(Posted 14th April 2025)
Courtesy of Save the Elephants and WWF
Despite contributing only a fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions, Africa is suffering disproportionately from the impacts of climate change and many iconic species are under threat.
Giraffe populations in East Africa have been badly hit by drought.
Chimpanzees and gorillas face increasing threats from wildfires.
African wild dogs, which hunt during the cooler periods of the day, could face increased extinction if temperatures continue to rise as projected.
And then there’s African elephants – the largest land animals in the world.
In many ways, elephants are impressively resilient.
They’re found across a diverse range of habitats and climate types, and eat a wide variety of foods.
This flexibility means they’re better placed than many species to cope with a changing climate.
But elephants are vulnerable too.
They are susceptible to various diseases that are likely to become more widespread due to climate change.
They can undertake journeys over large distances, but the increasing fragmentation of their habitats exacerbates the physical dangers involved in dispersing to new areas and the genetic threat caused by populations becoming isolated.
One of the most immediate climate threats is water – or rather the lack of it.
Elephants need up to 300 litres of water per day just for drinking, and water availability has a huge influence on their daily activities, reproduction and displacements.
But as Africa experiences longer and more extreme droughts, elephants and other wildlife are having to compete with people and livestock for increasingly scarce water resources.
The situation in Kenya over the last few years provides an alarming glimpse into what a future of worsening water shortages will be like.
With the rains failing to fall for several consecutive seasons, the country has experienced its worst drought in decades, with devastating impacts on people and wildlife.
Farmers have struggled to grow crops and hundreds of thousands of sheep, goats and other livestock have died from thirst and starvation, destroying livelihoods and leaving millions of people without enough food.
Elephants have been badly hit too – calves and their mothers in particular.
One study found that 205 elephants died as a result of the drought in Kenya in the nine months between February and October 2022.
The same study also confirmed the deaths of 381 common zebras, 49 endangered Grevy’s zebras, 512 wildebeest, 51 buffalo, 12 giraffes and a rhino in the same period.
Bringing relief and hope
In November 2022, WWF-Kenya launched an emergency drought appeal, #SaveAGeneration.
With young elephants and nursing mothers dropping dead due to the lack of water and pasture, we needed to act urgently to prevent the loss of an entire generation.
At the same time, we aimed to help communities around key conservation areas secure their livelihoods, for current and future generations.
In the short term, we brought emergency relief for people, livestock and wildlife in the worst-hit areas by trucking in water and hay.
But we’ve also focused on longer-term solutions to increase climate resilience.
We’ve dug boreholes, installed solar-powered pumps and constructed water pans to harvest the run-off when the rains finally arrive, providing new sources of water for communities, livestock and wild animals.
We’ve also worked with community wildlife conservancies to secure habitats and connectivity corridors that will allow elephants and other animals to safely move through the landscape to find water and food during periods of drought.
Our work in Kenya is just one example of how conservation and climate action go hand in hand, benefiting people and nature.
Restoring and reconnecting ecosystems – including forests, rivers and wetlands – is critical for halting declines in biodiversity and giving species the best chance to adapt to climate change.
But it can also lock up carbon that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere and support local communities to withstand climate impacts by securing water supplies, restoring soils and creating opportunities to develop sustainable livelihoods.
