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Twenty-six million elephants roamed across Africa in 1800. Today, the population sits around 415,000. Numerous statutes and agreements at the local, national, and international levels have been formulated to deal with this catastrophe, yet, the number of elephants across Africa continues to drop.
While the most prominent tool for managing this decline has come to be the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (“CITES”), it is not the only international agreement which affects the conservation of African elephants. In fact, CITES is one of five prominent global conventions which manage biodiversity around the world. This Note argues that CITES has unfairly shouldered the responsibility of conserving African elephants, and that attention ought to be given to the other four conventions. While many analyses of CITES’ role in managing the ivory trade exist in the literature, they generally fail to consider its position within the larger system of international environmental law. Through an analysis of each convention in turn, this Note demonstrates where opportunities exist to protect elephants under this broader structure. In doing so, the Note highlights the interconnected nature of international law and provides a method for the collaborative interpretation of international agreements
