2007 figure.
Conservationists, including one who worked on the plan, have called for its publication to inform conservation measures, and note that similar plans for other iconic threatened species — including Sumatran tigers and orangutans — have also been delayed.
