Country Area - 274,200 km²
Range Area - 15,110 km² (6%)
Protected Range - 95%
Information Quality Index (IQI) - 0.61
CITES Appendix - I
Listing Year - 1990
Burkina Faso hosts the largest population of elephants in West Africa, most inhabiting the transfrontier WAP complex, which includes Parc W du Burkina, Arly NP and surrounding hunting zones in Burkina Faso. Since 2012, Burkina Faso has experienced a new wave of elephant poaching. While few elephants (13 to 20 per year) were poached during the previous decade, the number of carcasses increased to 50 to 86 per year in the last ten years (DFC, 2015). During the 2015 survey of the WAP complex, 76% of the observed carcasses were recorded in the Burkina Faso portion of the complex (Bouché et al., 2015). This is occurring in the context of strong socio-political change and associated insecurity in the country.
Burkina Faso published an elephant management strategy in 2003 (Belemsobgo et al., 2003), which is outdated.
In 2015, a new law formally established Arly National Park and nearly doubled the area of the former “Arly National Park”, which had been a park in name but not status (Conseil National de Transition, 2015).
The estimated number of elephants in areas surveyed over the last ten years in Burkina Faso is 6,850 ± 2,123 at the time of the last survey for each area. There may be an additional 67 to 69 elephants in areas not systematically surveyed. These guesses likely represent a minimum number, and actual numbers could be higher than those reported. Together, this estimate and guess apply to 12,149 km², which is 80% of the estimated known and possible range. There remains an additional 20% of range for which no elephant population estimates are available.
The increase of just over 2,000 in recorded estimates at a national level is a result of the increased numbers recorded in the WAP complex.
The WAP complex was covered in an aerial sample count in 2015 (Bouché et al., 2015). Most of the 3,969 elephants estimated were in the hunting blocks around Arly, with 985 ± 400 in Arly NP, and 1,099 ± 1,276 in Parc W du Burkina. Elephants were found throughout the area, and the area of known range has been increased to include the whole of Parc W du Burkina. There was a high carcass ratio of 11% suggesting that the population has been affected by poaching. These results replace estimates from an aerial total count conducted in 2003 (Bouché et al., 2004b) of 2,119 in the hunting blocks, 422 for Arly NP and 740 for Parc W. A total count of Parc W was carried out in 2012 (Bouché, 2012a). This covered only part of the Burkina Faso sector of the park. A ground sample count covering most of the WAP complex was carried out in 2013 (Bouché et al., 2013a) but because of incomplete coverage neither of these surveys were directly comparable.
A ground sample count of Nazinga Game Ranch, on the border with Ghana, estimated 893 ± 507 elephants in 2012 (Bouché, 2012b). This replaces an estimate of 583 elephants of a larger area from an aerial total count conducted in 2003 (Bouché et al., 2004a). At least 34 elephants are known to have been lost to poaching in the Nazinga area between 2010 and 2015 (DFC, 2015).
Elephants may occasionally move between Nazinga, Kaboré Tambi NP and Zabré, on the Volta River next to the border with Ghana, but there are no longer resident elephants, so this area has been changed to doubtful range (Bouché, pers. comm., 2015).
An aerial total count conducted in the Mouhoun Protected Area Complex in 2013 recorded five elephants in the Deux Balé protected area, which forms part of the complex. However, between 2007 and 2012, between 35 and 40 elephants were seen and photographed from the ground in Deux Balé, and it is believed that these elephants still survived in 2013 (Bouché et al., 2013b). This new guess replaces an aerial sample count estimate of 541 from 2002 (Belemsobgo, 2002). There was no evidence of elephants in other parts of the complex, which had large numbers of domestic livestock. Therefore the other areas in the complex have been changed to doubtful range. During the course of the 2013 aerial total count elephant signs were seen in the Mare aux Hippopotames Biosphere Reserve, but no animals were found. This is therefore considered a minimum estimate of one elephant, and the area is marked as known range. This replaces an estimate of 46 from an aerial total count in 2005 (Bouché, 2005).
There is an updated guess of 18-20 elephants from the Bontioli Partial and Total Faunal Reserve on the Ghana border to the south of the Mouhoun complex (Bouché, 2007a), which replaces a guess of 50 (Chardonnet, pers. comm., 1998). Based on Bouché (pers. comm., 2015), this has been changed from possible to known range, while the area outside the reserve has been changed to doubtful range.
Fifteen elephants have been reported from the Niangoloko forest north-west of Comoé-Léraba (Karama, pers. comm., 2016). This has been added as a new population. These elephants are believed to move to the Comoé-Léraba forest. The existing guess for Comoé-Léraba of three animals (Bouché, 2005) has been retained.
Elephants from Gourma in Mali have occasionally come south into Burkina Faso to a maximum of 20 km from the border (Wall et al., 2013).